short & long term memory ao1

• Memory


  The ability to keep things in one's mind and recall them at will
• Activities requiring memory


  From waking up to getting to school
• Activities not requiring memory


  From waking up to getting to school
• Memory is crucial to evolution
• Memory


  The process of maintaining information over time
• Memory


  Drawing on past experiences to use information in the present
• Memory involves processing information
• Main types of memory

  • Sensory memory
  • Short-term memory
  • Long-term memory
• Sensory memory


  Where information is immediately collected from the senses
• Iconic memory


  Visual sensory memory
• Echoic memory


  Auditory sensory memory
• Short-term memory


  Memory for immediate events
• Long-term memory


  Memory for events that have happened in the past
• Activity


  1. Find information on capacity, duration and coding for STM and LTM

  2. Share information with peers
• Capacity


  How much can be held in the memory store
• Duration


  How long information can be held in the memory store
• Coding


  The way information is processed to be remembered (visual, acoustic, semantic)
• STM capacity


  • Average capacity span is 9.3 for numbers and 7.3 for letters (Jacobs, 1887)
  • Capacity is roughly 7 items, with 2 more or 2 less being average (Miller, 1956)
• Participants could count 7 dots but struggled to recall more than that (Miller, 1956)
• Participants are giving full consent to participate in the study
• As time increases


  Recall of consonant syllables decreases
• STM duration


  • Less than 18 seconds (Peterson & Peterson, 1959)
• 90% correct recall over 3 seconds, only 2% correct after 18 seconds (Peterson & Peterson, 1959)
• LTM capacity


  • Infinite
• LTM duration


  • Long, 70% recall after 48 years with photos, 30% without photos (Bahrick et al, 1975)
• LTM research suggests long duration of LTM
• Baddeley's research on coding

  1. Used word lists to test acoustic and semantic coding effects on STM and LTM

  2. Found acoustically similar words harder to remember in STM, semantically similar words harder to remember in LTM
• Baddeley's research suggests STM uses sound-based coding, LTM uses meaning-based coding
• Test your knowledge


  • Outline one difference between STM and LTM
  • Describe one piece of research on STM or LTM duration
  • Outline capacity, duration and coding for STM and LTM
• Exam questions