SLHS 507 Quiz 2: Working & Short-Term Memory

Why does memory matter?

• Memory is key for learning

• New information and skills cannot be retained without memory

What is short-term memory?

Temporary storage of new information

• limited capacity

What is the STM serial position curve?

• Serial position curve 

  • best recall of early and late information

  • more likely to forget medial information

    • Primacy (advantage for early information) and recency (advantage for last information) effect

      • List of words someone is given and they are asked what words were on it 

      • People often remember the first items and the last ones 

      • The medial items get forgotten

What are some STM strategies?

• maintenance rehearsal

• chunking

• elaborative rehearsal

What is maintenance rehearsal?

• Maintenance rehearsal

  • Repeating information to temporarily retain in STM

  • Maintenance rehearsal does not mean learning

  • 7 (+ or - 2 items) can be simultaneously maintained via rehearsal

What is chunking?

• Chunking = grouping information into fewer items for increasing maintenance rehearsal capacity 

  • Increasing the efficiency that helps you remember better

  • 4 9 2 0 8 3 5 2 = 49 20 83 52

What is elaborative rehearsal?

• Elaborative rehearsal 

  • Deeper analysis of new information 

  • Engaging in deeper analysis of new information 

  • Successful elaborative rehearsal actually does lead to long term memory because you are learning

  • Semantic association. Mnemonics, songs

What is working memory?

• Temporary storage and manipulation of new information 

  • Limited capacity 

  • Always STM and something else – have to hold the information first

Discuss the model of working memory

• Central executive 

  • Controls and directs attentional resources 

• Phonological loop 

  • Phonological store: storage of auditory information 

  • Articulatory control process: verbal rehearsal 

  • Alien symbols we've never seen before – we could still do a STM task but because we don't have names for those it is all purely visual – having a name for something adds an auditory component to the task whether you say it in your head or out loud

• Visuospatial loop

  • Stores visual information

  • Color, shape, location

  • Spatial rotation

• Episodic buffer

  • Connects new information to knowledge in LTM

  • allows binding and integration of information

• All of these things can go into LTM and things from LTM can boost our short term memory

Short term memory and working memory across ages

• Increases in capacity across childhood

• In adulthood these capacities start to become reduced but not by huge amounts but visual memory declines faster over age than verbal memory

Whar clinical considerations should we keep in mind about STM and WM?

• May affect the number of instructions/steps that you can give a client/patient at one time 

  • Break things up into smaller pieces, when possible

  • Consider the use of visual reminders to reduce memory demands