Memory - AS AQA
- Created by: jesspalmer
- Created on: 21-11-15 20:26
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- Memory
- Coding, capacity and duration
- Coding- The format in which info is stored in the various memory stores
- Alan Baddeley (1966)
- He gave different lists of words to 4 different groups of participants.
- Acoustically similar.
- Acoustically dissimilar.
- When the participants recalled STM, they did worse with acoustically similar words. After the LTM recall (20 mins) they did worse with semantically similar words.
- Acoustically similar.
- This shows that LTM is coded semantically and STM is coded acoustically.
- When the participants recalled STM, they did worse with acoustically similar words. After the LTM recall (20 mins) they did worse with semantically similar words.
- Semantically similar.
- When the participants recalled STM, they did worse with acoustically similar words. After the LTM recall (20 mins) they did worse with semantically similar words.
- This shows that LTM is coded semantically and STM is coded acoustically.
- When the participants recalled STM, they did worse with acoustically similar words. After the LTM recall (20 mins) they did worse with semantically similar words.
- Semantically dissimilar.
- Evaluation
- Artificial stimuli
- Stimuli used in Baddeley's study was artificial rather than meaningful. So we should be cautious when generalising the findings to other memory tasks in real life.
- Artificial stimuli
- He gave different lists of words to 4 different groups of participants.
- Alan Baddeley (1966)
- Capacity- The amount of info that can be held in a memory store.
- Joseph Jacobs (1887)
- Developed a technique to measure digit span.
- He gave participants 4 digits to remember and increased the amount of digits by one every time the participants recalled them correctly.
- Mean span- Items- 9.3 Letters- 7.3
- He gave participants 4 digits to remember and increased the amount of digits by one every time the participants recalled them correctly.
- Evaluation
- Lacking validity.
- Jacob's study lacked adequate control as it was conducted so long ago. Confounding variables were not controlled.
- But other recent studies back up his results.
- Jacob's study lacked adequate control as it was conducted so long ago. Confounding variables were not controlled.
- Lacking validity.
- Developed a technique to measure digit span.
- George Miller (1956)
- He made observations of everyday things in life that come in 7's- such as 7 days of the week.
- Suggesting the capacity of STM is about 7 items. (+/- 2 items)
- But people can recall words not just letters and they do this by chunking info.
- Suggesting the capacity of STM is about 7 items. (+/- 2 items)
- Evaluation
- Not so many chunks
- Miller may have over estimated the capacity of STM.
- Cowan (2001)
- Reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM was only about 4 chunks. Suggesting the lower end of Miller's estimate (5 items) is more appropriate.
- Cowan (2001)
- Miller may have over estimated the capacity of STM.
- Not so many chunks
- He made observations of everyday things in life that come in 7's- such as 7 days of the week.
- Joseph Jacobs (1887)
- Duration- The length of time info can be held in memory.
- Duration of LTM- Harry Bahrick (1978)
- Studied 392 people. Aged between 17 and 74. High school yearbooks were obtained.
- Recall was tested in 2 ways. 1.) Photo recognition test consisting of 50 photos. 2.) Free recall test where participants recalled all the names of their graduating class.
- Photo recognition- participants tested within 15 years of graduating were 90% accurate. After 48 years this dropped to 70%.
- This shows that duration in LTM lasts a very long time.
- Free recall- participants tested within 15 years of graduating were 60% accurate. After 48 years this dropped to 30%.
- This shows that duration in LTM lasts a very long time.
- Free recall- participants tested within 15 years of graduating were 60% accurate. After 48 years this dropped to 30%.
- Photo recognition- participants tested within 15 years of graduating were 90% accurate. After 48 years this dropped to 70%.
- Recall was tested in 2 ways. 1.) Photo recognition test consisting of 50 photos. 2.) Free recall test where participants recalled all the names of their graduating class.
- Evaluation
- Higher external validity
- This study has a higher external validity because the material was real life memories.
- However, confounding variables play a part - participants could have studied their yearbook for years.
- This study has a higher external validity because the material was real life memories.
- Higher external validity
- Studied 392 people. Aged between 17 and 74. High school yearbooks were obtained.
- Duration of STM - Peterson and Peterson (1959)
- 24 participants. 8 trials. On each trial each participant was given a trigram (3 random letters). They were also given a 3 digit number to count backwards in 3's or 4's to prevent mental rehearsal of the trigram.
- On each trial they were told to stop counting after different amounts of time - 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds.
- This was the retention interval. The longer the interval the less % of correct recalls of the trigrams.
- This shows STM has a very short duration unless rehearsed.
- This was the retention interval. The longer the interval the less % of correct recalls of the trigrams.
- On each trial they were told to stop counting after different amounts of time - 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds.
- Evaluation
- Meaningless stimiuli
- The stimulus material (trigrams) was artificial and does not reflect real life. Therefore the study lacked internal validity.
- But we do remember meaningless things like phone number in real life.
- The stimulus material (trigrams) was artificial and does not reflect real life. Therefore the study lacked internal validity.
- Meaningless stimiuli
- 24 participants. 8 trials. On each trial each participant was given a trigram (3 random letters). They were also given a 3 digit number to count backwards in 3's or 4's to prevent mental rehearsal of the trigram.
- Duration of LTM- Harry Bahrick (1978)
- Coding- The format in which info is stored in the various memory stores
- The multi-store model of memory
- Types of long term memory
- The working memory model
- Coding, capacity and duration
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