Who was the first memory experimentalist?
Herman Ebbinghaus
What did Ebbinghaus find in his first memory experiments and how?
Studied long lists of nonsense syllables, attempting to memorise them. Discovered general patterns: law of repetition, law of forgetting and the learning curve.
What does the multi-store model suggest?
That memory can be divided into three different stores: sensory, short term and long term memory.
What is the function of sensory memory?
To keep sensory information in mind to enable us to attend to it if we want or need to.
What are the features of sensory memory?
- holds sensory information very briefly.
- is modality specific
What types of sensory memory are there?
- iconic
- echoic
- haptic
- olfactory
- gustatory
What is iconic memory?
for vision
What is echoic memory?
for hearing
What is haptic memory?
for touch
What is olfactory memory?
for smell
What is gustatory memory?
for taste
After how long does information in the iconic memory store dissipate?
Around 500ms
What did Sperling (1960) find out about iconic memory?
Partial report conditions enabled the total number of letters recalled to be higher, when there is little tone delay. Shows that iconic memory store is large, but has to perceive the information in time.
What is the function of short term memory?
To consciously process information
What can short term memory also be called?
Working memory
What are the features of short term memory?
- capacity of around 7 items (plus/minus 2)
- limited duration, of around 15-20 seconds, if not rehearsed.
What is a criticism of the short term memory component of the multi store model? And what are the responses to these criticisms?
It suggests that forgetting is only due to decay, when actually:
- PI and RI take place
- the type of distractor tasks influence recall
- the level of processing and amount of recall influences affect what is transferred to LTM
- encoding specificity principle suggests cue dependent forgetting/
What is implicit memory?
Memory that does not depend on conscious recollection
Is STM necessary to transfer to LTM?
No, evidence shows patients without STM can still form long term memories.
Is STM unitary?
No, because there are many different independent components.
What is the function of LTM?
To organise and store information.
What are the features of LTM?
- capacity to transfer STM into LTM, if it is rehearsed, etc.
- unlimited capacity
- unlimited duration
Are STM and LTM distinct?
We believe so, yes. Due to research from serial position curve effects.
What do serial expression curve experiments show?
That STM and LTM are distinct.
Items displayed earlier on are remembered more easily as they are said to have been transferred to LTM (primacy effect). Items presented later on are said to still remain in the STM at the time of recall (recency effect).
