Memory

Question 1

what is capacity ?

Answer 1

capacity is how much data can be held in a memory store.

Question 2

what are the properties of short-term memory?

Answer 2

STM has limited capacity and it does not have very long lasting duration.

Question 3

what is duration?

Answer 3

how long something stays in you memory

Question 4

what is coding?

Answer 4

coding is information that we store in our memory in some sort of way - it is described as ‘code’ in which it is held in the form of sound, images, or meaning

Question 5

what is the term given to the memories made my sound, images, and meaning?

Answer 5

sound - acoustic
images - visual
meaning - semantic

Question 6

what is miller’s magic number?

Answer 6

9-5 7+ or - 2

Question 7

how many items can an average person store in short term memory (both digits and letters) ? - jacobs

Answer 7

digits - 9.3

letter - 7.3

Question 8

what evaluation/ discussion could you talk about for capacity ?

Answer 8

• miller’s original findings have not been replicated
• 4 chunks probably the limit
• the size of the chunks matters
• individual differences

Question 9

what experiments were used to investigate duration and what were the findings?

Answer 9

• peterson and peterson - they used consonant syllables to prevent verbal rehearsal- STM lated about 18 seconds
• bahrick - after 48 years, participants were asked to recognise of classmates faces - 70% accuracy and 30% even remembered names

Question 10

what evaluation/ discussion could you talk about for duration ?

Answer 10

• consonant syllables not meaningful but some memory activities do involve such stimuli
• reitman- auditory tone to avoid displacement, led to longer duration of STM