Coding, capacity and duration S+LTM

the limited capacity store

what is STM?

the permanent memory store

what is LTM?

the process in which information is stored in various memory stores - STM or LTM

what is coding?

the amount of information that can be held in a memory store

what is capacity?

the length of time information can be stored in memory

what is duration?

Baddeley

which psychologist conducted key research into coding?

1. wanted to test the format in which memory is stored in both STM and LTM.

2. He showed participants 4 lists of words:

   1. acoustically similar

   2. acoustically dissimilar

   3. semantically similar 

   4. semantically dissimilar

Key research into coding - Baddeley (procedure)

1. What did Baddeley aim to do?

2. How did he do this?

1. Participants did worse with acoustically similar words- participants often got similar sounding words confused during recall so therefore recall was poor.

2. Participants did worse with semantically similar words- often recalling a word with a similar meaning, and then get them confused during recall

Key research into coding - Baddeley (findings)

1. What did Baddeley find about STM?

2. What did Baddeley find about LTM?

acoustically (similar sounding)

How is STM coded according to Baddeley?

semantically (similar meaning)

How is LTM coded according to Baddeley?

7+/-2

capacity of STM

unlimited

capacity of LTM

Miller

who researched capacity?

The capacity for STM is 7+/-2.

We can extend our STM by chunking: this is when you link certain items together. You can recall 5 ‘chunks’ of information this way.

What did Miller find in his research of capacity?

1. Undergraduate students were used as the sample in this study and were given a consonant syllable (e.g. YCG) to remember and also given a number.

   The students were then asked to count backwards in 3s from this number until they were told to stop.

2. They found that our STM has a very short duration- as the time got longer the participant’s recall was shorter.  It’s thought that STM has a duration of 18-30 seconds

Key research - duration of STM

1. What was the sample of this study, and what were they asked to do?

2. What did the psychologists find?

Peterson and Peterson

who tested duration into STM?

18-30 seconds

duration of STM

1. Participants were aged between 17-74 and using yearbook pictures, the participants were tested through 2 ways: photo recognition and free recall.

2. Participants who were tested within 15 years of graduating were 90% accurate with photo recognition and 60% for free recall

3. Participants who were tested after 48 years were 70% accurate with photo recognition and 30% accurate for free recall

Key research - duration of LTM

1. What was the sample of this study, and what were the 2 ways that participants were tested?

2. What were the findings of the participants who were tested within the shortest time of graduating?

3. What were the findings of the participants who were tested within the longest time of graduating?

where the participants had to recall the names of students (identified in a picture) in their class

1. 90%

2. 70%

in Bahrick’s study, what was the photo recognition condition? also, what were the findings of the students who graduated:

1. within 15 years

2. within 48 years

where the participants recalled all the names of the students in their class from memory

1. 60%

2. 30%

in Bahrick’s study, what was the free recall condition? also, what were the findings of the students who graduated:

1. within 15 years

2. within 48 years

Bahrick

who tested duration of LTM?

unlimited

duration of LTM