Psychology - Memory

• Memory

  
  

  The process in which we retain information about events that have happened in the past
• Capacity

  
  

  Amount/Quantity - The quantity of information stored
• Duration

  
  

  Time – The length of time information is held for
• Coding

  Format – The type of information being stored
• How is information stored in the STM

  Acoustically - when words sound the same
• How is information stored in the LTM

  Semantically - when words have similar meanings
• Strengths of MSM

  • Studies have confirmed that STM and LTM are distinct memory systems
  • Baddeley's research found individuals confuse similar-sounding words in STM and similar-meaning words in LTM
  • Supported by studies examining evidence that STM and LTM are separate memory stores, as suggested by the MSM

   
• Criticisms of MSM

  • MSM may not be an entirely accurate representation of how memory functions in daily lives
  • We have to remember more meaningful information, whereas this isn't
• Different components of LTM

  • Episodic
  • Semantic
  • Procedural
• Episodic

  • Explicit
  • Personal experience
  • Hippocampus + prefrontal cortex
• Semantic

  • Explicit
  • Knowledge, facts
  • Temporal lobe
• Procedural

  • Implicit
  • Performed tasks
  • Cerebellum + motor cortex
• Patient HM

  • Hippocampus removed after constant seizures
  • He was able to learn new performed tasks (procedural), but lost aspects of personal experience and couldn't form new ones
  • Showed that there are different LTM stores as not all of his LTM was damaged
• Peterson and Peterson (1959)

  • Investigated STM duration
  • Pps recalled trigrams at different intervals
  • Completed distractor task from 3-18s before recalling letter
  • Longer intervals = less accuracy
  • STM has limited duration of 18s (not rehearsed = not passed to LTM)
• Working Memory Model (WMM)

  Consists of a central executive, the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad
• Phonological Loop

  
  

  Made up of phonological store and the articulatory control system
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad

  
  

  Stores visual information and manipulates mental images
• Dual task


  Where two different tasks are performed at the same time
• Baddeley and Hitch (1976) WMM support

  
  

  Method: Participants complete two tasks at the same time e.g

  Condition 1 - participants complete two acoustic-based tasks

  Condition 2 - participants complete one acoustic and one visual task

  Both tasks where they require participants to use phonological loop, their ability to perform the tasks is impaired. However, when one tasks uses the phonological loop and the other uses the visuo-spatial sketchpad, then the participants' performance is significantly better.
• Jacobs (1887)

  
  

  • Researcher gives number of digits, pps recall in order
  • Amount of digits increases by 1 + recall again until they get order wrong
  • The mean digit span for pps was 9.3 items
  • For letters it was 7.3 letters
  • Test has been replicated so a valid test of digit span in STM
• George Miller

  
  

  • Argued most things come in 7
  • On average, we can recall 7 times +/- 2 with range between 5-9
  • Can remember more if it's broken into 5-9 chunks
  • We can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters, through chunking
• Patient KF (Shallice and Warrington (1970))


  • KF given list of names and asked to recall
  • He was able to recall single digits, not double
  • Also had better recall when recalling to himself
  • STM problems were greater with auditory info than visual
  • Damage done to phonological loop (STM), left LTM intact