Memory

What is memory?

the process of retaining information after the original thing disappears

what are the three stages of memory?

encoding, storage, retrieval

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system

storage

the process of maintaining information in memory over time- STM ,LTM

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

Multi-Store Model of Memory

structural model.- Atkinson and Shiffrin

what type of store is STM and LTM?

unitary (separate and alone)

how does information pas from store to store?

linear way

which store is where all info from environment is received?

sensory store

what is after sensory store?

short term store

if rehearsal takes place, where does information go?

long term store

what happened if rehearsal doesn't take place?

info is lost due to forgetting

the More something is rehearsed, the \_________ the memory trace

stronger

What is the STM capacity?

7+/-2
5-9 items

what type of encoding does STM use?

acoustic (sound)

what type of coding does LTM use?

semantic (by meaning) we are more likely to confused the word barn with shed rather than born

What is iconic memory?

visual memory

What is echoic memory?

auditory sensory memory

capacity of LTM

unlimited

duration of memory in LTM

lifetime

two researchers for capacity:

Jacob and Miller (cheese crackers)

what is meant by the term capacity?

refers to the amount of information that can be held at any one time in memory

Capacity of STM

7 +/- 2 (LIMITED)

What was millers study called?

"Magic number seven plus or minus 2"

Jacobs study on capacity

ppl were to read list of either worlds or numbers that they had to recall immediately after. Jacobs gradually increased the length of digits.

what did Jacob find that increased recall?

ppts had an increased capacity of numbers than letters and recall increased with age

how many number and letter did PPTS recall in jacobs study?

9 numbers and only 7 letters

what did Miller discover about chunking?

it can increase capacity

primary-recency effect

the tendency to show greater memory for information that comes first or last in a sequence because first ones are being rehearsed and last ones are still fresh in memory

who's study is duration of STM

Peterson & Peterson

Peterson and Peterson (1959)

1. letter strings of 3 letters (Trigrams) were presented over headphone
2. after hearing told to counts backwards in threes for set amount of time
3. pmts asked to recall trigrams

trigrams

Sequences of three words.

retention interval

the length of time between the presentation of materials to be remembered and the measurement of forgetting

Peterson and Peterson findings

80% correct over 3 secs
40% after 9 secs
5% after 18 secs

the longer the person had to retain the information..

the more mistakes they made

what did Peterson and Peterson (P&P) conclude?

The duration of STM is between 20-30 seconds. And without rehearsal the length of STM was 18 seconds

how was p & p study artificial?

lack of ecological validity as it was conducted in a lab
not a real life memory
meaningless letters

can ppts in p & ps study, being tired/confused affect the study?

by the end may have been tired so order effects issue

how is P & P study not representative?

24 student from university
cannot be generalised
student may be better as they revise a lot and are young
memory could worsen with age

any ethical issues in p & p study?

not too bad
maybe embarrassed, if low score
some deception

who's study for duration in LTM?

Bahrick (think Pali)

what's VLTM?

very long term memory

what was barracks opportunity sample?

392 American ex high school students aged 17-74

the 3 diff ways bahrick tested them?

1. free recall- as many names of former classmates
2. visual recognition - a photo test, asked to identify classmate
3. verbal recognition - a name recognition

why was bahricks study assessing VLTM?

cos the time since leaving school was up to 48 years

which of the 3 test of bahricks was the best for them to remember ?

visual recognition

the people who left school 15 years ago had a higher percentage accuracy than...

people who left 48 years ago

in free recall, how much did people who left 48 yrs ago recall?

30% whilst 15 yrs\= 60%

in visual recognition, how much did people who left 48 yrs ago recall?

80% but 90% for 15yrs

in verbal recognition, how much did people who left 48 yrs ago recall?

70% hoover 90% 15 yrs

why is visual better than free recall?

cos triggers/clues help memory

why was visual recognition good?

because faces are unique to ensure survival of humans we do it everyday.

why are verbal recognition really good as well?

lots of rehearsal at time of encoding for example register 2x everyday. But so could they remember school events that don't get repeated

what does bahricks study have which is AMAZING?

ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY

who did study of coding in STM & LTM?

Baddeley (1966)

what coding does STM mainly use?

Acoustic - made words that sounds similar confusing and difficult to code

What coding does LTM mainly use?

Semantic - made words that meant the same thing confusing and difficult to code

Findings for Baddeley:

- When STM was tested, participants were better at words that were acoustically dissimilar

- When LTM was tested, participants were better at words that were semantically dissimilar

how does baddeley study lack ecological validity?

artificial not like real life. BUT needed to control word list for consistency and reliability

what can STM also be, acoustic and..?

visual e.g pics

sesnory memory

cannot be controlled and last only a few seconds

Sperling's experiment

Matrix of letters used in attempt to measure short-term memory, but did not work well until implementation of audio.

when the ppts immediately recalled the letters after, how much?

recall 4-5 letters of the 9 they were given (50%)

Sterling believed that all 9 letters were stored in viewers memory but for short time, however the memory failed to only 4/5 being recalled, what is this called?

iconic memory

capacity of sensory memory

very large

duration of sensory memory? in I & E

Iconic - 1/2 sec
Echoic - 4 sec

encoding in sensory memory

Echoic and iconic memory

duration of STM

30 seconds

Sperling GRAVE:

- easy to replicate as it is simple procedure, other researchers have found consistent results

- VERY THOUGHT-OUT PROCEDURE

-Artificial as its not regular memory but need to be controlled so they can ensure its meaningless

- no major ethical issues but maybe anxiety over performance

What are the CASE STUDIES of memory loss:

HM, KF & Clive Wearing

what problems do we have with case studies as evidence for the multi-store model?

cannot generalise from case studies as only a small amount of people. Brains damaged and is not functioning properly

an example of how rehearsal doesn't always lead to LTM storage:

Gcses are rehearsed but forgotten but celebrity gossip is not rehearsed but remembered

which effect shows that STM and LTM are separate?

primary and recency effect

how does acoustic STM become Semantic at LTM?

The multistore model is linear but how do memories change coding format? is there a processor??

How do people with brain damage, not do STM task but their LTM is fine?

stores must be seperate
but
how can LTM go through a damaged STM (linear)

how made the "working memory model"?

Baddely and Hitch

Working Memory Model

An explanation of the memory used when working on a task. Each store is qualitatively different.

Is STM passive?

no its active and is what you are working on

what does the central executive component do?

decided what working memory pays attention to.
They have a limited capacity

phonological loop

the part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information. Limited capacity

what is the phonological look further subdivided into?

- phonological store \= deals with speech
- Articulatory process \= hold words heard/seen and silently repeated like an inner voice.

Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)

Temporarily stores a limited amount of visual and spatial info for a brief period of time. It's anything you can see, including features of an image. Spatial info refers to relationships between things. Eg sitting down on a chair without looking. Capacity is limited

what is spatial info?

relationships between thing

which researcher suggested the subdivision of visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Logie

what are the 2 subdivision for visuo-spatial sketch pad?

- visuo-cahe ( a passive store)
- inner scribe for spatial relations and rehearsal

What is the episodic buffer?

connection between working and long term memory.

- it also combines information in order to create an episode (e.g. location + time).
- links to LTM to add meaning

Baddeley and Hitch study

two statements (A then B)
ppt then-given a screen with statement b followed by stamens a and they were told to state whether the order was true or false
( occupies the central executive)

whilst doing the (A then B) task, what were they require to do?

1. repeat 'THE THE THE THE'
2. PPTS say random digits out loud
3. ppts don't do anything

which component does repeating "THE THE THE THE'' occupy?

articulatory loop

which comment does saying 'random digits loud' occupy?

articulatory loop and central executive

why did saying random digits loud take longer to identify true/false?

It uses both components

articulatory loop

Revives memory traces by rehearsing them, subvocal speech.

central executive

the part of working memory that directs attention and processing

word length effect

Baddely et al.
people can recall more short words than long, as the articulatory loop can repeat them more in 2 second

Studies to support WMM:

Baddely et al.
gave ppts a visual tracking talk: to track a moving line with a pointer.
They also had to:
1. describe the angle of F
2. Perform a verbal task

strength about Working memory model:

- detailed more than the MSM
- explains individual differnces
- articulatory loop only last for 2 sec so more short words can be recalled in 2 sec than long

which case study supports WMM?

KF- he had problems processing verbal memories but visual one were ok

Weakness of WMM:

- capacity in each store is limited but is not clear
- how does info go into LTM? (episodic buffer introduced at 2000)
- little research as been done for central executive
- lack of ecological vanity however could be argued to have mundane realism

What does the episodic buffer do?

temporarily stores info and integrates it between subsystems and into long-term memory

what does the visa-spatial sketchpad store?

visual and spatial informations