research into coding in memory

Question 1

nature of memory 3 things

Answer 1

coding, capacity, duration

Question 2

coding refers to

Answer 2

Information is stored in memory in different forms, depending on the memory store. The process of converting information between different forms is called coding.

Depending on where the information is stored, it might be coded differently:
• Short-term memory (STM) usually codes things acoustically — in terms of sound.
Example: You hear a phone number and repeat it in your head to remember it.
• Long-term memory (LTM) usually codes things semantically — in terms of meaning.
Example: You remember what “justice” means, not what it sounds like.

So that sentence means:

Your brain converts information into different formats, depending on which type of memory it’s going into — and that process is called coding.

Question 3

Baddeley-research into coding

Answer 3

Baddeley (1966) presented participants with one of 4 lists of words.
• Accoustically similar / dissimilar
• Semantically similar / dissimilar.
• Words were presented 1 at a time
Participants were then asked to recall the correct order of the words immediately (STM)and after 20mins.(LTM)

Question 4

Baddeley findings and conclusion

Answer 4

Findings:
When asked initially, ppts struggled to recall the correct order of acoustically similar words → Acoustic confusion

After 20mins ppts struggled to recall semantically similar words → Semantic confusion

Conclusions:
STM → Prefers to code acoustically
LTM → Prefers to code semantically.

Question 5

strength-showed differences between stores

Answer 5

Later research showed that there are some exceptions to Baddeley’s findings, e.g. types of coding.
However, the idea that STM uses mostly acoustic coding and LTM mostly semantic has stood the test of time.
This was an important step in our understanding of the memory system, which led to the creation of the multi-store model.

Question 6

limitation-artificial stimuli in Baddeley’s study

Answer 6

The word lists had no personal meaning to participants.
So Baddeley’s findings may not tell us much about coding in different kinds of memory tasks, especially in everyday life. When processing more meaningful information, people may use semantic coding even for STM tasks.
This suggests that the findings from the study have limited application to memory in the real world.