memory

• what does coding mean?

  the format or 'type' of information which is stored in each memory store
• what type of coding is found in STM?


  acoustic
• what type of coding is in LTM

  semantic
• what does capacity mean?

  the amount of information/data which can be kept in any memory store at any one time
• what is the capacity of STM?

  7 +/- 2 items (Miller 1956)
• what is the capacity of LTM?

  potentially unlimited
• what is duration?


  the amount of time that information can be stored in each memory store
• whats the duration of STM?

  18-30 secs
• whats the duration of LTM?

  unlimited
• describe baddeley's study on coding in LTM and STM

  -baddeley (1966) gave participants word lists to learn - one semantically similar (ss) and acoustically different (ad) and one semantically different (sd), acoustically similar (as)

  -participants struggled long term with list 1 and short term with list 2-immediate recall worse with as words, recall after 20 mins worse with ss words

  -baddeley concluded that LTM is encoded semantically and STM acoustically
• describe Peterson and Peterson's study on STM duration

  - participants given a nonsense consonant triad and a three digit number (e.g THX 512)

  - they had to count down in threes from their three digit number during a retention period of either 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 secs, after this had to recall the triad they were given
• what is the multi-store model of memory? (MSM)

  describes how information flows through the memory system and how memory is made up of 3stores linked by processing
• what is sensory register?

  it's a sub-store where all stimuli from the environment passes into
• how many stores make up the sensory register?

  5 one for each sense
• what is the coding for the SR?

  it is modality- specific meaning it depends on the sense
• what is the duration of the SR?

  very brief, can be less than half a second
• what is the capacity of the SR?

  very high
• how many stores make up the MSM and what are they?

  3 stores

  - the sensory register

  - short-term memory

  - long-term memory
• describe the transfer from SR to STM

  info passes further into the memory only if attention is paid to it
• what is STM and what is its coding, duration and capacity?

  a limited capacity store of temporary duration

  -coding: acoustic (based on sound)

  -duration: about 18 secs unless info is rehearsed

  -capacity: between 5 and 9 (7 +/- 2 items)
• describe the transfer from STM to LTM

  -maintenance rehearsal happens when we repeat (rehearse) material to ourselves

  -we can keep information for longer if we rehearse it so it can pass into the LTM
• what is the LTM and what is its coding, duration and capacity?

  a permanent memory store

  -coding: mostly semantic

  -duration: potentially up to a lifetime

  -capacity: potentially unlimited
• describe the process of retrieval from LTM


  when we want to recall information stored in LTM it has to be transferred back to STM by a process called retrieval
• what are the 3 types of LTM stores?

  -episodic

  -semantic

  -procedural
• describe episodic memory


  -stores events/ episodes from our lives

  -they are time-stamped

  -involve several elements such as people, places, objects and behaviors

  - a conscious effort has to be made to recall them
• describe semantic memory


  -this stores our knowledge of the world

  -not time-stamped

  -less personal than episodic as they are mostly shared
• describe procedural memory


  -memories of how we do things

  -recall occurs without awareness or effort

  -skills become automatic, with practice
• what is the working memory model (WMM) and what is it made up of?

  -it is a model of STM

  -central executive

  -the phonological loop

  -the visuo-spatial pad

  - the episodic buffer
• what is the central executive (CE) and its capacity?

  it monitors incoming data , directs attention and allocates subsystems to tasks

  has very limited storage capacity
• what is the phonological loop (PL) and what is it subdivided into?

  processes auditory information and and allows for maintenance rehearsal

  -the phonological store (holds info in a speech based form)

  -the articulatory process (allows us to repeat verbal information in a loop
• what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS) combine and what is divided into?

  it combines the visual and spatial information processed by other stores (e.g auditory, visual, spatial) and so it gives us a whole picture

  
  

  its divided into the inner scribe and visual cache
• what is the capacity of the VSS?

  around 4-5 chunks according to Baddeley
• what does the episodic buffer do (EB)?


  it's a temporary store that integrates all type of data processed by other stores
• when does interference happen?

  occurs when 2 pieces of info conflict with each other resulting in forgetting of one or both, or in some distortion of memory
• what does retroactive interference mean?

  when new memories block the recollection of old ones
• what does proactive interference mean?

  when old memories block the recollection of new ones
• who demonstrated retroactive interference?

  McGeoch and McDonald (1931)
• what did McGeoch and McDonald find out?

  found that when participants were divided into 6 groups to recall different lists of words (synonyms, antonyms, words unrelated to the original list, 3 digit numbers, consonant syllables) or no new list (control group), those who'd learnt the synonyms list experienced an average of 3.1 fewer correct items recalled, compared to the control group
• what does Meltzeff +Moore's study support?

  Supports the idea that the extent of forgetting is higher when the two memories or materials are very similar
• what is retrieval failure?

  is not being able to access memories that are there

  Cues help us to remember info but they have to be present at encoding (when we learn material) and retrieval (when we recall it)