Long Term Memory

Long Term Memory

1. Capacity

   • LTM has an unlimited capacity. It is possible to lose information from LTM by forgetting.

2. Encoding

   • Baddeley showed that semantic coding in LTM is preferred. He did an experiment with a list of words and learned that participants remembered words that were not semantically similar.
     • Low ecological validity, demand characteristics, participants variables, investigator bias

3. Duration

   • Bahrick et al. investigated very LTM and tested high school graduates and used different tests such as free recall and name recognition. Recall was less accurate than recognition. He concluded that people can remember things for a lifetime but recognition is better than free recall as it jogs our memory.
     • Ecological validity. It's not sure whether it measures the limits of duration or general decline in memory with age.