Duration

Question 1

Duration

Answer 1

The length of time information can be held in memory

Question 2

what is the duration for STM?

Answer 2

18-30 seconds

Question 3

Peterson & peterson-consonant syllable & digits
Research on duration
(STM)

Peterson & peterson

Answer 3

Peterson & Peterson tested 24 students in 8 trials
> on each trial a student was given a consonant syllable such as (YCG)
> were also given a 3- digit number to count backwards from until told stop
>counting backwards prevented mental rehearsal of consonant syllable ( if happened would increase duration of STM of syllable)
>on each trial p told to stop after varying periods of time : 3. 6,15,18 seconds ( the retention interval)
> findings- after 3 seconds average recall was 80% after 18 seconds was 3%
>findings suggested STM duration is 18 seconds

Question 4

Research on Duration
(LTM)
Photo recogntiion & free recall

Bahrick et al

Answer 4

Bahrick et al- studied 392 p aged between 17 & 74
>high school yr books were obtained from p
>recall was tested:
(1) photo-recognition test consisting of 50 photos
(2) free recall test where p recalled all names of graduating class
>Participants tested within 15 years of graduation were about 90% accurate in photo recognition
> after 48 years , recall declined to 70% for photo recognition
> free recall less accurate than recognition - about 60% after 15 YR s
> dropping to 30% after 48 yrs
Shows LTM may last up to lifetime for some material

Question 5

A03

Meaningless stimuli in STM-Peterson & Peterson

Limitation

Answer 5

stimulus material was artificial in their study
recalling consonant sylables does not reflect most everyday memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaningful
study lacks external validity

Question 6

A03

Bahricks study-High external validity

Answer 6

Bahricks had high external validity
because researchers investigated meaningful memories i.e ppl names & faces
thus bahricks findings reflect real estimate of duration of LTM