Memory

• Jacobs (1987)- discovered the capacity of STM was 7+or- 2
• Miller (1956)- found the LTM capacity is unlimited
• Baddeley (1966)- found that encoding for STM is acoustic and LTM is semantic.
• Peterson and Peterson (1959)- discovered that the duration of STM is 18-30 secs.
• Bahrick et al (1975)- discovered that the duration of LTM is 2 min-100 yrs.
• The main stores of memory are sensory register, short term memory and long term memory.
• Sensory register- large capacity, lasts for a fraction of a second, encoded visually.
• Short term memory- capacity is 7+or-2, lasts for 18-30 secs, coded acoustically
• Long term memory- unlimited capacity, lasts for 2 min to 100 years, coded semantically.
• The working memory model- describes short-term memory as a system with multiple components.
• Comprises of the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, and the central executive.
• Phonological loop- holds acoustic information such as sounds and words.
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad: A region of the brain that holds visual and spatial information.
• Episodic buffer- acts as a backup store for information from the LTM and STM.
• Central executive- it is responsible for monitoring and coordinating the operation of the slave systems and relates them to the LTM.
• There are three different types of LTM: episodic, semantic and procedural.
• Episodic- personal memory, time stamped, need to make a conscious effort to recall. Example: past events.
• Semantic- unconscious memory, our knowledge of the world, less personal, constantly being added to.
• Procedural- our actions, skills and how we do things. Recall without conscious awareness.