Short & Long Term Memory
Memory:
Process of retaining information after the original object/situation is no longer present
Creating a memory consists of three parts:
Encoding:
● Creating a memory trace
● Means putting something into a chemical code that’s used to store memory
Storage:
● Deals with different types of information for varying lengths of time
● Encoded memory is maintained within the memory system
Retrieval:
● Recovering the stored information from the memory system (remembering)
Key terms
● Short term memory- temporary store where small amounts of information are held
for brief periods of time
● Long term memory- permanent store of information where a limitless amount of
information is stored for long periods of time
● Capacity- the amount of information that can be held in a memory store at any given
time
● Duration- the amount of time memories can be held in a memory store
Baddeley (1966)- Coding in short term memory
● STM codes acoustically (the way words sound)
● Remembers things that are acoustically dissimilar (sounds different)
● Struggles to remember things that are acoustically similar (rhyming)
Baddeley (1966)- Coding in long term memory
● Presented two lists of short words to participants
● List one was semantically similar (same meaning)
● List two was semantically dissimilar (different meanings)
● Tested recall immediately, then again after twenty minutes
● Found that after twenty minutes participants did poorly on the semantically similar
words
Suggests that in our long term memory we encode information semantically
(according to what it means)- we get similar meaning things confused
Jacobs (1887)- Study to show the capacity of STM
Methodology:
● Laboratory experiment using a “serial digit span” task
Memory:
Process of retaining information after the original object/situation is no longer present
Creating a memory consists of three parts:
Encoding:
● Creating a memory trace
● Means putting something into a chemical code that’s used to store memory
Storage:
● Deals with different types of information for varying lengths of time
● Encoded memory is maintained within the memory system
Retrieval:
● Recovering the stored information from the memory system (remembering)
Key terms
● Short term memory- temporary store where small amounts of information are held
for brief periods of time
● Long term memory- permanent store of information where a limitless amount of
information is stored for long periods of time
● Capacity- the amount of information that can be held in a memory store at any given
time
● Duration- the amount of time memories can be held in a memory store
Baddeley (1966)- Coding in short term memory
● STM codes acoustically (the way words sound)
● Remembers things that are acoustically dissimilar (sounds different)
● Struggles to remember things that are acoustically similar (rhyming)
Baddeley (1966)- Coding in long term memory
● Presented two lists of short words to participants
● List one was semantically similar (same meaning)
● List two was semantically dissimilar (different meanings)
● Tested recall immediately, then again after twenty minutes
● Found that after twenty minutes participants did poorly on the semantically similar
words
Suggests that in our long term memory we encode information semantically
(according to what it means)- we get similar meaning things confused
Jacobs (1887)- Study to show the capacity of STM
Methodology:
● Laboratory experiment using a “serial digit span” task
