Psychology Paper 1 - Memory Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is coding?
The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores.
What is capacity?
The amount of information that can be held in a memory store.
What is duration?
The length of time information can be held in a memory.
What was Baddeleys study on coding?
-Baddeley gave different lists of words to 4 groups to remember
1. Group 1 (acoustically similar): words sounded similar
2. Group 2 (acoustically different): words sounded different
3. Group 3 (semantically similar): words with similar meanings
4. Group 4 (semantically different): words with different meanings
-Participants shown original words and asked to recall
-Recalling from STM they did worse with acoustically similar
-Recalling from LTM they did worse semantically similar
-Proof of STM coded acoustically and LTM coded semantically
What was Jacobs study on capacity?
-Digit span test
-Researcher reads 4 digits and participants recall in correct order outloud
-If correct researcher increases digits until participant can no longer recall correctly
-Mean span for digits was 9.3 items
-Mean span for letters was 7.3
What was Millers study on capacity?
-Span of memory and chunking
-Made observations of everyday practice
-Noted things come in 7s
-E.g. seven days, seven deadly sins etc
-SPan of STM is about 7 items +- 2
-Noted people recall 5 words as easily as 5 letters by chunking (grouping set of digits or letter into units or chunks)
What was Peterson and Petersons study on duration?
-Tested 24 students in 8 trials
-Each trial student was given consonant syllable
-Also given 3 digit number
-Student counted backwards from number until told to stop preventing mental rehersal
-After 3 seconds recall was 80%
-After 18 seconds recall was 3%
-STM duration may be about 18 secs unless we reherse
What was Bahricks study on duration?
-Studied 392 American participants between 17 and 74
-High school yearbooks were obtained
-Recall tested by photo recognition and free recall (participants recalled names of graduating class)
-Tested 15 years of graduation were about 90% accurate in photo recognition
-After 48 years recalled declined to 70%
-15 years recalled was about 60% for free recall test
-Declined to 30% after 48 years
-LTM may last to a lifetime
Whats a strength for coding?
Separate memory stores:
-Clear difference between 2 memory stores
-STM is used mostly acoustically
-LTM is used mostly semantically
-Important step in understanding memory system
-Led to multi store model
Whats a weakness for coding?
Artifical stimuli:
-Word lists had no personal meaning to participants
-May not tell us much about coding in different kinds of memory tasks especially in everyday life
-Processing more meaningful information people may use semantic coding for STM
-Findings have limited application
-Cannot extrapolate to everyday life
-Low mundane realism
-Lacking external validity
Whats a strength for capacity?
Valid study:
-Jacobs study can be easily replicated
-Controlled study
-Limited extraneous variables
-Increasing accuracy of findings
-Valid test of digit spanin STM
-Lab experiment
-Increasing internal validity
What is a weakness of capacity?
Not so many chunks:
-Miller may have overestimated STM capacity
-Cowan (2001) reviewed other research and concluded STM is only about 4+-1 chunks
-Lower end of Millers estimate is more appropriate than 7 items
What is a weakness of duration?
Meaningless stimuli in STM study:
-Material was artifical
-Recalling consonant syllables does not reflect most everyday memory activities
-Lacking external validity
-Cannot extrapolate findings to everyday life
-Findings have limited application
-Low mundane realism
