Lecture notes
Memory Condensed Notes
Condensed notes for AQA A-Level Psychology Memory topic which includes essay plans and key facts needed for the exam
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Annabel warnerMemory notes
Capacity duration and coding
Coding is the type of information which is stored at each memory store which is
acoustic in STM and semantic in LTM and all senses in the sensory register. This was
found by Baddeley 1966 as he saw that recall straight after learning posed problems
for acoustic information and recall after a period of time posed problems for
semantically similar words
Capacity refers to the volume of information that can be stored in each memory
store. The LTM is unlimited as shown by Kim Peek and the STM has a capacity of 7+-
2 items as people could only count 7 dots that flashed up (Miller 1956) which led to
idea that things come in groups of seven and we should be chunking to retain more
information (Jacobs letters 7.3 and digits 9.3). Sensory register Sperling 1960 flashed
array of letters 3-4 could be recalled, when tone played (high med or low) that row
could be remembered even 0.25 of a second after letters shown.
Duration which is how long a memory lasts before it disappears. The STM 18-30
seconds (Petersen 1959) trigram retention decreased over time. The LTM is
unlimited Bahrick 1975 photo recognition of graduation classmates decreased from
90% to 70% from 15 to 46 years.
P Bahrick used meaningful stimuli (LTM duration)
E year book photos are a common real-life occurrence so has high mundane realism
E high ecological validity
L generalised to real life as has personal meaning
P recent research has in fact disproved miller’s capacity research (STM capacity)
E instead proving it to be more similar to 4 items
E outdated methodologies and lack of control over confounding variables
L reduce validity of his research
P Was Baddeley really testing the (LTM Coding)
E he made them recall 20mins after and this may still be STM
E lacks validity as we have no proof of what he was testing
L LTM memory may not be coded semantically
P Petersen and miller have low mundane realism (STM capacity and duration)
E as they used artificial stimuli trigram retention and dots
E low ecological validity
L little personal meaning limit generalisation decrease validity research into STM
, Annabel warner
Multistore model of memory
Proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968 who
suggested memory was made of the sensory
register, long and short-term memory and is
conducted in a sequential fashion.
1. Sensory register entered via senses limited duration attention must be paid for it to
passed to STM
2. STM 7+-2 chunks (Miller 1956) and duration 18-30 seconds (Petersen) where it must
be rehearsed coded acoustically (Baddeley 1966) or it will decay or be displaced
otherwise it will be stored by LTM
3. LTM unlimited capacity and duration and can be retrieved to STM if retrieval failure
or interference doesn’t occur
P case study Clive Wearing supports
E virus destroyed part of his brain and he could remember STM but not LTM (wife’s name)
E Damage only occurred to LTM showing that STM and LTM are in different places like MSM
P Clive Wearing didn’t lose all types of LTM
E he only lost episodic memory but not semantic or procedural
E suggests over simplified MSM
L decreases validity as MSM suggested that LTM wasn’t in three parts but one
P KF supports model after motorcycle accident
E recall LTM but had reduced capacity of STM (1-2 digits)
E suggesting LTM and STM are in different locations like MSM
P refutes also as his deficits were only in acoustic
E not visual
E suggests more than one component in STM
L MSM may be over simplified account of the STM
P evidence from brain scans supports the MSM
E different areas of the brain are active when performing STM vs LTM tasks
E different regions responsible for different types of memory
L supporting the MSM that memory is made of different stores in different areas of the
brain
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