E2: Memory #1

What is the Modal Model of Memory (three stage model)?

A theory that memory has three separate stores: sensory, short term, and long term memory.

What is sensory memory? What are its capacity, duration and function?

Sensory memory briefly holds incoming sensory information.

• Capacity: Very large

• Duration: Very brief (milliseconds to a few seconds)

• Function: Allows perception to seem continuous and gives time to select information for further processing.

Q: What are echoic and iconic memory, and their durations?

• Echoic memory: Auditory sensory memory, lasts ~3–4 seconds.

• Iconic memory: Visual sensory memory, lasts ~0.5 seconds.

How did the Sperling study measure sensory memory? What were the results?

Participants viewed a grid of letters for a split second.

• Whole report: They recalled only 4–5 letters.

• Partial report (cued to recall one row): Nearly all letters from that row were recalled.
  Result: Sensory memory has a large capacity but very short duration.

What is short-term memory (STM)? What are its capacity, duration, and function?

STM is the system for temporarily storing and manipulating information.

• Capacity: About 7 ± 2 items (“magic number”)

• Duration: About 15–30 seconds without rehearsal

• Function: Holds information for immediate use or processing.

What is chunking?

Grouping individual pieces of information into larger, meaningful units to expand the effective capacity of short-term memory.

What is the “magic number” in short-term memory?

7 ± 2 items — the average capacity of STM.

How did Peterson & Peterson study STM duration, and what did they find?

Participants were asked to remember 3 consonants while counting backward by 3s (to prevent rehearsal). Recall dropped rapidly after 18 seconds.
Result: STM lasts only 15–30 seconds without rehearsal.

Q: What are attention, rehearsal, encoding, and retrieval?

• Attention: Focusing on information to move it from sensory to short-term memory.

• Rehearsal: Repeating information to maintain it in short-term memory or encode it into long-term memory.

• Encoding: Process of transferring information from short-term to long-term memory.

• Retrieval: Accessing stored information from long-term memory back into conscious awareness.

Kinds of Sensory Memory

visual (iconic memory)

auditory (echoic memory)

touch (haptic memory)

taste (gustic memory)

smell (olfactic memory)