Memory 16 marker essay plans
Features of memory
AO1: Sensory register = sense specific coding, less than 0.5 second capacity, up to 1
sensation duration, STM = acoustic coding, 15-30 second duration, up to 9 capacity, LTM =
semantic coding, unlimited capacity, and duration
AO3: Baddeley – had participants say words like max, man, cab, cat. Acoustically similar
words posed a problem for STM but not LTM, but semantically similar words posed no
problem for STM but caused LTM to be muddled up. Jacobs digit span test for capacity of
STM – had participants say 3 letters and if they got them right added on more letters till
they failed to recall them. Repeated the same thing with numbers. Average of correct
answers was higher for letters than numbers as there is a greater variety of letters than
numbers. Glanzer and Cunitz for capacity of STM – serial position effect states when people
are asked to remember something greater than the capacity of the STM they are most likely
to remember the most recent (recency effect) and the first (primacy effect) words. Recency
effect occurs as words are fresh in LTM and primacy effect occurs as words are best
rehearsed and transferred to LTM. Peterson and Peterson trigram test for duration of STM –
had participants say a nonsense trigram and then a number. Participants had to count
backwards from that number in 3s until the researcher said stop and asked them to recall
the nonsense trigram. When researcher said stop after 3 seconds 90% of participants could
recall the trigram but after 18 seconds only 2% could. Bahrick et al for duration of LTM – had
graduated students of different age to look at pictures of students in their class and asked to
recall their names. Those who graduated within 15 years had 90% accuracy and those who
graduated within 48 years had 70% accuracy. Spern research into SR – had participants look
at a grid for 50milliseconds. When asked to recall the whole grid about 40% of participants
wrote down 5 things but when asked to recall just a row of the grid 75% of the participants
recalled only 3 things.
Types of LTM
AO1: Episodic memory = temporal lobe and hippocampus – personal experiences. Semantic
memory = temporal lobe – memories shared by a group. Procedural memory = cerebellum
and prefrontal cortex – skills.
AO3: Difference between episodic and semantic memories is that episodic memories have a
greater emphasis on mental processing, so brain damage affects them more. Episodic
memories can also be a gateway to semantic memories, but semantic memories can also be
formed separately. Tulving – put radioactive substance into participants and asked them to
recall episodic and semantic memories. Used gamma ray detector and found anterior
temporal lobe more active during the recall of episodic memories and posterior temporal
lobe more active during the recall of semantic memories.
MSM (2019)
AO1: Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi-store model of memory – environmental stimuli SR
(with attention) STM (with rehearsal) LTM. LTM (with retrieval). Maintenance
rehearsal at STM. Decaying at SR. Forgetting at STM.
Features of memory
AO1: Sensory register = sense specific coding, less than 0.5 second capacity, up to 1
sensation duration, STM = acoustic coding, 15-30 second duration, up to 9 capacity, LTM =
semantic coding, unlimited capacity, and duration
AO3: Baddeley – had participants say words like max, man, cab, cat. Acoustically similar
words posed a problem for STM but not LTM, but semantically similar words posed no
problem for STM but caused LTM to be muddled up. Jacobs digit span test for capacity of
STM – had participants say 3 letters and if they got them right added on more letters till
they failed to recall them. Repeated the same thing with numbers. Average of correct
answers was higher for letters than numbers as there is a greater variety of letters than
numbers. Glanzer and Cunitz for capacity of STM – serial position effect states when people
are asked to remember something greater than the capacity of the STM they are most likely
to remember the most recent (recency effect) and the first (primacy effect) words. Recency
effect occurs as words are fresh in LTM and primacy effect occurs as words are best
rehearsed and transferred to LTM. Peterson and Peterson trigram test for duration of STM –
had participants say a nonsense trigram and then a number. Participants had to count
backwards from that number in 3s until the researcher said stop and asked them to recall
the nonsense trigram. When researcher said stop after 3 seconds 90% of participants could
recall the trigram but after 18 seconds only 2% could. Bahrick et al for duration of LTM – had
graduated students of different age to look at pictures of students in their class and asked to
recall their names. Those who graduated within 15 years had 90% accuracy and those who
graduated within 48 years had 70% accuracy. Spern research into SR – had participants look
at a grid for 50milliseconds. When asked to recall the whole grid about 40% of participants
wrote down 5 things but when asked to recall just a row of the grid 75% of the participants
recalled only 3 things.
Types of LTM
AO1: Episodic memory = temporal lobe and hippocampus – personal experiences. Semantic
memory = temporal lobe – memories shared by a group. Procedural memory = cerebellum
and prefrontal cortex – skills.
AO3: Difference between episodic and semantic memories is that episodic memories have a
greater emphasis on mental processing, so brain damage affects them more. Episodic
memories can also be a gateway to semantic memories, but semantic memories can also be
formed separately. Tulving – put radioactive substance into participants and asked them to
recall episodic and semantic memories. Used gamma ray detector and found anterior
temporal lobe more active during the recall of episodic memories and posterior temporal
lobe more active during the recall of semantic memories.
MSM (2019)
AO1: Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi-store model of memory – environmental stimuli SR
(with attention) STM (with rehearsal) LTM. LTM (with retrieval). Maintenance
rehearsal at STM. Decaying at SR. Forgetting at STM.
