psych memory

• What is memory?

  A cognitive process of coding, storing and retrieving information.
• Define coding

  The form in which information is stored in memory.
• Coding can be.....

  visual, auditory or semantic
• Visual coding

  coding in the mind in the form of a visual image
• Auditory coding


  coding in the mind in the form of a sound
• Semantic coding


  coding where you recall the meaning of the information
• Define storage

  Retaining the information from the mind
• Define retrieval

  Recalling the information from memory
• Define capacity


  How much information can be held in memory
• Define duration

  The length of time information can be held in memory
• Outline two advantages of using lab experiments to investigate memory

  1. Lab experiments are easy to replicate which means they can be repeated in exactly the same way and the reliability of findings can be assessed.

  2. Lab experiments allow researchers to control extraneous variables (such as the environment and time given to learn the numbers, letters or words) so we can conclude causal relationships between the independent and dependent variables.
• Explain why some people might criticise the use of lab experiments to investigate memory

  Lab experiments may lack ecological validity as the environment of the study is often unfamiliar to participants. This can mean their responses in a lab experiment may not be representative of the participants' memory in everyday life. Furthermore, the way memory is assessed (giving participants lists to remember) is different to memory in real life as we usually have some motivation or reason to learn information in everyday life.
• Name the two psychologists who proposed a theoretical model of memory and the year in which they did so

  Atkinson and Shiffrin(1968)
• What is the theoretical model of memory?

  A simplified representation of memory

  
• What is the purpose of the theoretical model of memory?

  to summarise research findings on memory so far and stimulate further research to test the model
• What is the central idea of the theoretical model of memory?

  There is not a single store of memory but three
• Name the three memory stores

  - Sensory registers (SR)

  - Short term memory (STM)

  - Long term memory (LTM)
• How long do sensory registers (SR) store information for?

  The sensory registers (SR) store sensory information from the environment very briefly.
• Describe the capacity of sensory registers (SR)

  The sensory registers are believed to have a very large capacity but this is difficult to test because information decays rapidly unless attention is paid to it.
• Describe the duration of sensory registers (SR)

  The sensory registers have a very limited duration of about 2 seconds.
• What is the preferred coding form of the sensory registers (SR)?

  There is no preferred form of coding in the SRs; information is stored in the form in which it enters.
• Does each type of sensory information have the same store in the sensory registers (SR)?

  No, there are separate stores for each type of sensory information.
• How is information lost from the sensory registers (SR)?

  Information is lost through decay (the fading of the memory) if attention is not paid to it.
• What is the short term memory (STM)?

  Short term memory (STM) is a temporary information store. 
• When does information enter the short term memory (STM)?

  When we pay attention to information in the sensory registers, information enters STM.
• Describe the capacity of the short term memory (STM)

  Short term memory has a limited capacity (of about 7 units of information).
• Describe the duration of the short term memory (STM)

  Short term memory has a limited duration (of about 30 seconds).
• What is the preferred coding in the short term memory (STM)?

  The preferred form of coding in STM is auditory; we hold information according to how it sounds.
• How is information lost from the short term memory (STM)?

  Information can be lost from short term memory through displacement (where information is pushed out by new information).
• How is information maintained in short term memory (STM)?

  Maintenance rehearsal is repeating information to keep it from being displaced from STM.
• Describe long term memory (LTM)

  Long term memory (LTM) is a permanent information store. 
• When does information enter long term memory (LTM)?

  When information in STM is processed deeply (elaborative rehearsal), it enters LTM.
• Describe the capacity of long term memory (LTM)

  Long term memory has an unlimited capacity; it can store as much information as we want.
• Describe the duration of long term memory (LTM)

  Long term memory has an unlimited duration; information can be stored for as long as we live.
• What is the domination form of coding in long term memory (LTM)?

  The dominant form of coding is semantic; information is coded by what it means (literally or emotionally), rather than how it looks or sounds.
• Can information in long term memory (LTM) be lost? Why can't we remember information in long term memory (LTM)?


  Information cannot be lost from long term memory once stored; forgetting occurs due to retrieval failure rather than a storage problem.
• Evaluation of the multi-store model of memory

  - Supportive experimental evidence

  - Supportive evidence from amnesiacs

  - Limitation of long term memory

  - Limitation of short term memory
• Evaluation of the multi-store model of memory

  Supportive experimental evidence

  There is a wide range of experimental evidence to support the multi-store model of memory. For example,Jacobs(1887) asked participants to repeat sequences of numbers in the correct order immediately after they were read out. He found that most people could repeat sequences of between 5 and 9 numbers correctly before making a mistake (the average 'digit span was 7). This supports the multi-store memory as it shows that the capacity of short term memory (STM) is limited.Peterson and Peterson(1967) tested whether participants could repeat three letters in the correct order after various delays of between 3 and 18 seconds (during which they counted backwards to prevent rehearsal). They found that only 10% of the trigrams were correctly recalled after a delay of 18 seconds. This supports the multi-store model as it suggests that STM has a limited duration.Bahricktested whether people could match the names and faces of their high school classmates. He found that even participants who had left school 50 years earlier could match the names and faces correctly about 80% of the time. This supports the multi-store model as it suggests that the duration of long-term memory is unlimited
• Evaluation of the multi-store model of memory

  Supportive evidence from amnesiacs


  There is also supporting evidence for the multi-store model from findings from cases of people with amnesia. For example,Henry Molaison(HM) had his hippocampus removed during surgery to treat epilepsy. Afterwards, he was unable to form new long term memories of events in his life despite his short term memory functioning normally. Similarly,Clive Wearingbecame unable to form long term memories of events in his life after a virus damaged his hippocampus, despite having a normal short-term memory. These findings support the main idea of the multi-store model that short term memory is separate from long term memory as the functioning of one store can be normal while the other store is not working normally.
• Evaluation of the multi-store model of memory

  Limitation of long term memory

  Some psychologists have argued that long term memory is not a single store. For example,Tulvingargued that we have episodic memory for life events, semantic memory for facts and procedural memory for skills. Evidence from cognitive neuroscience studies suggest that using each type of memories causes activity in different parts of the brain. Case studies of patients with amnesia also show that people can lose one type of memory while the other types are normal. This suggests that the multi-store model may be too simplistic in proposing a single long term memory store.