Memory: Coding, Capacity, Duration

Question 1

What does Capacity refer to?

Answer 1

how much information can be kept in the short-term memory at any time

Question 2

How did Jacobs research Capacity?

Answer 2

-measured digit span -given number of digits, repeat digits aloud -repeated amount of digits correctly then another digit added -completed until failure

Question 3

What did Jacobs find from his research into Capacity?

Answer 3

mean number of letters correctly recalled: 7.3
mean number of numbers correctly recalled: 9.3

Question 4

What did Miller suggest in terms of Capacity?

Answer 4

-observed things come in 7’s +/-2 -noticed people could recall 5 letters as well as 5 numbers
-chunking helps improve capacity

Question 5

What does Coding refer to?

Answer 5

format in which information is stored

Question 6

What are the three types of encoding?

Answer 6

1) Visual
2) Acoustic
3) Semantic

Question 7

Outline how Baddeley conducted research into Coding

Answer 7

-gave different lists of words -group one: acoustically similar -group two: acoustically dissimilar -group three: semantically similar -group four: semantically different
-asked to recall either immediately or 20 minutes after

Question 8

What were Baddeleys findings in the immediate condition?

Answer 8

worse on acoustically similar words

Question 9

What were Baddeleys findings in the 20 minute condition?

Answer 9

worse on semantically similar words

Question 10

What does Duration refer to?

Answer 10

length of time information can be held

Question 11

How did Peterson and Peterson explore Duration in the STM?

Answer 11

-24 undergraduate students -8 trials -consonant trigrams and 3-digit numbers -remember trigram while counting backwards from 3-digits -recall after 3/6/9/12/15/18 seconds

Question 12

What were Peterson and Peterson’s findings?

Answer 12

-3 seconds, 80% correct -6 seconds, 50% correct -18 seconds, 10% correct

Question 13

What did Peterson and Peterson conclude?

Answer 13

limited duration for STM is 18 seconds. highlighted importance of rehearsal.

Question 14

How did Bahrick explore the Duration of the LTM?

Answer 14

-longitudinal study -followed 392 Americans (17-74) -identify schoolmates from either photo recognition or free recall

Question 15

What were Bahricks findings into LTM?

Answer 15

Photo Recognition: 90%:15 years 48%:48 years
Free Recall: 60%:15 years 30%:48 years

Question 16

What did Bahrick conclude for Duration into the LTM?

Answer 16

lasts a lifetime

Question 17

What did Baddeley conclude from his findings?

Answer 17

STM codes acoustically and LTM codes semantically

Question 18

What is a main limitation to the research into Coding, Capacity and Duration?

Answer 18

-utilise artificial stimuli -Baddeley worked with word lists -personal meaning may trigger different response -no validity to findings into coding, may use semantic for STM -limited ecological validity

Question 19

How is Bahricks study a strength as research into duration?

Answer 19

-high external validity -investigated meaningful stimuli -high school year books
-Shepard saw recall rates were lower with meaningless pictures -Bahricks findings reflective of real life duration estimate

Question 20

What is a strength to Baddeleys research?

Answer 20

-identified clear difference between two memory stores -STM: acoustic LTM: semantic
-important factor in understanding of MSM -difference is consistent in memory system

Question 21

What is a strength to Jacobs study into capacity?

Answer 21

-replicated -confirmed by Bopp and Verhaegen -improves reliability of results

Question 22

How is Millers research into capacity limiting?

Answer 22

-may have overestimated STM capacity -Cowan reviewed other research and concluded it is only 4 +/- 1 chunks -suggests lower end of Millers assumption is more appropriate -lacks validity due to opposing research