Capacity,duration and coding

• What do all models of memory share in terms of structure?

  The existence of STM and LTM
• What is long-term memory (LTM)?

  A permanent store for limitless information
• How do STM and LTM differ in terms of capacity?

  STM has limited capacity; LTM is unlimited
• What is the duration difference between STM and LTM?

  STM holds information briefly; LTM for long periods
• What does coding/encoding refer to in memory?

  The format in which information is stored
• What is the capacity of short-term memory (STM)?

  1. 9 items or 7±2 chunks
• How can the capacity of STM be assessed?

  Using a digit span technique
• What does the digit span technique involve?

  Recalling sequences of letters or digits
• Who used the digit span technique to assess STM capacity?

  Jacobs
• What was the average span for digits found by Jacobs?

  1. 3 items
• What was the average span for letters found by Jacobs?

  1. 3 items
• What did Miller find when he replicated Jacobs' study?

  Similar results regarding STM capacity
• What term did Miller coin regarding STM capacity?

  'The magic number 7±2'
• How can the capacity of STM be increased according to Miller?

  By using chunking
• Outline one way in which researchers have investigated capacity of short term memory

  • participants are read a sequence of letters/numbers and asked to repeat the same sequence back immediately.
  • An additional digit is added on each subsequent trial to measure the capacity of STM
  • (the digit span technique)
• Outline one way in which researchers have investigated the duration of short-term memory

  • participants are given a trigram
  • asked to count backwards from a certain number for a specified time
  • They are then asked to recall the original trigram.