Coding,capacity and duration of memory - A-Level Psychology
Coding,capacity and duration of memory
Coding- the format in which information is stored in the various memory stores
Capacity-the amount of information that can be held in the memory store
Duration- how long do information can be held in memory
Short term memory:
– limited capacity
– acoustic coding
– capacity of 5 to 9 items
– duration of 18 to 30 seconds
-7+-2
Long-term memory:
– Permanent memory store
– semantic coding
– unlimited capacity
– duration of a lifetime
Research on coding: Alan Baddeley
Information is coded from one form to another depending on the memory store. 4 groups were given different lists to remember.
Group 1- acoustically similar
Group 2- acoustically dissimilar
Group 3- semantically similar
Group 4- semantically dissimilar
They had to recall them in the correct order.
STM recall was immediate. They did worse with acoustically similar words.
LTM recall was after 20 minutes. They did worse with semantically similar words.
This suggests that information is coded semantically in the long-term memory.
Use of artificial stimuli-meaningful material was not used as the word lists had no personal meaning to pps.So it is hard to generalise the findings to different kinds of memory tasks.
Research on capacity:Joseph Jacobs-Digit span
Participants were given 4 digits and asked to recall them out loud in the correct order.The number of digits increased until the participant was unable to recall the order correctly.
Mean digit span-9.3 items
Mean letter span-7.3
Miller suggested that the span of STM is 7 items plus or minus two.Chunking.
Lacking validity-confounding variables were present as it was early research in psychology which lacked control.
Research in STM duration:Peterson and Peterson
There were 24 pps,each took part in 8 trials.They were given a trigram and 3 digit number to recall.They had to count backwards from the 3 digit number until told to stop(in order to prevent any mental rehearsal of the trigram).On each trial they were told to stop at a different time(retention interval).Findings suggested that the STM has a short duration unless verbal rehearsal occurs.
Meaningless stimuli-lack of external validity
Spontaneous decay/displacement of information
Research in LTM duration:Harry Bahrick and colleagues
-392 pps from Ohio aged 17-74
-High school yearbooks were obtained from the pps .
-Recall was tested in two ways:photo-recognition test,free recall test
-Pps tested within 15 years of graduation were 90% accurate in photo -recognition test.After 48 years recall declined to 70%
-Free recall-60% accurate to 30% accurate
-shows that LTM can last a long time
High external validity-meaningful studies were studies
Confounding variables-pps may have looked over their yearbook photos and rehearsed their memory over the years
Coding refers to the way information is transformed into a format that can be stored and retrieved from memory. There are different types of coding, such as acoustic, visual, and semantic, which are used depending on the nature of the information being processed.
The capacity of human memory is limited and can vary from person to person. The most commonly cited estimate of capacity is seven plus or minus two chunks of information, according to George Miller’s theory.
Short-term memory has a limited duration of around 20-30 seconds without rehearsal. However, this can be extended through the use of strategies such as chunking, repetition, and elaboration.
Short-term memory refers to the temporary storage of information, whereas long-term memory refers to the relatively permanent storage of information. Long-term memory can be further divided into declarative and non-declarative memory.
Several factors can affect memory performance, including attention, motivation, emotion, context, and interference. Additionally, factors such as age, sleep, and health can also impact memory.
Strategies for improving memory performance include organization, repetition, elaboration, visualization, and retrieval practice. Additionally, getting enough sleep, exercise, and a healthy diet can also help improve memory.
Understanding the concepts of coding, capacity, and duration of memory can help you better understand and remember the material covered in your A-Level Psychology exams. You can also use memory strategies such as organization, repetition, and elaboration to help you study and recall the information more effectively.
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