memory Flashcards
(48 cards)
features of the stores
sensory memory
- coding - modality specific
- capacity - very high
- duration - less than half a second
short term memory
- coding - acoustically
- capacity 5-9 items
- durations - around 18 seconds
long term memory
- coding - semantically
- capacity - unlimited
- duration - potentially a lifetime
research on coding
baddeley
groups were given
- acoustically similar
- acoustically dissimilar
- semantically similar
- semantically dissimilar
stm - acoustically similar hard to recall
ltm - semantically similar
research on capacity
jacobs - read out increasing number of digits and ask participants to recall
digit 9.3
letters 7.3
miller - capacity of short term memory is around 5-9 items but can increase with chunk
research on duration
peterson and peterson - gave students consonant syllables to remember and asked them to count backwards from a 3 digit number, stopping at different time intervals
recall dropped to 3% at 18 seconds
evaluation of msm - serial position effect
glanzer and cunitz - read out list of words to participants and asked to recall
couuld recall more from start and end - supporting idea of distinctly separate short term and long term memory stores
evaluation of msm - elaborative rehearsal
prolonged rehearsal is not always needed for information to pass to the long term memory
craik and watkins stated that is was the type of rehearsal that was more important
msm does not effectively explain how some memories transfer more quickly than others
evaluation of msm - case study
kf had a motorbike accident and stm impaired
memory for digits poor when read out but better when read it himself
suggests more than one stm store
episodic memory
explicit memories of event - these memories also include time stamp, the context and emotions associated with the event - conscious effort
semantic memories
memory for facts and knowledge - type of explicit memory
procedural memories
memory of how to do things - repetition and practice - implicit
evaluation of long-term memory - brain scans
tulving performed brain scans on volunteers and found that when the they used their episodic memory, part of the frontal cortex was active
compared to when the participants were using their semantic memory when the back cortex was active
evaluation of long-term memory - case study
clive wearing - impaired episodic impairment from a viral infection but semantic and procedural memories were intact as he could still understand meanings of words and play the piano
evaluation of long-term memory - real world application
belleville et al - devised an intervention to improve episode memory in older people
central executive
drives the system and decides how attention is directed
it allocates the slave systems to tasks
it has no storage capacity and limited processing capacity
phonological loop
deals with auditory information
phonological store stores the words you hear
articulatory process is used to rehearse verbal information with a capacity of about 2 second
visuo-spatial sketchpad
stores visual and spatial information
the visual cache stores visual data and the inner scribe records the arrangement of object the visual field
episodic buffer
general storage space for other stores
limited capacity of 4 chunks
evaluation of working memory model - case study
kf - stm for visual material not acoustic - supports existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores
evaluation of working memory model - dual task performance
dolcos et al - showed effects of dual task performance using fMRI scans
different areas of the prefrontal cortex were activated when performing 2 tasks affecting the same stores than when completing 2 tasks from different stores
evaluation of working memory model - central executive
little clarification to what the ce’s role is
some believe it consists of separate components and needs clearer research into it - wmm not fully explained
proactive interference
an old information disrupts new informatino
retroactive interactions
new information affects old
similarity between interferences
interference is worse for both types when the memories or learning are similar
McGeoch and McDonald - asked participants to learn lists of words until 100% accurate recall then learned new list with similar meanings, opposite meanings, unrelated words, nonsense syllables a 3 digit number or no new list
recalled original list and found that those who had words with similar meanings produced worst recall
evaluation of interference - baddeley and hitch
rugby players recall names of teams they had played during fixtures
some played all games, some missed games
those who played the most games forgot more
