MEMORY

• what is coding


  the process of converting information into a form that can be store in memory

  involves transforming sensor input into a representation that can be processed and stored by the brain
• what is capacity


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

  this varies across memory stores
• what is duration


  the length of time that information can be retained in memory before it is forgotten

  various between different memory stores
• what is the sensory resister for coding


  its the raw unprocessed information corresponding to the specific sensory modality (visual, auditory)

  eg visual information is stored as images and auditory information as sounds
• what did crowder (1993) find


  his research provides a significant insight into how the sensory register codes different types of information

  his findings found that the sensory register is not a single store but consists of multiple sub-stores and each is dedicated to a specific type of sensory information
• what are the different sub-stores for memory

  iconic memory - allows for rapid processing of visual information, crucial for tasks that requires immediate attention and response such as reading or recognising faces

  echoic memory - slightly longer duration supports the processing of auditory information which unfolds over time such as conversations or music

  haptic memory - recognises and responses to touch based stimuli which is important for physical interactions with the environment
• what is the sensory register for capacity


  very large and can hold a large amount of sensory information from the environment, this information can only be held very briefly
• what was sperling's study on capacity


  - pp's were told to recall as many letter as they could from a grid and they could only recall 4-5 letters

  - he then introduced a tone after the grid was shown which showed which row the pp should recall, pp's were able to recall 3-4 letters from the indicated row
• evaluation of sperling's study (negative)


  - lacks ecological validity as people dont normally have to recall letters in response to a sound so the results might not represent what would happen in the real world
• what is the sensory register of duration


  very short and typically less than a second
• what is the coding for short term memory


  primarily acoustic (sounds)

  this is found through the tendency to confused words or letters that sound the same
• what did baddley find


  - baddley presented pp's with a list of words that were acoustically similar (cat,cap)

  pp's were asked to recall the words after the presentation

  - pp's found it harder to recall acoustically similar words compared to dissimilar words
• evaluation of baddly's study (negative)


  - lacks ecological validity also there are other types of LTM such as episodic and procedural and other methods of coding which his experiment doesn't consider

  - the experiment uses a independent group design so there was no control over participant variables
• what is the capacity for short term memory


  limited - the typical capacity is 7+-2 items

  this can be increased through chunking which is when you group bits of information into larger meaningful units
• what did jacob's find

  - pp's were presented a sequence of numbers or letters and asked to recall them in the right order

  - the length of the sequence gradually increased until the pp could not longer recall the sequence accurately

  - jacobs found that the STM has a limited storage capacity of 9-5 items
• evaluation of jacobs study (negative)


  - his study is artificial and lacks ecological validity and this isn't something you'd do in the real world
• what is the duration for short term memory


  - relatively short, lasts about 18-20 seconds without rehearsal

  rehearsal such as repeating the information can extend the duration of the STM
• what did peterson and peterson do

  - pp's were shown three random betters in a trigram and were asked to recall them after a certain amount of time (3 seconds, 6 seconds, 9 seconds)

  during this time they were asked to count backwards in threes from a given number

  this is a interference task to prevent them from repeating the numbers in their head

  - after 3 seconds the pp's could only recall about 80% of trigrams right

  - after 18 seconds the pp's could only recall 10% of trigrams right
• evaluation of peterson and peterson's study (negative)


  - nonsense trigrams are artificial and lacks ecological validity
• what is the coding for long term memory


  - its semantic which means information is stored basked on its meaning

  LTM can also involve other forms of coding such as visual or acoustic depending on the nature of the information
• what did baddley find


  - pp's were presented with four sets of words that were semantically similar (big, large, great) or semantically dissimilar (good,hot,safe)

  with a 20min delay the pp's were asked to recall the words

  - found that pp's had issues recalling acoustically similar words and issues with recalling semantically similar words
• evaluation of baddley's study (negative)


  - lacks ecological validity as there are other types of LTM such as episodic memory and procedural memory which this experiment doesn't consider
• what is the capacity for long term memory


  potentially unlimited, it can store vast amounts of information for long periods from a few minutes to a lifetime
• what is the duration for long term memory


  potentially unlimited, can last for many years, although the ability to retrieve them can vary
• what did bahrick et al find


  - tested memory of 392 participants who had graduated high school 48 years earlier

  - recall photo recognition and name recognition tests
• what is the multi store of memory


  how information is proceeded and stored

  - sensory register, short term memory and long term memory
• strengths of the multi store of memory


  - H.M case: he suffered with severe epilepsy and went under surgery for his condition

  - the surgery removed large parts of his temporal lobes, including the hippocampus which was the origin of his seizures
• what did baddeley find in the differences of STM and LTM


  - his study was so investigate the effects of acoustic and semantic similarity on STM and LTM

  - pp's were split into 4 groups and had different word lists:

  1. acoustically similar (cat,mat,bat)

  2. acoustically dissimilar (pit,cow,few)

  3. semantically similar (big,large,huge)

  4. semantically dissimilar (good,hot,safe)

  
  

  STM pp's: list of words to recall immediately after being shown

  LTM pp's: given the same lists, but recalled with a delay
• weaknesses of the multi store of memory


  - KF suffered brain damage from an accident, led to significant impairments in his STM while his LTM stayed intact

  - he had difficulties processing and recalling spoken words and numbers but his visual memory was unaffected
• what is the use of artificial materials


  all the research uses artificial materials such as numbers,letters, or letter triads

  they are easy to control and standardise and create a consistent and replicable experimental condition r
• what are the three types of LTM


  episodic, semantic, procedural
• what is episodic memory


  the ability to recall specific events or experiences from ones past

  the memory is autobiographical and involves remembering the context in which events occurred, including time, place and emotions associated with them
• what is semantic memory


  involves the storage of general knowledge about the world

  it is not linked to personal experiences but facts, concepts and meaning that have been leant over time
• positives for multiple LTM stores


  + clive wearing suffered amnesia following a viral infections of the brain

  + severely damaged his hippocampus and surrounding areas of the temporal lobe

  + H.M suffered with severe epilepsy and went under surgery to help his condition and the removal of large portions of his medical temporal lobes, including the hippocampus on both sides of his bran
• limitations of brain injury in memory research


  - it's crucial to isolate the effects of the IV (the brain injury) and on thr DV (memory performance)

  - in real life cases, numerous factors beyond the researchers control can influence memory outcomes
• what is evidence against the multiple long term memory stores (negative)


  - conflicting results from the studies challenges the theory of long term memory, different studies identify different brain areas for the same type of memory and becomes difficult to map out episodic and semantic memories

  - a lack of consistency undermines the argument for separate well defined memory stores
• what did tulving find about episodic memory


  - he found that episodic memory could be viewed as a subcategory or type of semantic memory rather than a completely separate system

  - episodic memory might be dependent on semantic memory for the encoding and retrieval of personal experiences
• what is procedural memory


  it is responsible for our knowledge of how to perform task and actions, and referred to as 'muscle memory' and involves the acquisition of skills and routines that are performed automatically without conscious thoughts
• what is the working memory model


  - proposed by baddeley and hitch as an alternative to the multi store model of memory

  - WMM focuses on short term memory and composed of several components which are responsible for different aspects of processing and temporarily storing information
• what is the central executive


  - the control centre of the working memory

  - directs attention and cooperated the activities of the other components of the WMM

  -it does not store information but oversees cognitive tasks such as: problem solving, reasoning and switching attention between tasks