The Short term memory.

Psychology Homework Question 1 With temporal duration the material held in the STM is relatively short-lived. Baddely and Hitch (1974) suggested that information may survive in the phonological loop for two seconds. Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) believed it may last a little longer, although only a matter of a few seconds. Many psychologists believe that memories in the LTM are permanent, and the work of Penfield (1969), and studies of memories recovered through hypnosis would appear to support this idea. However this evidence was shown to be unreliable when examined more critically. Even so it is apparent that LTM is durable and that some memories last a lifetime. With storage capacity Miller (1956) proposed that STM was capable of storing 7 plus or minus 2 items or chunks of information at a time. Baddely and Hitch (1974) suggested that the Phonological Loop is capable of holding the amount of material that can be remembered within a two second time span: that capacity is time limited, rather than space limited as suggested by Miller.The capacity of LTM is generally considered to be infinite. With the forgetting mechanism Broadbent (1958) suggested that trace decay was the primary cause of forgetting from the STM. Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) although recognize the role of trace decay in forgetting, suggested that, due to the limited capacity of the STM,

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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psycology- short term memory

Psychology assignment On short term memory The Memory Game This investigation was carried out on my own and a ten year olds Short Term Memory. Ten flash cards were selected from a flash card pack, hence it was a non acoustic, non semantic, non phonetic test. The first test carried out after a quick glance at the words, later both individuals looked at the cards for a minute covered them and wrote down what could be remembered. Soon after that we had a five minute rest, and tried to remember the words again. The objective of this assignment is to see whose memory functions better and to see which method has succeeded in getting the short term memory into long term memory. This investigation is based on Baddeley (1966), within his study, he tested the STM, participants were asked to recall the words immediately. Long Term Memory participants were asked to recall the words after a timed delay. Method: A child between the age of 6 and 12 was selected, in this case a 10 year old boy, M was selected. Ten random word cards were selected from a flash card pack. Individuals saw the cards at a quick glance, the card were then covered, and then they wrote down all the words they could remember. The process was repeated but this time, individuals could observe the cards for one minute, using a stop watch. Again, the cards were covered then individuals wrote all the words that could

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Maths
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Is Long Term Memory Functionally Distinct From Short Term Memory?

D.Hook 3/1/00 Is Long Term Memory Functionally Distinct From Short Term Memory? Due to both the ambiguity of the subject and the difficulty of researching it, memory has provided a great deal of controversy in the scientific world. This has been due to issues such as the type of encoding the mind employs in memory tasks, the time limits of storage and other such issues. It was only as recently as the late 1950's however that the question was raised over whether there could exist a separate long term and short term memory system and if so what the various functions of the two are. Peterson and Peterson (1959)1 were the first to come up with this Duplex Hypothesis as the result of an experiment into human memory. In this experiment they gave their participants a three consonant trigram (such as DNP) which was spoken to them to the beat of a metronome. Immediately after this the participant was presented with a three-digit number (in the same way) which they had to count back in threes from, again in time with the metronome. When a set signal was given the participant ceased counting and attempted to recall the original consonant trigram. In this experiment the counting was used as a distracter task which would prevent rehearsal of the original trigram by the participant (numbers were used instead of letters to avoid retroactive interference).

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Investigating the short-term memory

The aim of this investigation is to investigate the short-term memory, and how it long it can store an information CONTENT PAGE CONTENT PAGE Abstract page 3 Introduction page 4 - 5 Method page 6 - 11 Results page 12 - 13 Discussion page 14 - 16 References page 17 Appendices page 18- 24 Appendix 1 - Average calculations for group 1 page 18 Appendix 2 - Average calculations for group 2 page 19 Appendix 3 - Briefing/Consent form page 20 - 21 Appendix 4 - Word list page 22 Appendix 5 - Scoring sheets page 23 Appendix 6 - Debriefing sheet page 24 ABSTRACT Short-term memory was investigated and how information was encoded or placed into our memories. The Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968 multi-store model proposed the idea which compared mental processes of humans to that of computer operations. It was described that there were many stages, one of which was the short-term memory. The processes of attention and rehearsal controlled the flow of information between these stages. Atkinson & Shiffrin said that a distraction here would cause forgetting or prevent rehearsal. The Independent Variable (IV) in the experiment was the distraction added in the form of music for 1 minute. The Dependant Variable (DV) in the experiment was the number of words

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Encoding in Short-term and Long-term memory.

Cognitive Psychology: Human Memory Encoding in Short-term and Long-term memory Aim: * 1960's- Controversy concerning the nature of coding in memory. - Baddeley tested if acoustic coding (based on the sound of the word) is used in STM. -Semantic coding (based on the memory of the word) us used in LTM. * Research based on Conrad's research- 1964 - Argued STM encodes information acoustically -No clarification which code preferred by LTM * Baddeley- aimed to confirm Conrad's findings and establish understanding of LTM Procedure:- Laboratory experiment using independent measures design - 4 types of word list -first 2-experimental conditions -Other 2 - control conditions * Acoustically similar (e.g. meet/feet/sweet) * Semantically similar (e.g. neat/clean/tidy) * Acoustically dissimilar (e.g. hot/far/jam) * Semantically dissimilar (e.g. pen/jump/day) * Independent variable- type of word list (acoustically similar/dissimilar or semantically similar/dissimilar) * Dependent variable- number of substitution errors made (one item confused with another)- Indicates main form on encoding * Participants recalled common words readily-similar frequency words * Participants asked to recall words in same order of presentation immediately for STM/ after timed delay =LTM Findings * STM (immediate recall)- more substitution errors on acoustically similar lists than

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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How age affects short term memory

How AGE affects short term memory Introduction This coursework will be investigating how age affects people's short term memory. The idea was from Sperling's experiment (1960) as he did a similar experiment to the one in this coursework will be carrying out. Sperling presented his subjects with a matrix of letters in Figure 1. It was flashed onto screen for a very short period of 50 milliseconds. After he took it off the screen he said either "Top, Middle or Bottom" and participants had to recall as many letters they could from that row. Sperling found that subjects could accurately recall the letters in each row most of the time, (more than 90% accurate recall) no matter which row was specified by the tone. This showed all of the letters were momentarily available in sensory memory. Sperling concluded that we do have a visual memory store that contains a mental snapshot of what we have just seen. This mental image fades away rapidly, so that by the time a subject has reported 4.5 items, this image is no longer available to provide more information. The matrix grid of words I will be using: Playground Yellow Fire House Soundø Tree Holiday Music Aim and Hypothesis In this experiment I aim to find out how ones age affects their short term memory. My main aim is to see if the older you are the poorer your short term memory will be and that the older participants

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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The study of short term memory

Peterson and Peterson (1959) Peterson and Peterson wanted to find out how long memory is stored into the short term memory when there was no rehearsal. Participants were found at a university and were tested with trigrams they were shown three letters e.g. YXB. They were also told a number from that number they had to count backwards in threes. After this test was carried out on the participant they were asked the three letters they were told in the beginning. Peterson and Peterson found out that information stay in the short term memory for only 18 seconds. The results for this experiment were not reliable enough because the participants were university students are different to the general population. The experiment was carried out in a laboratory this does not reflect to the things we do in everyday life. Long-term memory is where the information is stored for a long period of time this could last from a few seconds to a life time everything we know is stored into the LTM. STM retrieves memory from the LTM. Bahrick et al (1975) Bahrick wanted to find out how long memory stayed in the LTM they used participants from the US because they made a year book from university they wanted to get into the participants very long term memory. There were three steps in this investigation. First the participants had to remember the names of the ex-classmates Second participants

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Forgetting in Short-Term Memory

Forgetting in Short-Term Memory Decay in STM Trace decay theory in STM relates to theories of Duration in STM. The theory suggests STM can only hold information for between 15 and 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed Brown & Peterson (1959). After this time the information Decays (fades away). Waugh & Norman (1965) used the Serial Probe Technique to test the theory. Participants were given a series of numbers to learn. They were then given one of the numbers and asked which number followed it. The numbers were presented at different speeds therefore the faster the numbers presented the better the recall if Trace Decay theory is correct as the more likely the information is to remain in the STM. The results did not support the theory. This research employed the laboratory experiment and its validity can therefore be questioned. Displacement in STM The idea of displacement in STM causing forgetting relates to the Capacity of STM as proposed by Miller (1956). It simply suggests that if the capacity of STM is limited to 7 plus or minus 2 items or chunks of information then STM is full then some of that information must be kicked out or displaced in order for new information to enter. Retrieval Failure in LTM This theory suggests that all information received is stored in LTM but that some information is difficult or impossible to access. This idea is characterised by

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Outline three differences between short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM).

Diana 12th November 2004 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY * Outline three differences between short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). Duration Differences i.e. how long it lasts: - Information held in STM is lost rapidly when there is little or no opportunity to rehearse it since rehearsal would send the information into LTM and it will be easily recalled. This suggests that holding information in STM is only for a few seconds since holding information in STM is fragile and easily forgotten. Peterson and Peterson (1959) concluded this by asking participants to remember trigrams when not allowed to rehearse it. Unlike STM, information can be held in LTM for a long a long period of time and mostly forever. It is said that the elderly never forget their childhood memories. Bahrick, Bahrick and Witlinger (1975) carried out a study into LTM (where photographs of high school students were taken from the year and ex-students were asked to recall the names of the photographs. They found out that 90% of the names could still be remembered even after 34yrs. Encoding Differences: - Based on a study carried out by Baddeley (1966), there is evidence that STM is acoustically encoded i.e. encoding by the similarity of the sound of the words e.g. cat, mat, rat...etc, whereas LTM is semantically

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Decay Theory of forgetting from short term memory.

0309502B Memory The cognitive process whereby past experiences are remembered, probably the most fundamental constituent of human cognition, as without it other functions like perception, learning and language would not be possible. Memory is often described as the capacity one has to retain information, recall it when it is required and to recognise it when one is exposed to it again. We remember things from the past and experience things in the present, therefore any past event that is evoked is evidence of memory. Memory also is often referred to (though somewhat metaphorically) as a location where all these events, experiences and knowledge of a lifetime are accumulated. This is evident in theories of cognition which are reliant on divisions such as short term and long-term memory. Some of the most compelling evidence that there is a distinction between short term and long term memory comes from patients with anterograde amnesia. This is a very insightful area of study. These patients frequently perform well when doing tasks which involve immediate serial recall of lists of e.g. words or digits, as long as they are not distracted between when they saw the initial stimulus and when they are asked to recall it. In general people find it easier to remember those words at the beginning of the list and at the end of the list than they do to recall words in the middle

  • Word count: 1241
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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