Psychology AS Memory

Psychology AS Memory

1. Memory Definition

   • Memory is the process of maintaining information over time
     • Stages of Memory
       • Encoding
         • Storage
           • Retrieval
             • This refers to getting information out storage. Can't remember = unable to retrieve.
               • STM is stored and retrieved sequentially. e.g. if a group are given a list of words to remember, then asked to recall the fourth word on the list, they go through the list in the order they heard it in order to retrieve the information.
               • LTM is stored and retrieved by association.
           • Concerns the nature of memory stores, i.e. where the information is stored, the duration, the capacity and what kind of information is held.
             • The way we store information affects the way we retrieve it.
               • Most adults can store between 5 and 9 items in their short-term memory. Miller (1956) put this idea forward and he called it the magic number 7.
                 • Thought that short-term memory capacity was 7 (plus or minus 2) items because it only had a certain number of “slots” in which items could be stored.
                   • However, didn’t specify the amount of information that can be held in each slot.
         • When information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it needs to be changed into a form that the system can cope with, so that it can be stored.
           • 1) Visual
           • 2) Acoustic
           • 3) Semantic
   • Criticisms of Memory
     • Most are lab experiments
       • settings artificial and meaningless, lacks ecological validity.
         • People removed from their normal social setting
           • directed by an 'experimenter' and may be placed in the company of complete strangers.
             • therefore may behave differently
       • if an experiment is realistic or true-to-life, then there is a greater likelihood that its findings can be generalised.
   • Short Term Memory
     • Limited capacity (about 7 items)
       • Limited duration (lost with distraction or passage of time)
         • Encoding (primarily acoustic)
         • The duration of short term memory seems to be between 15 and 30 seconds, according to Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971)
           • Items can be kept in short term memory by repeating them verbally (acoustic encoding), a process known as rehearsal.
             • Peterson and Peterson (1959) showed that the longer the delay, the less information is recalled.
               • The rapid loss of information from memory when rehearsal is prevented is taken as an indication of short term memory having a limited duration.
   • Long Term Memory
     • Capacity of long term memory could be unlimited
       • Main constraint on recall being accessibility rather than availability.
       • Duration might be a few minutes or a lifetime.
         • Encoding modes are semantic (meaning) and visual (pictorial) in the main but can be acoustic also.
     • Bahrick et al (1975) investigated what they called very long term memory
       • Nearly 400 participants aged 17 – 74 were tested.
       • Various tests including: A free recall test, where participants tried to remember names of people in a graduate class.
         • A photo recognition test, consisting of 50 pictures.
           • A name recognition test for ex-school friends.
       • Participants who were tested within 15 years of graduation were about 90% accurate in identifying names and faces
         • After 48 years they were accurate 80% for verbal and 70% visual.
           • Free recall was worse.
             • After 15 years it was 60% and after 48 years it was 30% accurate.
     • Tulving (1972) proposed a distinction between episodic, semantic and procedural memory.
       • Procedural Memory
         • Responsible for knowing how to do things, does not involve conscious (i.e. it’s unconscious - automatic) thought. For e.g. knowledge of how to ride a bicycle.
         • Semantic Memory
           • Responsible for storing information about the world. includes knowledge about the meaning of words, and general knowledge. For e.g. London is the capital of England. It involves conscious thought and is declarative.
           • Episodic Memory
             • Responsible for storing information about events that we have experienced. involves conscious thought and is declarative. e.g. Memory of our 1st day at school.

2. Multi Store Model of Memory

   • Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) suggest that memory is made up of a series of stores
     • information processing model with an input, process and output.
   • Information is detected by the sense organs and enters the sensory memory.
     • If attended to this information enters the short term memory.
       • Information from the STM is transferred to the long-term memory if information is rehearsed.
         • Rehearsal was initially described by Atkinson and Shiffrin as maintenance rehearsal, but Shiffrin later suggested that rehearsal could be elaborative
         • If rehearsal does not occur, then information is forgotten, lost from short term memory through the processes of displacement or decay.
           • Critical Evaluation
             • Strengths
               • influential as it has generated a lot of research into memory.
               • Supported by HM case study
                 • HM is still alive but has problems in LTM after brain surgery. Remembered little of personal or public events that have occurred over the last 45 years. However his short-term memory remains intact.
               • Serial Position Effect
                 • Experiments show that when participants are presented with a list of words, they tend to remember the first few and last few words and are more likely to forget those in the middle of the list.
                   • Tendency to recall earlier words is called the primary effect; the tendency to recall the later words is called the recency effect.
                 • Murdock (1962)
                   • Procedure: Murdock asked participants to learn a list of words that varied in length from 10 to 40 words and free recall them. Each word was presented for one to two seconds.
                     • Results: He found that the probability of recalling any word depended on its position in the list (its serial position). Words presented either early in the list or at the end were more often recalled, but the ones in the middle were more often forgotten. This is known as serial position effect.
                       • Conclusion Murdock suggested that words early in the list were put into long term memory (primacy effect) because the person has time to rehearse each word acoustically. Words from the end of the list went into short term memory (recency effect) which can typically hold about 7 items.
                       • The improved recall of words at the beginning of the list is called the primary effect; that at the end of the list, the recency effect. This recency effect exists even when the list is lengthened to 40 words.
             • Weaknesses
   • Sensory Memory
     • STM
       • LTM
         • Duration: Unlimited
           • Capacity: Unlimited
             • Encoding: Mainly Semantic (but can be visual and auditory)
       • Duration: 0-18 seconds
         • Capacity: 7 +/- 2 items
           • Encoding: mainly auditory
     • Duration: ¼ to ½ second
       • Capacity: all sensory experience (v. larger capacity)
         • Encoding: sense specific (e.g. different stores for each sense)

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