What is meant by the terms encoding, capacity and duration, in relation to short term memory

Capacity – The capacity of something is how much it can hold. In terms of short term memory the capacity is limited, unlike long term memory. Psychologists generally say that the capacity of short term memory is about seven items, or between 5 and 9 items.

Duration – The duration of short term memory is again very different when compared to long term memory. The duration of short term memory depends on if information is being rehearsed, if not the duration is generally a maximum of 18-20 seconds.

2. Describe the procedures and findings of one study that has investigated the               capacity of short term memory.

Joseph Jacobs (1887) aimed to investigate the capacity of short term memory. To do this he presented participants in the experiment with a sequence of random letters and digits, he then asked for the participants to recall the sequence showed to them in the correct order.

Jacobs found that the average number of items from the sequence recalled correctly was between 5 and 9. He also found that participants recalled digits better than letters. From these findings Jacobs suggested that the limited capacity of short term memory is between 5 and 9 items.