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Lecture: Working Memory
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Lecture notes Working Memory for BSc Psychology
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L7- Working memoryWhat is short term memory?
STM is essentially an immediate memory- memory of the psychological present
STM contains that information which ‘occupies’ you at the present moment
It has two important characteristics:
1. Limited capacity- only a limited amount of information can be stored
2. Limited duration- the contents of STM can be held there for only a limited period of
time
Remembering the present
At every moment- we are conscious of + using information acquired within a brief period
of time
This experience of ‘limited consciousness’ relies partly on us having a STM for current
information
Key aspects of STM
A platform for immediate cognition + behaviour
Limited capacity/duration- multi-modal content
Information enters STM from both sensory + LTM
systems
What can we measure?
Capacity= how much information can STM contain?
Duration= how long does information in STM survive by itself?
Retention= how is information in STM retained/ transferred to LTM?
How can we measure?
Immediate recall under tasks:
- Number of items
- Grouping information
, - Serial/ free recall
Memory span
A test of STM capacity in immediate recall
Digital span test
- A verbal test of immediate memory span
- Repeat back lists of digits presented at increasing number
- Digit span= largest number recalled without error
Reflects the maximum number of items retrievable from STM
The magical number 7
Average STM capacity in normal adults is about 7 items, plus or minus 2 (5-9 items)
HOWEVER- we can still retrieve more than just 7 digits
- E.g. telephone numbers, sentences, visual images
Chunking
While STM has limited capacity in terms of the number
of items- item size is flexible
Increasing item size= increasing STM capacity
Chunking= linking of items into smaller groups or
‘chunks’ that fit STM capacity
Chunking increases the information that can be held in
STM
Retrieving from STM
Studies of STM for verbal material (words) show that:
- Rehearsal improves immediate memory
- Grouping can improve immediate memory
- Immediate memory is better for recent items
Serial recall studies
Serial recall= of a pervious list of items in their order of presentation
Manipulating factors:
- Time interval between presentation + recall
- Secondary task= to prevent internal rehearsal
- Dual-task paradigm
The effect of these factors on serial recall informs about the role of rehearsal
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