Memory - A-Level Psychology AQA

• Three aspects of memory stores: coding, capacity, and duration
• Coding is the format in which information is stored in the various memory stores
• Alan Baddeley conducted research on coding by giving different lists of words to four groups of participants to remember
• The four groups of words in Baddeley's study were acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar, and semantically dissimilar
• Participants in Baddeley's study were asked to recall the words in the correct order
• Acoustically similar words were recalled worse when asked to recall immediately (from short term memory)
• Semantically similar words were recalled worse when asked to recall after 20 minutes (from long term memory)
• Baddeley's research suggested that coding in short term memory is acoustic, while coding in long term memory is semantic
• A strength of Baddeley's research is that it demonstrates a clear difference between two memory stores, leading to our understanding of the multi-store model
• A weakness of Baddeley's research is that it used artificial stimuli, limiting its applicability
• Jacobs and Miller conducted research on capacity
• Jacobs studied capacity of short term memory by measuring digit span
• Mean capacity for items found by Jacobs was 9.3
• Mean capacity for letters found by Jacobs was 7.3
• A strength of Jacobs' study is that it is reliable and has been replicated
• A weakness of Jacobs' study is that it may have had confounding variables, such as being distracted
• Miller studied capacity of short term memory by making observations of everyday practice
• Miller found that people can recall 5 words as easily as they can do five letters
• Miller believed in chunking, which is grouping sets of digits or letters into units to help remember better
• A strength of Miller's study is that it is true to real life
• A weakness of Miller's study is that he may have overestimated STM capacity
• Peterson and Peterson and Bahrick et al conducted research on duration
• Peterson and Peterson's sample consisted of 24 students in eight trials each
• Participants were given a consonant syllable and a three-digit number in each trial
• Participants were told to count backwards from the number to prevent mental rehearsal of the consonant syllable
• Average recall after 3 seconds of counting was about 80%, while after 18 seconds it was about 3%
• Peterson and Peterson's study showed that STM duration may be about 18 seconds without verbal rehearsal
• A weakness of Peterson and Peterson's study is the use of meaningless stimuli, lacking external validity
• Bahrick et al's sample consisted of 392 Americans aged 17-74
• Participants were tested on photo-recognition of 50 photos and free recall of names of their graduating class
• Accuracy in photo recognition was about 90% within 15 years of graduation and about 70% after 48 years
• Accuracy in free recall was about 60% within 15 years of graduation and about 30% after 48 years
• Bahrick et al's study showed that long-term memory can last up to a lifetime
• A strength of Bahrick et al's study is its high external validity as the information was meaningful and applicable
• The multi-store model of memory explains memory based on three separate memory stores and how information is transferred between them
• The first store in the multi-store model is the sensory register
• All stimuli from the environment pass into the sensory register
• The sensory register is comprised of several memory stores, one for each sense
• Iconic coding is for visual information, while echoic coding is for acoustic information
• The duration in the sensory register is less than half a second