MEMORY FLASHCARDS

AQA Psych A Level

Types of Memories + their functions

STM - temporary memory store for events in the present/immediate past - Short duration + Small Capacity

LTM - more permanent memory store for events that have happened in the more distant past - Long duration + Large Capacity

Coding definition

the way in which information is changed so that it can be stored in memory

Capacity definition

the amount of information that can be stored in the memory at any given time

Duration definition

the length of time information remains in storage within memory (how long a memory lasts)

Coding - Baddeley (1996)

Baddeley gave different lists of words to 4 groups of ppts:

• Acoustically similar - word sounded similar (cat, cab, can)

• Acoustically dissimilar - words sounded different (pit, few, cow)

• Semantically similar - words with similar meanings (great, large, big)

• Semantically dissimilar - words with different meanings (good, huge, hot)

Ppts were shown the original words and were asked to recall them in correct order

• when they did the task immediately, they were using STM and tended to do worse with acoustically similar words

• when they recalled from LTM (waited 20 mins) they did worse with semantically similar words

Coding - Conclusion

• For STM, since the list of acoustically similar words was recalled the least efficiently, it seems that there was acoustic confusion in STM - therefore STM is coded acoustically

• For LTM, since the list of semantically similar words was recalled the least efficiently it seems there was semantic confusion in LTM - therefore LTM is coded semantically

Definition: Acoustically Coded

Coded in terms of how it sounds

Definition: Semantically Coded

Coded in terms of meaning

Definition: Visually Coded

Coded in terms of the image

Evaluation - Baddeley Coding

Strengths:

• it identified 2 memory stores

• this led to the development of the MSM

Limitations:

• used artificial stimuli

• Lacks ecological validity - the words used had no personal meaning to the ppts so it does not tell us about coding for everyday memory tasks, so the findings of this study have limited application

Capacity (Testing Digit Span) - Jacobs (1887)

• Joseph Jacobs read out 4 digits and the ppts tried to recall them in the correct order

• If the ppt got it correct, they would increase the number of digits to 5 and so on until they make a mistake - this gives us an indication of their digit span

• the mean span for digits ranges between 9-3 items, and for letters this was a range of 7-3

• Jacobs concluded that STM has a limited storage capacity

Capacity (7±2) - Miller (1956)

• Miller observed everyday practice and noticed that things come in sevens - notes of musical scale, days of the week, seven deadly sins etc.

• He believed that the span of STM is around 7 items (plus or minus 2)

• He noted that people can recall 5 letters as easily as they can recall 5 numbers by chunking them together (grouping sets of digits or letters in units/chunks)

• Miller’s explanation highlights that the capacity of STM is limited by the number of chunks, not the number of individual, basic units of information

Evaluation - Capacity (Miller + Jacobs)

Strengths:

• Jacobs’ study has been replicated - his findings have been confirmed in later controlled studies (e.g. Bopp and Verhaeghen 2005)

• Enhances the validity that Jacobs’ study is a valid measure of STM digit span

• Real-world application in remembering phone numbers (for example)

Limitations:

• Cowan (2001) reviewed studies on capacity of STM and concluded that it is limited to 4 chunks - suggests that the lower end of Miller’s estimate (5 items) is more appropriate

• Vogel (2001) looked at capacity for visual items and also said it is limited to 4 chunks

• Simon (1974) found that people had a shorter memory span for large chunks (e.g. A phrase) and a longer memory span for small chunks (e.g. A one-syllable word) - So it is the size of the chunk that matters

Capacity of LTM - Linton (1975)

• Linton (1975) conducted an autobiographical study using a memory diary to record 6 years of event from her life

• A researcher would randomly select pairs of records once a month and Linton would try to estimate the chronological order in which they had occurred and the date of each recorded event

• The average items tested each month was 150, from 5,500 items in total after 6 years

• Linton found that her memory for real-life events decreased at a rate of 5% a year, but she was able to recall a lot more items than expected, suggesting that real-life memories are a lot more durable than those of most lab experiments

• Conclusion = the capacity of the LTM is very large and potentially limitless

Duration of STM (consonant syllables) - Peterson & Peterson (1959)

• 24 students were given a consonant syllable (e.g. YCG) to recall and a 3-digit number to count backwards from

• When tested after 3 seconds, they could recall 80% of them, but after 18 seconds (retention interval) they could only remember 10%

• recall got progressively worse as the delay increase

• Conclusion = STM lasts 15-30 seconds (average 18 seconds)

Evaluation - STM Duration Peterson & Peterson

Strengths:

• showed that forgetting in STM can occur if information is not rehearsed

• high levels of control

• replicability

Limitations:

• trying to memorise consonant syllables does not reflect everyday memory activities so it is artificial and lacks ecological validity

• Marsh et al. (1997) explained that when ppts aren’t expecting to be tested, forgetting will occur after 2 seconds

• Is the study really testing for duration or just displacement - the numbers may displace the syllables to be remembered

Duration of LTM - Bahrick et al. (1975)

• Participants - 392 Americans between 14-17

• Recognition test - 50 photos from high school year books - 90% accurate after 15 years, 70% after 48 years

• Free recall test - Participants listed names of their graduating class - 60% recall after 15 years, 30% after 48 years

Evaluation - LTM Duration Bahrick et al.

Strengths:

• The research demonstrates VLTM for a particular type of information - familiar faces that are likely to have emotional significance

• Study uses meaningful stimuli (high school year books) to test memory - therefore the research is more representative of natural behaviour so it has a high ecological validity

• When lab studies were done with meaningless pictures to be remembered, recall rates were lower (e.g. Shephard 1967)

Limitations:

• it cannot be concluded that VLTM exists for all types of information - maybe just for emotionally meaningful stimuli

• a weakness is that it is unclear whether the drop off in accuracy is due to limits of duration or a general decline with memory as we become older