Memory Flashcards
Encoding
Memory
How information is taken in and recorded
Capacity
memory
How much information can be taken in and held
Duration
memory
How long information can be held
Sensory memory
encoding
capacity
duration
and examples
Encodes: based on senses
Capacity: large
Duration: less than 3 seconds
Takes information from the sense organs and holds them in that same form
Echoic memory - Auditory input from the ears - things you hear - stored as sounds
Iconic memory - visual info from the eyes - things you see - stored as images
Sensory memory research on capacity
Sperling experiment 1960:
* Presented with grid of letters for less than a second
* Sperling used tones to cue participants to recall a specific row
* Recall on the specified row was high
Demonstrates we have a large capacity in sensory memory
Short term memory
encoding
capacity
duration
Encodes: Acoustically
Capacity: 5-9 items
Duration: 18-30s
Encoding in STM experiment
Conrad (1964)
Visually presented students with letters one at a time
Found that letters which are acoustically similar (rhyming) are harder to recall from STM than those which are acoustically dissimilar (non rhyming)
This suggests STM mainly encodes things acoustically (as sounds) even though the items were presented visually
Capacity of STM research
Miller (1956)
STM can hold 5-9 items of information
Capacity can be extended by organising separate bits of information into chunks
CHUNKING involves making the info more meaningful, through organising it in line with existing knowledge from your LTM
Duration of STM experiment
Temporary- very short time
May only last a few seconds if we don’t rehearse it
Peterson & Peterson (1959)
* Got students to recall combinations of 3 letters (trigrams), after longer and longer intervals
* During the intervals, students were prevented from rehearsing by a counting task
Duration is 18-30s
Long term memory
encoding
capacity
duration
Encodes: Semantically (meaning based)
Capacity: Potentially unlimited
Duration: Anything up to a lifetime
Encoding in LTM experiment
Baddeley (1966)
Presented with lists of 10 short words one at a time
Some lists were semantically similar, others not
Tested immediately and then after 20 min delay
Found that after 20 mins, they did poorly on semantically similar words
Suggests we encode LTMs according to what they mean - so we get similar-meaning things confused
Duration of LTM experiment
Anything up to a lifetime (minutes to years)
Difficult to test exact duration but
* Bahrick et al. (1975) tested US graduates
* Shown classmate photos years later
* 90% accuracy for remembering faces & names 34 years after graduation
Declined after 48 years, particularly for faces
Positive of Multi store model of memory
The first model of memory is positive as it was the first to establish that memory has constituent parts, and can be broken down into sensory memory, STM, and LTM. It contrasts to prior ideas that memory was only one unknown system. It also suggests that there is more than one type of rehearsal. There is a difference between the rehearsal loop, used to keep memories in STM for longer, and elaborative rehearsal, which moves memories from STM to LTM.
It allows for future models, provided clear direction for research.
Limitation of Multi store model of memory.
- oversimplified.
- It incorrectly suggests that STM and LTM operate in a single and uniform way. It is know understood that STM and LTM are more complicated and may be split down into further separated stores.
- Model is a reductionist explanation of memory.
- oversimplifies the role of rehearsal. The model ignores factors such as motivation, effect and strategy (eg acronyms and pneumonic) that underpin learning. This essentially means that if you know that you are going to need to recall information for a test, you are more motivated to practice the information and find ways to transfer into your LTM. Rehearsal is also non essential for moving information into LTM.
How can the study of HM be applied to the multi store model of memory
HM supports the model as he shows memory can be split into constituent parts (sensory, STM, LTM), and that information must move between them. HM’s STM was in tact because he could remember a word up to 15 mins if rehearsing, and 5 mins if not. HM is not moving any info from STM to LTM after the operation, but he still had memories from more than 10 years before the surgery, so LTM, is in tact to some degree.
However, it may be unethical to complete case studies on people with retrograde amnesia, as they cannot understand what is happening to them. As they will likely forget what has been said to them, they can never fully consent to the research.
Why does flashbulb memory contradict the multi-store model of memory
A flashbulb memory is a highly vivid and detailed ‘snapshot’ of a moment in which a consequential, surprising and emotionally arousing piece of news was learned. The model does not take flashbulb memories into account as it does the model says that you have to do rehearsal in order for a memory to transfer from STM to LTM. Flashbulb memory suggests that this is not true.
