Features Of The Sensory Memory, Short Term Memory And Long Term Memory

Question 1

What is the definition of coding? (1 mark)

Answer 1

How we process information - changing it to a suitable from so it can be stored.

Question 2

What is the definition of capacity?

Answer 2

The amount of information that can be held in the memory

Question 3

What is the definition of duration?

Answer 3

How long information lasts in the memory

Question 4

What is the coding of the sensory register?

Answer 4

Modality specific (depends of the sense being used e.g. visual, iconic)

Question 5

What is the capacity of the sensory register and why?

Answer 5

Unlimited - so that we can take in a vast amount of information at the same time

Question 6

What is the duration of the sensory register?

Answer 6

Limited - less than 0.5 seconds

Question 7

What is the coding of the short term memory?

Answer 7

Acoustic - based on how something sounds

Question 8

What is the capacity of the short term memory?

Answer 8

5 - 9 items

Question 9

What is the duration of the short term memory?

Answer 9

Limited - 18 - 30 seconds

Question 10

What is the coding of the long term memory?

Answer 10

Semantic - based on what it means

Question 11

What is the capacity of the long term memory?

Answer 11

Unlimited - so we have space to create new memories and there’s no research to suggest otherwise.

Question 12

What is the duration of the long term memory?

Answer 12

Potentially forever / a lifetime

Question 13

What was Baddeleys procedure when conducting research into coding of the STM?

Answer 13

Showed participants lists of words in 4 categories:
1) Acoustically similar (Cat, sat, mat, hat)
2) Acoustically dissimilar (Tree, house, flower)
3) Semantically similar (kip, doze, nap, sleep)
4) Semantically dissimilar (Cake, book, plane)

IMMEDIATELY after each presentation participants asked to recall the lists in correct order.

Question 14

What did Baddeley find and conclude about coding of the STM?

Answer 14

More mistakes made on the acoustically similar list.
Suggests STM mainly codes information acoustically.

Question 15

What was Baddeleys procedure to investigate how we code information in the LTM?

Answer 15

Showed participants lists of words in 4 categories:
1) Acoustically similar (Cat, sat, mat, hat)
2) Acoustically dissimilar (Tree, house, flower)
3) Semantically similar (kip, doze, nap, sleep)
4) Semantically dissimilar (Cake, book, plane)

20 MINUTES after each presentation participants asked to recall the lists in correct order.

Question 16

What was Baddeleys findings and conclusion about coding of the LTM?

Answer 16

More mistakes made on semantically similar list.
Suggests LTM mainly codes information semantically

Question 17

What was Millers procedure for investigating the CAPACITY of the STM?

Answer 17

‘Digit span technique’. Participants given strings of unrelated digits (e.g. no pattern, not repeated, do not make up common acronyms) that increased by one digit every time. Participants digit span measured until they could no longer recall digits in correct sequence.

Question 18

What did Miller find and conclude about the capacity of the STM?

Answer 18

Participants could recall 5-9 items if they were ‘chunked’ e.g. participants can remember 5 words just as well as 5 letters.
The capacity of the STM is 5-9 items.

Question 19

What was Peterson & Petersons sample for investigating the DURATION of the STM?

Answer 19

24 undergraduate students

Question 20

What was Peterson & Petersons procedure for investigating the duration of the STM?

Answer 20

Participants briefly presented with consonant trigram (HDF) to remember. Then given 3 digit number and asked to count backwards from this number to prevent rehearsal. Stopped at different intervals (e.g. 3,6,9,12,15,18) and asked to recall consonant trigram.

Question 21

What was Peterson & Petersons findings and conclusion about duration of the STM?

Answer 21

After 3 seconds only 80% recalled the trigram correctly. After 18 seconds fewer than 10% recalled correctly.
Information in the STM lasts 18-30 seconds unless rehearsed.

Question 22

What was Bahricks sample in their investigation unto the duration of the LTM?

Answer 22

392 American high school graduates aged between 17 and 24

Question 23

What was Bahricks procedure for investigating the duration of the LTM?

Answer 23

Participants tested on their memory of their former classmates. Condition 1 - had to recall names of classmates using photo yearbook.
Condition 2 - recall names of their class with no photo cue.

Question 24

What did Bahricks find and conclude about the duration of the LTM?

Answer 24

Condition 1 - 70% of ppt recalled accurately after 48 years
Condition 2 - 30% of ppt recalled accurately after 48 years
Certain types of information can potentially last a lifetime, especially with the correct cues

Question 25

Why does research into the duration of the STM (Peterson & Peterson) lack mundane realism?

Answer 25

The task of recalling consonant trigrams is artificial. Makes it difficult to generalise findings (information lasts 18 - 30 seconds) to reel life examples of duration of STM as research doesn’t reflect real life memory activities where remembering is meaningful. E.g. what teacher tells you. Lowers external validity.

Question 26

What is the counter argument fro research into the duration of the STM lacking mundane realism?

Answer 26

Some would argue we do sometimes try and remember meaningless things e.g. groups of digits (phone numbers) and groups of letters (postcodes), therefore although the task is artificial, it does have relevance to everyday life.

Question 27

Why does Baddeleys research into the coding of the LTM have high control over extraneous variables?

Answer 27

Carried out in a controlled lab setting, meaning list of words could be matched on difficulty and words could be shown to ppt for the same amount of time, meaning procedure is standardised. More likely to establish cause and effect between IV (list of words) and DV (accurate recall). Increases internal validity.

Question 28

Why is Millers research into the capacity of the STM praised for having high reliability?

Answer 28

Carried out in a controlled lab environment. Research could be repeated in same conditions e.g. some standardised instructions, same digits given to participants shown for same duration. To check for consistent results.

Question 29

Why is Bahricks research into the duration of the LTM high in mundane realism?

Answer 29

Research assessed real life memories of individuals old classmates. Strength as you may do this in everyday life e.g. searching for old friend online. May be easier to generalise findings to other real life applications, increasing external validity.

Question 30

Why does Bahricks research into the duration of the LTM have low control over extraneous variables?

Answer 30

Research didn’t take place in controlled environment. e.g. how much contact participant had with classmates after leaving school wasn’t controlled. Cause and effect can’t be established beteren IV (length of time passed) and DV (accurate recall of classmates), firm conclusions can’t be made, reducing internal validity of findings.