To test if preventing the rehearsal loop by an interference task reduces the number of words recalled from a list, hence a wider aim is testing the existence of short-term memory.

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Psychology coursework

Introduction

Background

The multi-store model of memory is concerned with the cognitive area of psychology. It suggests that memory is dived up into different stores, sensory, short term and long-term; it was identified by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968).

The short-term memory is believed to be able to hold about seven "bits" or chunks of information for about 20 seconds without rehearsal. This information will move into the long-term memory if the information is repeated or rehearsed. In the diagram above it demonstrates how the rehearsal loop will send the information back around into the short term memory this will eventually go on into the long term memory.

Glazner and Cunitz (1966) were interested and studied the primacy-recency effect. They also wondered if it made sense to consider the short and long term memory as two different stores. They then conducted experiments to see if they could independently manipulate the short and long-term memory. They conducted experiments of free recall with a list of words this lead them to the primacy and recency effect and the serial position curve (a U shaped graph) which shows how people tend to remember more words from the