3.3

• Brain


  The organ of the central nervous system of mammals where vital functions are coordinated
• Chunking


  Breaking a larger piece of information into several smaller pieces e.g. a phone number
• Memory


  The ability of the brain to encode, store and retrieve information
• Memory span


  A test of short-term memory which tests the number of items that a person can retain and recall
• Neurone


  Nerve cells. They carry an electrical message or impulse when stimulated
• Serial-position effect


  The tendency to remember the first and last items in a list better than those in the middle
• Working memory


  An extension of our short-term memory, able to process data
• Memories include past experiences, knowledge and thoughts
• Types of memory


  • Sensory memory
  • Short-term memory
  • Long-term memory
• Information entering the brain

  1. Passes through sensory memory

  2. Enters short-term memory

  3. Transferred to long-term memory or discarded
• Short-term memory (STM)


  • Limited capacity
  • Holds information for a short time
• Chunking


  Improves the capacity of STM
• Maintaining items in STM

  1. Rehearsal - Repeating information over and over

  2. Increases chances of information passing into long-term memory
• Losing items from STM

  1. Displacement - Newer information pushes out older information

  2. Decay - Memory traces break down when neurons are activated
• Short-term memory (STM)


  • Can process data, to a limited extent, as well as store it
• Long-term memory (LTM)


  • Unlimited capacity
  • Holds information for a long time
• Transferring information from STM to LTM

  1. Rehearsal - Going over information repeatedly

  2. Organisation - Putting information into logical categories

  3. Elaboration - Adding further information or meaning
• Retrieval


  Added by the use of contextual cues related to the time and place when the information was initially encoded into LTM
• Double scale graph


  A graph with two different scales, e.g. time and number of errors
• Interpreting a double scale graph

  1. Short-answer questions

  2. Long answer questions

  3. Problem-solving questions
• The time taken to complete trial number 5 is 20 seconds. The number of errors during trial number 5 was 6.
• Time taken to complete trial number 5

  20 seconds
• Number of errors during trial number 5


  6
• The ratio of time taken to number of errors for trial 5 is 20:6, which simplifies to 10:3