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Coding, capacity and duration of memory
- Short-term memory (STM) is the limited capacity memory store. In STM, coding is mainly acoustic
(sounds), capacity is between 5 and 9 items on average and duration is about 18 seconds
- Long-term memory (LTM) is the permanent memory store. In LTM, coding is mainly semantic (meaning),
it has unlimited capacity and can store memories for up to a lifetime
- Coding is the format in which information is stored in the various memory stores. Baddeley (1966)
- Procedure: He gave different lists of words to four groups of participants. G1 acoustically similar (cat, bat
and nap), G2 acoustically dissimilar (chew, cow and hard), G3 semantically similar (great, large and big)
and G4 semantically dissimilar (good, huge and hot)
- Findings: STM codes acoustically and LTM codes semantically
- P: One strength of Baddeley’ study is that it identified a clear difference between two memory stores.
- E: He believed that STM coded acoustically and LTM coded semantically.
- E: This has been proven to be true and allows us to have a better understanding of the memory system.
- L: Overall his contribution in research has had an important step in our understanding of the msm.
- P: One limitation of Baddeley's study is that he used artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material.
- E: For example, the words had no meaning to the participants.
- E: Therefore Baddeley's findings may not tell us much about coding in different kinds of memory tasks.
When processing more meaningful information people may use semantic coding even for STM tasks.
- L: This suggests that the findings from this study have limited application.
- Capacity is the amount of information that can be held in a memory store. Jacobs (1887) digit span test
- Procedure: The research would read out for digits and the participant would recall these out in the correct
order. If correct they would add on another digit until the participant could not recall them.
- Findings: The mean span for digits across all participants was 9.3 and the mean span for letters was 7.3
George Miller (1956) believed the span for STM to be 7 items (plus or minus 2) remember by chunking
- P: One strength of Jacob’s study is that it has been replicated.
- E: When Bopp and Verhaeghen 2005 conducted the study they found similar findings although they took
better control of their study.
- E: This was surprising as Jacob’s study is an old one and many believed that in his research digit spans may
have been underestimated due to confounding variables.
- L: This suggests that Jacobs' study is a valid test of digit span in STM and so are his results.
- P: One limitation in Miller's research is that he may have overestimated STM capacity.
- E: Cowan (2001) after reviewing research found that capacity for STM is about 4 (plus or minus 1) chunks.
- E: As Miller also based his findings on observation of everyday practises rather than scientific evidence it
makes his research harder to believe.
- L: This suggests that Miller’s findings are not appropriate for the capacity of STM.
- Duration is the length of time information can be held in memory
- Procedure: Peterson and Peterson (1959) tested 24 students in 8 different trials. In each test the student
was given 3 consonant syllables to remember e.g. YCG and 3 digits to remember. They were asked to
recall these at different time intervals such as 3 seconds. During each time interval they were asked to
count backwards from a given number to prevent any mental rehearsal (increase the duration of STM)
- Findings: After 3 seconds average recall was about 80% and after 18 seconds average recall was about 3%
They concluded that STM has a duration of 18 seconds unless we repeat information over and over again
,- Duration for LTM was conducted by Bahrick et al (1975) with 392 American participants aged 17-74
- Procedure: High school yearbooks were obtained from the participants or their school. Recall was tested
in two ways (1) Photo recognition (2) Free recall where they would list the names of their graduating class
- Findings: Those 15 years after graduating were 90% accurate in photo recognition and 60% in free recall
Those graduating after 48 years were 70% accurate in photo recognition and 30% in free recall. The
overall conclusion was that LTM can last up to a lifetime
- P: One limitation of Peterson and Peterson study is that the stimulus material was artificial.
- E: For example, the participants were asked to remember 3 random letters and digits.
- E: The study may not be completely irrelevant as we do remember meaningful material such as phone no.
sometimes however this is not always the case and therefore doesn’t reflect everyday memory activities.
- L: As a result the study lacks external validity.
- P: One strength of Bahrick et al’s study is that it is high in external validity.
- E: For example, Bahrick used photos from the participants' past and tested meaningful material.
- E: When compared to a study by Shepard (1967) which tested LTM with meaningless pictures, recall rates
were much lower.
- L: This shows that Bahrick et al’s findings show a more real estimate of the duration of LTM.
The multi-store model of memory
- The MSM is a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register,
STM and LTM. It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another, which makes
some memories last and what makes some memories disappear. Atkinson and Shiffrin’s 1968
- The sensory register is the memory store for each of our five senses such as vision (iconic store) and
hearing (echoic store). Coding in the iconic sensory register is visual and in the echoic sensory register is
acoustic. The capacity of sensory register is unlimited (we can see many things) however the duration is
less than half a second (we can’t remember everything we see)
- In order for information to pass from the sensory register to STM we need to pay attention
- At STM the info is coded acoustically and lasts about 18 seconds unless it is rehearsed
- We can do something with the info (a response) the information leaves our STM
- Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat the material to ourselves over and over again
- As long as we rehearse it the information will remain in STM
- If we repeat if over a long period of time in prolonged rehearsal it can enter out LTM store
- LTM stores information up to a lifetime. If we want to recall this information it must be transferred back
to the STM by a process called retrieval - coding is semantic and capacity is unlimited
, Evaluation:
- P: One strength of the MSM is the extensive amount of research support.
- E: For example, Baddeley (1966) found that we mix up words that sound similar when we are using the
STM and how we mix up words that have similar meaning when using our LTM.
- E: Peterson and Peterson 1959 also found that STM has a duration of only 18 seconds whereas LTM can
last up to a lifetime Bahrik et al 1975.
- L: These studies show that STM/LTM are independent memory stores as claimed by MSM.
- P: On the other hand most research to support STM and LTM as separate stores used meaningless
material in their experiment.
- E: Most researchers used digits, letters and sometimes words reducing external validity of research.
- E: In people's everyday lives they remember faces, names, facts or even places.
- L: This shows that MSM is not an accurate representation of how memory works in the real world.
- P: One limitation of the MSM is that prolonged rehearsal is not needed to transfer info to LTM.
- E: Craik and Watkins (1973) found that elaborative rehearsal is needed for LTM rather than prolonged.
- E: This is when you link new information to your existing knowledge and you think about what it means.
- L: This suggests that the MSM does not fully explain how long term storage is actually achieved.
- P: Another limitation of the MSM is evidence of more than one STM store.
- E: Shallice and Warrington (1970) studies a client KF who suffered from a disorder called amnesia.
- E: KF’s STM for digits was very poor when they were read out loud for him to recall. However, when he
read it himself his recall was much better.
- L: This evidence shows that MSM is wrong in claiming that we only have one STM and as a result it only
offers a simple explanation for our memory system.
Types of long-term memory
- Tulving (1985) proposed that there are 3 types of LTM: Episodic, semantic and procedural memory
- Episodic memory is a long term memory store for personal events. It includes memories of when the
events occurred and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. Memories from this store
need to be retrieved consciously and with effort eg 13th bday
- Semantic memory is a long term memory store for our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and
our knowledge of what words and concepts mean. These memories may need to be recalled deliberately
- What an orange tastes like: you may need to recall this but not time stamped.
- Procedural memory is a long term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things. This includes
our memories of learned skills. We usually recall these memories without making a conscious effort.
- How to swim: it could be time stamped however the skill itself you don’t need to recall
Evaluation:
- P: One strength is clinical evidence from the case study of Henry Molaison (HM) and Clive Wearing.
- E: HM could not recall the fact that he had stroked a dog 30 minutes earlier, but he did not need the term
‘dog’ explained to him. Wearing, professional musician, knew how to read music, sing and play piano.
- E: Both men had their episodic memory severely impaired due to brain damage. However their semantic
and procedural memories were unaffected.
- L: This evidence supports Tulving's view that there are different memory stores in LTM.
- P: On the other hand there is a lack of control in variables when looking into specific case studies.
- E: The brain injuries caused were unexpected and so the researcher had no way of controlling what
happened before the injury. They were also unaware of the individual's memory before the damage.
- E: Without this knowledge it is difficult to judge the situation and come to a conclusion about LTM.
- L: This lack of control in variables limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM.
, - P: One strength is it allows psychologists to help people with memory problems.
- E: As people grow older they can experience memory loss, specifically episodic memory. Belleville et al
(2006) devised an intervention to improve episodic memory in older people.
- E: The trained participants performed better on a test for episodic memory compared to a control group.
- L: This proves that Tulving’s research has real world application as it has enabled specific treatments to be
developed.
- P: One limitation is that there are conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain.
- E: Buckner and Peterson (1996) reviewed evidence regarding the location of semantic and episodic
memory. They concluded that semantic memory is located in the left side of the prefrontal cortex and
episodic memory on the right.
- E: However, other research links the left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic memories and the
right prefrontal cortex with episodic retrieval (Tulving 1994)
- L: This evidence challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support the existence of different types of
memory.
The working memory model
- Working memory model (WMM) is a representation of short-term memory (STM). It suggests that STM is
a dynamic processor of different types of information using subunits co-ordinated by a central decision
making system. Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
- Central executive (CE) is the
component of the WMM
that coordinates activities
to the three subsystems in
memory.
- The CE does not store
information and has a very
limited capacity
- Phonological loop (PL)
processes info in
terms of sound. This
includes both written and
spoken material. It's divided
into the phonological store
and the articulatory process
- The phonological store - stores the words you hear
- The articulatory process allows maintenance rehearsal to keep them in memory while needed. The
capacity is believed to be 2 seconds worth of what you can say
- Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS) is the component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial
information in a mental space often called our 'inner eye' eg we can imagine how many windows our
house has
- Logie (1995) divided it into the visual cache (stores visual data) inner scribe (records the arrangement of
objects in the visual field)
- Episodic buffer (EB) is the component of the WMM that brings together material from the other
subsystems into a single memory rather than separate strands. It also provides a bridge between working
memory and long-term memory.
- Acts as a temporary store for information (can be seen as a storage component for the CE)
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