Psychology Memory Test Notes

Short term memory: where small amounts of information can be stored for a small period of time. Long term memory: where limitless amounts of information can be stored for a very long period of time. Capacity: amount of information that can be held at any given time. Duration: the length of time that memories can be held. Encoding: the method in which information is expressed in a particular memory store. Displacement: a way of memory being erased from the short term memory before it an be transferred into the long term memory. Interference: when information which is stored in the long term memory is confused with similar information.Free recall: if a participant is asked to listen to 7 words and repeat them in FREE RECALL that means that the participant DOES NOT have to repeat the words in the order they were stated in. Serial recall: if a participant is asked to listen to 7 words and repeat them in that means that the participant HAS TO repeat the words in the order they were stated in. Digit span technique: a method of measuring the capacity of the short term memory by asking participants to repeat a string of items which gradually increases until recall is not possible.Information processing systems are called models. The manipulation and transformation of information is controlled by the process of: – encoding – retrieval strategies – rehearsal there are three separate sensory stores according to A&S: – iconic store – echoic store – haptic store sperling ( )- used a chart containing three rows ot letters tor a second. This was used to find evidence for the sensory memory. Items remain in the sensory memory for a very brief period of time. possibly less then two seconds) – information in the sensory memory is in a relatively unprocessed form. – information is passively registered in sensory memory. We cant control what enters. A&S believed the two different stores were different in terms of: – ho w long they last (duration) – how much information they can store (capacity) how they store information (encoding) – how information is lost (forgetting) The primacy and recency effect state that the words at the start and at the end of the list are recalled better.Asymptotes ( middle words ) are poorly recalled. Primacy effect: this is the tendency for the first items represented in a series to be remembered better or more easily. Recency effect: this is the principle that the most recently presented items or experiences will most likely be remembered the best.