Memory - More key research

Memory - More key research

1. Forgetting - Interference theory, Baddeley and hitch (1977)

   • Aim - To investigate retroactive interference in everyday memory
     • Method - The sample included rugby union players who had played every match in the season and players who had missed some games due to injury. The length of time from the start to the end of season was the same for all players, and players were asked to recall the names of the teams they had played against earlier in the season
       • Results - The players who had played the most games forgot proportionately more games than those who had played fewer games due to injury
         • Conclusion - Baddeley and Hitch concluded that this was the result of retroactive interference, as the learning of new information (new team names) interfered with the memory of old information (earlier team names)

2. Duration of STM, Peterson and Peterson (1959)

   • Aim - To investigate the duration of short term memory
     • Method - Investigated the duration of STM, using a sample of 24 psychology students. The students had to recall three-letter trigrams at different intervals (3,6,9,12,15,18 seconds). To prevent rehearsal, they had to count backwards in threes or fours from a specific number, until they were asked to recall the letters
       • Results - After 3 seconds, only 80% of the trigrams were correctly recalled, whereas at 18 seconds only 10% were correctly recalled
         • Conclusion - Short-term memory has a limited duration of approximately 18 seconds. Furthermore, the results show that if we are unable to rehearse information, it will not be passed to long-term memory, providing further support for the multi-store model and the idea of discrete components

3. Patient KF, Shallice and Warrington (1975)

   • Case study - Patient KF was injured in a motorcycle accident. Following his accident, patient KF was able to recall stored information from his long-term memory; however he had issues with his short-term memory. He was able to remember visual images, including faces, but was unable to remember sounds (acoustic information)
     • Implications for the MSM - The fact that KF could a)remember visual images but not sounds and b) access his LTM without having to first go through his STM lends support to the WMM theory of STM as an active and complex store with two slave systems - The visuo-spatial sketchpad and the phonological loop - and also contradicts the STM model flow diagram that shows all information entering LTM having to pass through STM

4. Dual-Task studies, Baddeley and Hitch (1976)

   • Aim - To test the theory that auditory memory and visuo-spatial memory are stored separately within STM
     • Method - Participants complete two tasks at the same time. In condition 1, participants complete two acoustic based tasks. In condition 2, participants complete one acoustic and one visual task
       • Results - When both tasks require the participants to use their phonological loop, their ability to perform the tasks is impaired. However, when one of the tasks uses the visuo-spatial sketchpad (copying a drawing) then performance is not impaired
         • Conclusion - This provides evidence that auditory memory and visuo-spatial memory are stored separately in STM