MSM coding capacity + duration

1. sensory resistor

2. lost info

3. attention

4. short term memory

5. lost of info

6. maintance

7. rehearsal

8. Retrieval

9. long term memory

10. lost info

what is another name for info loss

decay

Coding =

The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores.

Capacity =

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

Duration =

The length of time information can be held in memory

explain research which shows the capacity of STM

Digit span tasks such as Baddeley show that the capacity of STM is limited with a mean of 7.3 words. Miller found that the capacity of STM is 7+/- 2 items. However, chunking can be used to increase this capacity. The capacity of LTM is unlimited.

explain research which provides evidence in support of the length oSTM

Peterson and Peterson used trigrams to test the duration of STM and found that it was 18-30 seconds. Bahrick’s research of high school yearbook photos revealed that the duration of LTM is unlimited.

what’s a limitation of this research

A key limitation of memory research, such as Baddeley’s coding study, is that it often lacks mundane realism, which reduces its external validity. The use of artificial and meaningless stimuli, such as word lists and trigrams, does not reflect how memory operates in everyday life. In real-world situations, information is usually meaningful, allowing individuals to use semantic coding even for short-term memory tasks. In contrast, trigrams and random word lists prevent the use of meaning and strategies that people naturally employ when memorising important information, such as material for examinations or key details from work meetings and presentations. As a result, the findings from such laboratory-based memory tasks may not be fully generalisable to real-life memory processes, meaning the research has limited external validity.

One strength

Whilst memory research is often criticised for its artificial tasks and lack of mundane realism, it can be argued that such criticisms are not entirely justified. In everyday life, there are occasions where individuals are required to memorise relatively meaningless information, such as phone numbers, PINs, passwords, or security codes, which are often retained in short-term memory for brief periods. This increases the relevance of studies such as Peterson and Peterson’s trigrams task, which was specifically designed to investigate the duration of short-term memory using non-meaningful stimuli. By preventing participants from using rehearsal and semantic strategies, the study effectively isolated the capacity of STM, enhancing its internal validity. Consequently, although such tasks may lack ecological validity, they still provide valuable insight into how memory functions under controlled conditions, supporting the relevance of laboratory-based research to certain real-world memory demands.