nature of memory

Question 1

What is the Multi-Store Model (MSM)?

Answer 1

A model of memory proposed by Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968), suggesting memory is made up of three components: sensory register (SR), short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).

Question 2

Who proposed the Multi-Store Model (MSM)?

Answer 2

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)

Question 3

What are the three components of the Multi-Store Model?

Answer 3

Sensory register (SR), short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).

Question 4

What is coding in memory?

Answer 4

The way in which information is changed and stored in memory.

Question 5

What is duration in memory?

Answer 5

The length of time that information is held in the memory store.

Question 6

What is capacity in memory?

Answer 6

The amount of information that can be stored in a memory store.

Question 7

What was the aim of Miller’s study on STM capacity?

Answer 7

To investigate the capacity of STM.

Question 8

What method did Miller use to investigate STM capacity?

Answer 8

A literature review of published investigations into perception and STM from the 1930s to 1950s, along with a series of his own experiments using word recall lists.

Question 9

What was the aim of Miller’s study on STM capacity?

Answer 9

To investigate the capacity of STM.

Question 10

What method did Miller use to investigate STM capacity?

Answer 10

A literature review of published investigations into perception and STM from the 1930s to 1950s, along with a series of his own experiments using word recall lists.

Question 11

What did Miller conclude about the capacity of STM?

Answer 11

Miller concluded that the typical capacity of STM is about 7 ± 2 items.

Question 12

How many items did Miller suggest people can generally hold in STM?

Answer 12

Between 5 and 9 items.

Question 13

According to Miller, how can STM capacity be increased?

Answer 13

By using chunking, where groups of items are combined into larger, meaningful units.

Question 14

What was the aim of Peterson & Peterson’s study on STM duration?

Answer 14

To investigate how short intervals with an interference task affect the recall of verbally presented items and to infer the duration of STM.

Question 15

What method did Peterson & Peterson use in their STM duration study?

Answer 15

Participants were presented with trigrams (three-consonant nonsense syllables) and three-digit numbers. After the researcher spelled out the trigram, participants were instructed to count backwards from the three-digit number for a set interval (between 3 to 18 seconds). After the interval, they had to recall the trigram.

Question 16

What did Peterson & Peterson find about STM duration?

Answer 16

Recall accuracy decreased as the interval lengthened. At 3 seconds, about 80% of the trigrams were recalled, but only 10% were correctly recalled after 18 seconds.

Question 17

What conclusion did Peterson & Peterson draw about STM duration?

Answer 17

STM has a limited duration of about 18 seconds. If information cannot be rehearsed, it will not be transferred to Long-Term Memory, supporting the Multi-Store Model (MSM).

Question 18

What was the aim of Bahrick’s study on the duration of LTM?

Answer 18

To investigate the duration of LTM.

Question 19

What method did Bahrick use in his study on LTM duration?

Answer 19

392 American university graduates were shown photographs from their high school yearbook. For each photograph, participants were given a group of names and asked to select the name that matched the photograph.

Question 20

What were the findings of Bahrick’s study after 1 year of graduation?

Answer 20

90% of participants were able to correctly match the names and faces 1 year after graduating.

Question 21

What were the findings of Bahrick’s study after 47 years of graduation?

Answer 21

60% of participants were able to correctly match the names and faces 47 years after graduation.

Question 22

What conclusion did Bahrick draw from his study on LTM duration?

Answer 22

Bahrick concluded that people could remember certain types of information, such as names and faces, for almost a lifetime.

Question 23

How long after graduation were participants able to correctly match names and faces in Bahrick’s study?

Answer 23

Participants were able to correctly match names and faces after up to 47 years.

Question 24

Why does Bahrick’s study suggest that LTM has a long duration?

Answer 24

Because participants could recall information such as names and faces even decades after their high school graduation.

Question 25

How does Bahrick's study differ from studies on STM duration?

Answer 25

Bahrick's study suggests that LTM can last much longer, with information like names and faces lasting for decades, unlike STM which is limited to around 18 seconds without rehearsal.

Question 26

What was the method used in Baddeley's study on coding in STM and LTM?

Answer 26

Participants were given different types of word lists to memorize: acoustically similar words (e.g., man, mad, map) and acoustically dissimilar words (e.g., cat, dog, pen); semantically similar words (e.g., large, big, huge) and semantically dissimilar words (e.g., cat, chair, table).

Question 27

What was the procedure for testing recall in Baddeley's study?

Answer 27

After being exposed to the words, participants were asked to recall them in the correct order. Recall was tested after a brief delay for STM (about 20 minutes) and a longer delay for LTM (several hours).

Question 28

What did Baddeley find about recall for STM?

Answer 28

Recall was poorer for acoustically similar words, indicating that STM primarily encodes information based on sound.

Question 29

What did Baddeley find about recall for LTM?

Answer 29

Recall was poorer for semantically similar words, suggesting that LTM uses semantic encoding, focusing on meaning rather than sound.

Question 30

What type of encoding does STM primarily use, according to Baddeley?

Answer 30

STM primarily encodes information acoustically (based on sound).

Question 31

What type of encoding does LTM primarily use, according to Baddeley?

Answer 31

LTM primarily encodes information semantically (based on meaning).

Question 32

How does Jacobs' (1887) research support Miller's (1956) theory of STM capacity?

Answer 32

Jacobs' research supports Miller’s theory by showing that the average recall span in STM is around 7 ± 2 items, which is consistent with Miller’s claim about the limited capacity of STM.

Question 33

What method did Jacobs use in his research on STM capacity?

Answer 33

Jacobs conducted a digit span test with 443 female students aged 8–19. Participants were asked to repeat increasingly long sequences of numbers or letters in the correct order.

Question 34

What were the results of Jacobs' study on STM capacity?

Answer 34

The results showed that the average recall span was 7.3 letters and 9.3 digits, consistent with Miller’s finding that STM can hold around 7 ± 2 items.

Question 35

How do Jacobs' findings relate to Miller’s claim about STM capacity?

Answer 35

Jacobs' findings support Miller’s claim that the typical span of items in STM is around 7, with some variation.

Question 36

What does Jacobs’ research suggest about the capacity of STM?

Answer 36

Jacobs' research suggests that STM has a limited capacity, with people typically able to recall around 7 items, although this can vary.

Question 37

What is a limitation of Miller’s (1956) theory on the capacity of STM?

Answer 37

Miller’s theory does not specify the size or nature of chunks of information, which creates ambiguity in determining the exact capacity of STM.

Question 38

What did Miller suggest about the capacity of STM?

Answer 38

Miller suggested that STM can hold about 7 ± 2 items, but he did not specify the size or nature of these chunks.

Question 39

How does the lack of specification in Miller’s theory affect our understanding of STM?

Answer 39

The lack of specification leaves room for ambiguity, as the size of chunks can vary depending on how the information is organized.

Question 40

How can chunking vary for different individuals, according to the evaluation of Miller’s theory?

Answer 40

For example, someone familiar with a phone number format might be able to chunk numbers more effectively than someone unfamiliar with it.

Question 41

What is the implication of Miller’s theory for future research on STM capacity?

Answer 41

Further research is needed to explore how chunks of information are formed and what their size is, to better understand the true limits of STM and how chunking affects memory capacity.

Question 42

What is a limitation of Miller’s (1956) research into the capacity of STM?

Answer 42

Miller’s research did not account for other factors, such as age, that may influence the capacity of STM.

Question 43

How does age affect STM capacity, according to Jacobs' (1887) study?

Answer 43

Jacobs found that STM capacity varied with age. Younger children had a shorter digit span, while older participants could recall more digits. Specifically, 8-year-olds could recall about 6 digits, while 19-year-olds could recall about 9 digits.

Question 44

What does Jacobs' research suggest about STM capacity?

Answer 44

Jacobs’ research suggests that age influences STM capacity, with cognitive development and experience improving the ability to retain and recall information.

Question 45

Why does Miller’s theory not fully explain the capacity of STM?

Answer 45

Miller’s theory suggests a general capacity of 7 ± 2 items, but it does not address how age-related differences might affect this capacity.

Question 46

What is the implication of age on the understanding of STM capacity?

Answer 46

Further research is needed to examine how factors like age influence STM capacity. This would provide a more complete understanding of how STM capacity develops and how it interacts with Miller's theory.

Question 47

What is a strength of Peterson and Peterson's study on STM duration?

Answer 47

A strength of the study is its controlled experimental design, which allowed for clear conclusions about the duration of STM.

Question 48

What did the controlled procedure in Peterson and Peterson's study include?

Answer 48

The controlled procedure included fixed time intervals and the exclusion of rehearsal through the counting task, ensuring that the only variable affecting recall was the passage of time.

Question 49

Why was the exclusion of rehearsal important in Peterson and Peterson's study?

Answer 49

Excluding rehearsal through the counting task allowed the researchers to isolate and measure the effects of time on STM without interference from other factors.

Question 50

How does the controlled nature of Peterson and Peterson's study impact the validity of the findings?

Answer 50

The controlled nature of the study strengthens the internal validity of the findings, providing reliable evidence for the short duration of STM without rehearsal.

Question 51

What is a limitation of Peterson and Peterson's study on STM duration?

Answer 51

A limitation is the artificial nature of the task, as participants were asked to remember meaningless trigrams, which may not reflect real-world memory use.

Question 52

Why is the use of trigrams a limitation in Peterson and Peterson's study?

Answer 52

The trigrams were arbitrary and lacked personal relevance or context, making them harder to retain and not representative of how we remember meaningful information in everyday life.

Question 53

How does real-life memory differ from the task in Peterson and Peterson's study?

Answer 53

In real life, we often remember meaningful information, such as a friend's phone number or a shopping list, where context and associations aid memory. The trigrams in the study had no such associations.

Question 54

What does the use of trigrams in Peterson and Peterson's study suggest about its ecological validity?

Answer 54

The study lacks ecological validity, as the findings may not generalize to real-life situations where we remember contextualized and meaningful information, not random consonant sequences.

Question 55

How does the artificial nature of Peterson and Peterson's task impact the study's findings?

Answer 55

While the study provides insight into the duration of STM in a controlled setting, it may not fully represent how memory works in real-life scenarios.

Question 56

What is a limitation of Peterson and Peterson's (1959) study on STM duration?

Answer 56

A limitation is that the study may not have measured the duration of STM as intended, but rather the effects of interference.

Question 57

How might the counting task in Peterson and Peterson's study have influenced recall?

Answer 57

The counting task, an interference task, may have disrupted the participants' ability to rehearse the trigram, leading to poorer recall.

Question 58

Why might the decrease in recall accuracy in Peterson and Peterson's study not be due to STM decay?

Answer 58

The decrease in recall accuracy might be due to the interference caused by the counting task, which could have prevented participants from keeping the trigram in their memory.

Question 59

What does this limitation suggest about the study's measurement of STM duration?

Answer 59

The study may not have accurately measured the duration of STM, as the interference task could have been the primary factor influencing recall, rather than the natural decay of memory over time.

Question 60

What is a strength of Bahrick’s study on LTM duration?

Answer 60

A strength is the use of a naturalistic, real-world sample and task, which increases the ecological validity of the findings.

Question 61

How did Bahrick’s study increase the ecological validity of its findings?

Answer 61

The study used participants from various age groups, and the memory task was based on real-life information, such as recognizing and recalling high school classmates.

Question 62

Why is the use of real-life information a strength of Bahrick’s study?

Answer 62

Using real-life information makes the study more applicable to everyday memory processes compared to laboratory studies, which often use artificial stimuli.

Question 63

How does Bahrick’s study reflect everyday memory processes?

Answer 63

The study examines the long-term retention of personally significant information over many years, providing a more accurate reflection of how LTM works in everyday life.

Question 64

What is a limitation of Bahrick’s study on LTM duration?

Answer 64

A limitation is that Bahrick's study may have been influenced by individual differences that could have affected memory performance.

Question 65

How could individual differences have influenced Bahrick’s study results?

Answer 65

Factors such as cognitive ability, frequency of contact with old classmates, or the emotional significance of the memories might have influenced participants' ability to recall faces and names.

Question 66

How might cognitive ability or social interactions affect memory recall in Bahrick’s study?

Answer 66

Participants with better cognitive abilities or more frequent social interactions might have had a stronger retention of memories, potentially skewing the results.

Question 67

What should future research on LTM duration consider, according to the limitation of Bahrick’s study?

Answer 67

Future research should take individual differences into account, as these could affect how memories are stored and recalled over time, leading to a more accurate understanding of LTM duration.

Question 68

What is a potential flaw in Bahrick’s (1975) study on LTM duration?

Answer 68

A potential flaw is the issue of selection bias, as the participants were all from a specific age group and had a shared experience of high school.

Question 69

How could selection bias have affected Bahrick’s study results?

Answer 69

The study focused on people who attended high school and were asked to recall classmates. Those with stronger memories of their school experience or who maintained contact with classmates would likely perform better.

Question 70

What does the selection bias suggest about Bahrick’s findings?

Answer 70

The study might not have accurately measured the natural decline in LTM for everyone, but instead may have reflected the experiences of those with ongoing personal connections to the memories being tested.

Question 71

Why might Bahrick’s study results not be generalizable?

Answer 71

The results may not be generalizable to all individuals or types of memories, as the study did not account for varying degrees of emotional significance or personal engagement with memories.

Question 72

What does this limitation suggest for future research on LTM duration?

Answer 72

Future research should use more diverse samples to account for the varying degrees of emotional significance or personal engagement people may have with certain memories, ensuring more generalizable findings.

Question 73

What is a strength of Baddeley’s (1966) study on encoding in STM and LTM?

Answer 73

A strength is its clear experimental design, which allows for a reliable comparison between encoding in STM and LTM.

Question 74

How did the controlled laboratory conditions improve the reliability of Baddeley’s study?

Answer 74

Participants were presented with word lists under specific conditions, minimizing other variables (such as distractions) and ensuring a controlled environment.

Question 75

How did Baddeley manipulate the type of word list in his study?

Answer 75

Baddeley manipulated the type of word list (acoustically or semantically similar), allowing for a direct comparison of the effects of different types of encoding on recall in STM and LTM.

Question 76

How does Baddeley’s experimental design increase the internal validity of the study?

Answer 76

The controlled approach isolates the specific factors influencing encoding, providing clear evidence of how STM and LTM rely on different types of encoding (acoustic vs. semantic).

Question 77

What is a limitation of Baddeley’s (1966) study on encoding in STM and LTM?

Answer 77

A limitation is that the study primarily used artificial tasks that may not accurately reflect real-life memory processes.

Question 78

How were the word lists used in Baddeley’s study artificial?

Answer 78

Participants were presented with lists of acoustically or semantically similar words (e.g., 'cat,' 'bat' or 'big,' 'large') that were not meaningful in a real-world context.

Question 79

How does real-life memory differ from the tasks in Baddeley’s study?

Answer 79

In everyday life, people typically remember more meaningful and contextually rich information, such as names, events, or stories, rather than random word lists.

Question 80

What does the use of artificial tasks in Baddeley’s study suggest about its ecological validity?

Answer 80

The artificial nature of the tasks limits the study’s ecological validity, meaning its results may not generalize to real-life memory processes.

Question 81

How does the limitation of artificial tasks affect the generalizability of Baddeley’s study?

Answer 81

While the study provides insight into encoding in STM and LTM, its artificial nature limits its ability to reflect real-life memory encoding and recall.

Question 82

What is a limitation of Baddeley’s (1966) study on encoding in LTM?

Answer 82

A limitation is that the study may not have accurately measured encoding in LTM, as the delay between learning and recall was only 20 minutes.

Question 83

Why is a 20-minute delay insufficient for measuring LTM encoding in Baddeley’s study?

Answer 83

The delay was short, and LTM typically involves the retention of information over extended periods, often ranging from hours to years, which may not have been captured in the study.

Question 84

How might the 20-minute delay in Baddeley’s study affect the results?

Answer 84

A 20-minute delay might not allow for sufficient time for information to be fully encoded into LTM, and some of the recall may still be influenced by STM processes rather than LTM storage.

Question 85

What does this limitation suggest about the accuracy of Baddeley’s study in measuring LTM encoding?

Answer 85

The brief retention period may not have allowed for proper encoding into long-term storage, limiting the study's ability to accurately assess LTM encoding.