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Background
one suggestion made by the multi-store model of memory is that short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) are two different stores. support for this claim comes from the result of the following experiment which shows that delay has a much larger effect on recency effect than what it has on primacy effect.
Aim
to investigate the recency effect in free recall (i.e. in any order)
Hypothesis
delays between presentation and recall will reduce the recency effect (tendency to remember things that happened last) but not the primary effect (tendency to remember things that happened first)
Participants
46 army enlisted men
Procedure
participants were tested individually. each participant was shown fifteen 15-word lists on a screen. one word appeared at a time, and each word was shown for 1 second with a 2-seconds interval between words. the experimenter also read each word as it appeared. all words used were monosyllabic nouns. after the last word in each list, the symbol '#', or a digit from 0 to 9 was shown. if the hashtag symbol was shown, the experimenter said 'write,' and the participant immediately started writing all the words he/she could recall. if a number appeared the participant was to start counting out loud from that number until the experimenter said 'write.' while the participant was counting, the experimenter measured either 10 or 30 seconds with a stopwatch before telling him to write. each of the delay conditions were used with five of the lists. for each participant, the words were assigned at random to the lists and the order of the delay conditions was also assigned at random. therefore, each participant received a different set of lists and a different sequence of delay conditions. after each list, the participant was given 1-5 minutes to complete his/her recall of the list.
Results
the mean number of correctly recalled words for each position and for each condition was calculated. a 10-second delay reduced the recency effect (i.e. number of words from position 13-15) and a 30-second delay totally eliminated the recency effect. the primary effect was more or less unaffected by 10-second delays. for a delay of 30 seconds there was still a clear primacy effect.
Conclusion
the study supports the idea of multiple stores of memory (STM and LTM)
Method
laboratory (true) experiment IV: time between appearance of word lists (and order of words within lists assigned to different participants) DV: ability to recall words
Critical thinking: methodological considerations
strengths:
cause and effect relationship
increased control and accuracy
objectivity
standardization
internal validity limitations:
total control = impossible
artificial (lacks mundane realism)
biased results
ethics (protection from harm)
Critical thinking: alternative explanations
as short-term memory is encoded acoustically/verbally, the reason why the recency effect was reduced could be because the inability to hear the terms, and therefore process it through e.g. connecting it with a personal experience (meaning)
Critical thinking: gender considerations
as only men participated in this study, it is considered gender biased as it is not representative of women (whose brains work differently)
Critical thinking: ethical considerations
the study was ethical because it can be assumed that there was informed consent, the participants were not deceived, their identities remained confidential, they were debriefed, could withdraw, and they were protected from mental and physical harm
Critical thinking: cultural considerations
as neither the location of the study nor the ethnic/cultural background of the participants is mentioned, potential cultural bias cannot be inferred
Critical thinking: applications
the results of the experiment are applicable to the development of improved study techniques in learning environments (school, university)
How does this study demonstrate the components of the multi-store model of memory?
since the multi-store model of memory suggests that different stages of memory (i.e. sensory store, short-term, and long-term) are classified according to their duration, of which short-term memory is around 30 seconds, the results imply that if rehearsal is inhibited by a distraction task, information cannot become part of long-term memory. the short-term memory fills up with the distractions of the delay intervals, making it difficult for the brain to consider the terms/words that appear later in the list (supports the serial postion curve)
