Memory - Psy

• Input


  Sensory information by the five senses (touch, smell, sight, hearing, taste)
• Processing


  How sensory information is changed into a form that can be memorized
• Encoding

  The process of converting sensory information into a form that can be stored in memory
• Storage


  The keeping of memory
• Retrieval


  The recalling of information from memory
• Output


  What can be retrieved and remembered
• Duration


  How long information lasts in memory
• Capacity


  How much information can be stored
• Sensory memory


  • Very brief duration (fraction of a second)
  • Constant flow of information
• Sensory memory registers


  • Echoic (sound)
  • Iconic (visual)
  • Gustatory (taste)
  • Olfactory (smell)
• Short-term memory


  • Duration of around 7-30 seconds
  • Capacity of around 7 +/- 2 items
• Rehearsal


  The process of repeating information to maintain it in short-term memory
• Long-term memory


  • Potential infinite capacity
  • Information encoded semantically (by meaning)
• Sensory memory


  Decays if not attended to, can transfer to short-term memory if attended to
• Short-term memory


  Information can decay or be displaced, rehearsal can transfer to long-term memory
• Long-term memory


  Information can decay or be interfered with if not rehearsed
• HM had his hippocampus removed, could not form new long-term memories but could retain short-term memory and procedural memory
• Clive Wearing had anterograde and retrograde amnesia, could not form new memories or recall past memories, but retained procedural memory like playing the piano
• Peterson & Peterson study showed short-term memory capacity of around 7 +/- 2 items
• Independent variable is the variable that is manipulated, dependent variable is the variable that is measured
• Independent variable


  The variable that the experimenter changes to observe the effect on the dependent variable
• Dependent variable


  The variable that is measured or observed for change in response to the independent variable
• Peterson and Peterson study

  1. Participants given trigram to remember

  2. Participants counted backwards from 3-digit number

  3. Tested recall of trigram after 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 seconds
• Recall ability was 50% at 3 seconds and 10% at 15 seconds
• Short-term memory decays rapidly, with most participants forgetting the trigram by 18 seconds
• Short-term memory lasts at most 30 seconds according to Peterson and Peterson
• Reliability of Peterson and Peterson study

  • Standardized procedure
  • 24 participants
  • Not repeated measures design
• Objectivity of Peterson and Peterson study


  • Recall is either correct or incorrect, no subjectivity
• Validity of Peterson and Peterson study

  • Possible demand characteristics
  • Not ecologically valid
• Generalizability of Peterson and Peterson study

  • Limited to students in the US
• Useful application of Peterson and Peterson study is in education
• Independent groups design


  Different groups do different conditions of the independent variable
• Repeated measures design


  All participants experience all conditions of the independent variable
• Matched pairs design


  Similar attributes matched across independent variable conditions
• Order effects


  How the order of conditions can affect results
• Counterbalancing


  Participants experience conditions in different orders to control for order effects
• Randomization


  Conditions are presented in a random order
• Internal validity


  • Demonstrates cause and effect relationship
• Ecological validity


  • Reduced due to lab setting
• Schema


  Pre-existing knowledge and simplified mental representation built through experience