Types of Memory

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  • Created by: yott33
  • Created on: 15-02-16 10:01

Sensory Register

  • Temporarily stores information from our senses
  • If we don't pay attention to it, it disappears quickly through spontaneous decay.
  • Has a limited capacity and a very limited duration
  • Information is coded depending on the sense that it has picked up e.g. visual, auditory, tactile
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Short-Term Memory

  • Has limited capacity and duration
  • Research indicates that between 5 and 9 items can be held though capacity is increased by chunking
  • Duration is limited to a maximum of 30 seconds.
  • Mainly Acoustic coding (sound)
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Long-Term Memory

  • Unlimited capacity and duration
  • Mainly Semantic Coding

3 Main Types of LTM

Episodic Memory = information about events you've experienced  - declarative memories (can be consciously recalled)

Semantic Memory = facts and knowledge we have learnt - declarative memory

Procedural Memory = knowledge of how to do things e.g. walking - cannot be consciously recalled.

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Coding

Information arrives from the sensory register in its original form such as in sound or vision, and is then encoded in a form that STM can deal with. Inputs can be coded in several ways:

(Example: Platypus)

Visually = by thinking of the image of a platypus

Acoustically = by repeatedly saying 'platypus'

Semantically = by using a knowledge of platypuses

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Case Studies to Learn

  • Baddeley (1966) - coding in STM and LTM
  • Sperling (1960) - Sensory Register
  • Peterson and Peterson (1959) - duration of STM
  • Bahrick et al (1975) - duration of LTM
  • Jacobs (1887) - capacity of STM
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