Memory

• What is coding?


  The process of converting info between different forms
• How is info coded in the STM? (Baddeley)

  acoustically (word sounds)
• How is info coded in the LTM? (Baddeley)

  semantically (word meaning)
• What is digit span?


  The number of digits that can be held in STM (numbers)
• What is capacity?


  The amount of info that can be held in a memory store
• What is duration?


  The length of time info can be held in memory
• Who investigated digit span?

  Jacobs 1887
• What is the mean digit span & letter span

  DIGIT = 9.3

  LETTERS = 7.3
• Who investigated span of memory & chunking

  Miller (1956)
• What did Miller (1956) find about span of memory & chunking?

  -Span of STM is 7, plus or minus 2

  -People can recall 5 words as easily as 5 letters

  -Done through chunking
• What is chunking?


  Grouping sets of digits or letters into units or chunks
• What is the duration of the STM? (Peterson & Peterson)

  18 seconds
• What is a consonant syllable?

  3 letter consonants, eg; YCG
• What was duration of STM at 3 seconds vs 18 seconds? (Peterson & Peterson)

  80% at 3 seconds

  3% at 18 seconds
• What is the duration of LTM? (Bahrick)


  Unlimited/forever for some material
• What is the Multi-Store Model of Memory?

  -In terms of 3 stores:

  >Sensory Register

  >STM

  >LTM

  
  

  -How info is transferred from one store to another
• What passes into the sensory register? (MSM)


  All environmental stimuli
• What are sensory register stores? (MSM)

  -Before STM

  -Register for all 5 senses

  
  

  >Iconic & Echoic
• What is iconic memory? (MSM)

  -VISUAL INFO memory (sensory register)
• What is echoic memory? (MSM)

  -ACOUSTIC INFO memory (sensory register)
• How does info pass from the sensory register into the STM? (MSM)

  Through ATTENTION
• What is maintenance rehearsal? (MSM)

  -Occurs if we repeat material to ourselves over and over again

  -Can keep info in STM if it's rehearsed
• How is memory info passed from STM to LTM? (MSM)

  Through prolonged rehearsal (rehearsed long enough)
• How do we recall info from LTM to STM? (MSM)

  Through RETRIEVAL
• What are the 3 types of LTM stores?

  -Episodic

  -Semantic

  -Procedural
• Explain Episodic Memory


  -Ability to recall EPISODES of our lives

  -Events that've happened (eg; breakfast today, haircut)

  
  

  -Time stamped; remember when & what happened

  -Stores info about how events relate to each other in time

  
  

  -Includes elements of people, places, objects, behaviours

  
  

  -Have to make a conscious effort to recall them
• Supportive Research of MSM (Baddeley)

  -Supported by research studies that show STM & LTM are qualitatively different

  -Baddeley found we tend to mix up words that sound similar (ACOUSTICALLY) in STM, and similar meanings (SEMANTICALLY) in LTM

  -Supports MSM's view that memory stores are independent

  -Increases validity
• Contradictory Research of MSM (STM not one store)

  -MSM suggests STM is one single store

  -Evidence from Amnesia sufferers explain this can't be true

  -Shallice & Warrington (1970) studied amnesia patient KF

  -Found STM was poor, when digits were read out to him, but recall better when he himself read the digits

  -Another STM store for non-verbal stores
• Limitation of MSM (Artificial Materials)

  -In everyday life, we form memories related to many useful things to us (names, places, facts, etc)

  -Research lacks these materials

  -We use digits, letters, words instead

  -These have no meaning to us in real life

  -Therefore lacks ecological validity
• Explain Semantic Memory


  -Knowledge of the world (all my random facts!)

  -Like a dictionary & encyclopaedia

  
  

  -How to brush your teeth, what mint tastes like, the MEANING of words

  -Concepts, such as animals, love and TV/Movies (Ginny & Georgia)

  
  

  -Not time stamped
• Explain Procedural Memory


  -Our actions/skills

  -Can recall memories without awareness or much effort

  
  

  -Eg; driving a car, becomes automatic thinking

  
  

  -Skills hard to explain to someone else, you just know how to do it
• Who suggested the WMM?

  Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
• What is the Working Memory Model?

  -An explanation of STM as an active store

  -How it holds several different types of info in different sub-units

  
  

  -4 COMPONENTS IN WMM (+LTM)
• What are the 4 components of WMM? (without LTM)

  -Central Executive

  -Visuospatial sketchpad

  -Episodic Buffer

  -Phonological loop (Phon Store + Articulatory process)
• Explain the Central Executive (WMM)

  -Supervisory role

  -Monitors incoming data

  -Focuses/divides our attention

  -Allocates subsystems to tasks

  -LIMITED CAPACITY, NO STORE
• Supportive Research of Different types of LTM (Clive Waring)

  -Supportive Research of the different LTM types is Clive Waring

  -Damaged his brain due to a virus

  -Showed an impairment in episodic memory and couldn't remember names & things happening

  -However still retained aspects of his procedural memory as he could still play the piano easily

  -Shows how if one aspect if damaged, others can remain intact

  -Must be separate
• Strength of Different types of LTM (Neuroimaging)

  -Different types of LTM due to neuroimaging

  -Tulving et al 1994

  -Ppts performed different types of memory tasks during brain scanning with PET Scan

  -Episodic & Semantic both in prefrontal cortex (Diff hemis)

  -Supports theory that different types of LTM are in the brain

  -Confirmed many times in research, supporting validity
• Strength of Different LTM Types (Real life Applications)

  -Identifying different aspects of LTM allows psychologists to target certain kinds of memory

  -Belleville showed episodic memory could be improved in old people who had mild cognitive impairment

  -Showed better on a test of episodic memory than control group

  -Episodic memory = most affected by cognitive impairments

  -Enables specific treatments
• Explain the Phonological Loop

  -Deals with AUDITORY INFO

  -Preserves order of info arrival

  
  

  >Phonological store: Stores WORDS you HEAR

  >Articulatory Process: Allows Maintenance Rehearsal

  >Capacity of Artic Proc- 2 Seconds
• Explain the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad

  -Stores Visual/Spatial information

  -LIMITED CAPACITY (3/4 Objects)

  
  

  2 Parts:

  -Visual Cache

  -Inner Scribe