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Flashcards in Short-Term Working Memory Deck (93)
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1
Q

What is the Modal Model?

Stimuli enter our _______ registers, of which there are 3 types: _____, _____ and _____ memory. These then enter our ____-term memory and via control processes is ______ into our ____-term memory. Responses are generated when info from our ____-term memory is ______ and transferred to our ____-term memory.

A

What is the Modal Model?

Stimuli enter our sensory registers, of which there are 3 types: iconic, echoic and haptic memory. These then enter our short-term memory and via control processes is encoded into our long-term memory. Responses are generated when info from our long-term memory is retrieved and transferred to our short-term memory.

2
Q

Who first discovered the Serial-Position Curve?

A

Ebbinghaus.

3
Q

What is the Serial-Position Curve?

A

The characteristic curve describing the probability of freely (in any order) recalling items from a list.

4
Q

Serial-Position Curve:

What is the primacy effect?

A

The primacy effect is when items from the beginning of a list tend to be recalled better than items from the middle of the list, because they have already been encoded into long-term memory stores.

5
Q

Serial-Position Curve:

What is the recency effect?

A

The recency effect is when items from the end of a list tend to be recalled better than items from the middle of the list, as they are still currently being held in short-term memory.

6
Q

What are double dissociations?

A

When 1 variable affects one of the memory systems, and a different variable affects the other memory system.

Shows that long-term and short-term memory are independent, but still related.

7
Q

Give an example of double dissociations when recalling items in their correct order.

A

When recalling a series of items in correct order, as opposed to free recall, this eliminates the recency effect, but has no impact on the primacy effect. This is because we cannot rehearse the last few words and move them into our long-term memory stores as we have to recall them from the start.

8
Q

What are list-length effects?

A

When using free recall, increasing the number of items on a list reduces the probability of recalling items form the middle of the list; but it doesn’t influence the recency effect.

9
Q

What are distractor tasks?

A

Having a secondary task (e.g count backwards for 10 seconds) prior to free recall eliminates the recency effect, but leaves the primacy effect intact. It works because it interferes with our short-term memory.

10
Q

What are item-spacing effects?

A

Using free recall, the presentation rate is increased from 1 word every three secs, to 1 word per sec. This reduces the number of items recalled from the middle of the list, but has no impact on the recency effect. It works by giving you less time to encode words into your long-term stores.

11
Q

All available evidence from list learning experimental has shown us that in contrast to long-term memory, short-term memory:

A

is a limited-capacity rehearsal buffer.

12
Q

What are the 2 types of basic operations in short-term memory?

A
  1. Maintenance rehearsal.

2. Transfer (encoding).

13
Q

What is maintenance rehearsal?

A

Recycling info in the short-term memory.

14
Q

What is transference (encoding)?

A

Moving info from the short-term into the long-term memory.

15
Q

Who conducted early research into the capacity of short-term memory in 1956?

A

Miller

16
Q

What were the findings of Miller’s “Magic Number” capacity?

A
  1. People retain 7 (+/- 2) items of info in short-term memory.
  2. WIN.zip file:
    Meaningful info can be recoded (reorganised and compressed), allowing the retention of chunks that can later be decompressed.
  3. There is a intrinsic relationship between short-term and long-term memory:
    Long-term memory uses prior knowledge to make info meaningful, allowing us to retain larger chunks in our short-term memory.
17
Q

Who conducted research into the duration of short-term memory in 1958 and 1959?

A

Brown, Peterson and Peterson

18
Q

What did Brown, Peterson and Peterson seek to answer in the Brown-Peterson Paradigm experiment?

A

How long non-rehearsed info remains in short-term memory.

19
Q

What was the method and logic used in the Brown-Peterson Paradigm experiment?

A

Method:

Subjects heard a 3 letter item. They then performed a distractor tasks (counting backwards) for a retention interval of 0-20 seconds. Subjects were then asked to recall the 3 letter item.

Logic:
Prevention of rehearsal shows how long info stays in our short-term memory.

20
Q

What were the 5 main results of the Brown-Peterson Paradigm experiment?

A
  1. The distractor task causes info in the short-term memory to be lost, not encoded.
  2. At 5 secs, half of info is lost.
  3. At 9 secs, most info is lost.
  4. At 18 secs, all info is lost.
  5. Overall, the longer the interval delay, the less trigrams were recalled.
21
Q

What were the 2 main conclusions of the Brown-Peterson Paradigm experiment?

A
  1. Short-term memory has a limited duration when rehearsal is prevented. This info is lost from short-term memory due to trace decay theory.
  2. Short-term is different to long-term memory in terms of duration, thus, supporting the multi-store model of memory.
22
Q

Who sought to answer whether info in short-term memory decays or is overwritten with new info, in 1965?

A

Waugh and Norman.

23
Q

What did Waugh and Norman seek to answer in their experiment on short-term memory?

A

Whether info in short-term memory really decays, or is overwritten by new information.

24
Q

What was the method used in Waugh and Norman’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Subjects heard a list of 16 letters presented at 2 different rates: 1 or 4 letters per second.

Whenever a letter was repeated, subjects were instructed to say the letter than had followed it.

25
Q

What were the results of Waugh and Norman’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

As the number of intervening items increased, the number of correct answers decreased.

26
Q

What were the conclusions of Waugh and Norman’s experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Evidence shows Active-Overwrite process.

2. No evidence to support Trace Decay theory, as the faster the words were shown, the worse the recall.

27
Q

In 1967, who sought to investigate whether non-rehearsed info decays in short-term memory?

A

Talland

28
Q

What did Talland seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

A

Whether non-rehearsed info in short-term memory decays.

29
Q

What was the method used in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Used the standard Brown-Peterson Paradigm, but with 2 distractor tasks.

30
Q

What were the 2 distractor tasks used in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Active

2. Passive

31
Q

What was the active task used in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Count backwards in 3’s (standard condition).

32
Q

What was the passive task used in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Read aloud sequences of numbers that decreased by 3’s (easier task).

33
Q

What were the results of Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Performance was better in the passive condition.

2. Performance was poorer in the active condition.

34
Q

Why was performance better in the passive condition, in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Because removal of mental arithmetic meant less interference from the distractor activity, thus, causing info in the short-term memory to be forgotten at a slower rate.

35
Q

Why was the performance poorer the active condition, in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Due to the interference, info in the short-term memory was being overwritten.

36
Q

What was the main conclusion of Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Info in short-term memory is actively overwritten.

37
Q

In 1974, who sought to discover whether info in short-term memory really decayed, and what types of codes were used in short-term memory?

A

Peterson, Peterson and Miller.

38
Q

What 2 questions did Peterson, Peterson and Miller seek to answer in their experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Does info in short-term memory really decay?

2. What types of codes are used in short-term memory?

39
Q

What types of 4 types of coding did Peterson, Peterson and Miller consider in their experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Phonological
  2. Sound-based
  3. Semantic
  4. Meaning-based
40
Q

What was the method used in Peterson, Peterson and Miler’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Used the standard Brown-Peterson Paradigm, but with 2 types of items to be recalled.

41
Q

What were the 2 types of items to be recalled in Peterson, Peterson and Miller’s experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Meaningless syllables.

2. Meaningful syllables.

42
Q

What were the results of Peterson, Peterson and Miller’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Meaningful syllables were not forgotten as quickly.

43
Q

What did Peterson, Peterson and Miller conclude in their experiment on short-term memory?

A

Meaningful syllables recalled more shows evidence of short-term memory drawing upon the long-term memory to chunk pieces of info into something meaningful.

44
Q

In 1972, who noticed that subjects did well on the first few trials of the Brown-Peterson Paradigm, but then poorly on subsequent trials?

A

Wickens

45
Q

What theoretical questions did Wickens seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. What accounts for the decline in performance across trials?
  2. Does earlier info from previous trials interfere with info in later trials?
46
Q

What 2 types of interference did Wickens’ consider in his experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Proactive interference.

2. Retroactive interference.

47
Q

What is proactive interference?

A

Old information interfering with new info.

48
Q

What is retroactive interference?

A

New info interfering with old info.

49
Q

What was the method used in Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory?

A

Subjects performed the Brown-Peterson Paradigm across 4 trials, but with word (not letter) triples.

Control Group:
Task 1: apple, lime apricot
Task 2: blueberry, pear, grape
Task 3: banana, lemon, peach
Task 4: orange, strawberry, kiwi
Experimental Group
Task 1: apple, lime apricot
Task 2: blueberry, pear, grape
Task 3: banana, lemon, peach
Task 4: beef, chicken, pork
50
Q

What were the 2 major results in the Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. From trails 1-3, there was a decrease in performance.

2. In trial 4, in the experimental group there was an increase in performance.

51
Q

In the Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory, why was there a decrease in performance in trials 1-3?

A

Proactive interference:
due to the similarity between info between the first 3 trials.

The earlier info caused interference to ‘build up’; interfering with the retention of later info, as the first 3 trials were all about fruit.

52
Q

In the Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory, why was there an increase in performance in the experimental group during trial 4?

A

Being released from proactive interference:

shifting to a different semantic category (fruit to meat) helped the short-term memory recover.

53
Q

What were the 2 main conclusions in Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Information in short-term memory is based on semantic codes.
  2. Long-term memory can affect short-term memory.
54
Q

What is recognition?

A

When a stimulus is present, it may or may not be in memory.

55
Q

What is recall?

A

When a stimulus is not present, info about the stimulus must be retrieved from memory.

56
Q

What are the 2 methods for estimating durations of cognitive processes?

A
  1. Subtractive method.

2. Additive factors method.

57
Q

What is the subtractive method?

A

2 tasks share the same processes, expect for one process:

E.g.

Task #1: encode process A -> process B -> process C -> respond.

Task # 2: encode process A -> process C -> respond.

58
Q

What are the 2 problems with the subtractive method?

A
  1. Finding appropriate pairs of tasks.
  2. Assumption of pure insertion:
    that component processes are completely independent. I.e. that one process can be clearly taken out without affecting the other processes.
59
Q

What is the additive factors method?

A

When we replicate one of the processes multiple times.

Task #1: encode process A -> process B -> process C -> respond.

Task #2: encode process A -> process B -> process B -> process B… -> process C -> respond.
(Process B is repeated N times)

Therefore the duration of process B =
(reaction time for #2 - reaction time for #1)
divided by (N-1)

60
Q

Im 1966, who sought to discover how long it takes to recognise info in short-term memory, and what the structure of the short-term memory process allows info to be recognised?

A

Sternberg

61
Q

What 2 questions did Sternberg seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. How long it takes to search for info in short-term memory.
  2. What is the architecture of the process that allows info in short-term memory to be recognised.
62
Q

What are the 4 steps to the Sternberg’s Process Model?

A
  1. Take icon via encoding.
  2. Compare it to what’s in short-term memory N number of times.
  3. Decide whether tie icons match.
  4. Make a response.
63
Q

What was the 3 step method used in Sternberg’s experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. In each trial, subjects encoded a memory set of 1-4 letters in their short-term memory.
  2. Subjects then viewed a single probe letter and responded (via button presses) to indicate whether a probe letter was in short-term memory.
  3. Subjects then had to compare the probe letter to letters in their short-term memory to make their responses.
64
Q

What are the 3 possible ways of searching short-term memory? Each possible search has a pattern response times!

A
  1. Serial self-terminating search.
  2. Parallel search.
  3. Serial exhaustive search.
65
Q

What is the serial self-terminating search?

A

Searching each letter in the short-term memory, one at a time, until you find a match or don’t, then stop searching.

E.g. looking for your keys at home.

66
Q

During the serial self-terminating search, as set size (icons in short-term memory) increases, response time (finding the icon) increases because:

1.

2.

A
  1. You need to do more comparisons.

2. It takes longer if an icon is absent as you have to go through them all.

67
Q

What is the parallel search?

A

Searching all letters in short-term memory in parallel, at the same time, until you find a match or don’t, then stop searching.

E.g. looking for a yellow banana in a bowl of red apples.

68
Q

During the parallel search, as set size (icons in short-term memory) increases, response times is not affected (finding the icon) because:

A

You are comparing them all at the same time.

69
Q

What is the serial exhaustive search?

A

Searching each letter in short-term memory one at at time, continuing doing this even if you find a match, then stop searching.

70
Q

During the serial exhaustive search, as set size (icons in short-term memory) increases, response time (finding icon) increases because:

1.

2.

A
  1. You need to do more comparisons.

2. As you continue even if you find a match, both have to continue to the end before making a response.

71
Q

What were the results of Sternberg’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

When searching our short-term memory, we use serial exhaustive search (counterintuitive), so reaction times are linear to set size!

72
Q

What 3 types of codes are held in short-term memory?

A

Acoustic, semantic and visual.

73
Q

In 1964, who sought to discover whether short-term memory codes were visual or acoustic?

A

Conrad

74
Q

What question did Conrad seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

A

Whether short-term memory codes were visual or acoustic.

75
Q

What was the method used in Conrad’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Free recall of letters.

76
Q

What were the results of Conrad’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Errors tended to be between acoustically similar letters, rather than visually similar ones.

77
Q

What was the main conclusion of Conrad’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Short-term memory codes are acoustic.

78
Q

What did Wickens (1972) experiment on short-term memory show?

A

Release from PI provides evidence that short-term memory codes are semantic.

79
Q

In 1971, who sought to answer whether short-term memory codes were acoustic or visual?

A

Shepard and Metzler

80
Q

What did Shepard and Metzler seek to answer in their experiment on short-term memory?

A

Whether short-term memory codes are acoustic or visual.

81
Q

What was the method used in Shepard and Metzler’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Method:

Subjects viewed pairs of 3 dimensional figures that could either be:

  1. The same, but with one figure rotated.
  2. Different, with one figure being a mirror image.

Subjects had to indicate via button presses whether or not the 2 figures were the same.

82
Q

What were the results of Shepard and Metzler’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

As you have to mentally rotate the object further, the longer it takes to make a decision, in a linear fashion.

83
Q

What was the main conclusion of Shepard and Metzler’s experiment on short-term memory?

A

Visual stimuli can be represented in short-term memory.

84
Q

What are the 2 main problems with the old theories about short-term memory?

A
  1. Old theory says short-term memory only holds acoustic info (words). New evidence says it holds acoustic, semantic and visual info.
  2. Old theory says short-term memory had a fixed capacity of 7 (+/- 2) chunks of info. New evidence says capacity changes depending on the task at hand.
85
Q

In 1978, who sought to answer whether short-term memory codes can be used, and whether short-term memory capacity is strictly fixed?

A

Brooks

86
Q

What 2 questions did Brooks seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. How does the nature of concurrent tasks interfere with another, and affect short term memory capacity?
  2. Do two tasks requiring the same short-term memory codes interfere with more than two tasks that require different short-term memory codes?
87
Q

What was the method used in Brooks experiment on short-term memory?

A

Subjects performed 2 tasks:

  1. A primary task.
  2. One of two other possible tasks.
88
Q

What was the primary task in Brooks experiment on short-term memory?

A

Subjects had to indicate via button presses, the upper and lower vertices on an imaginary letter ‘F’.

89
Q

What were the 2 other possible tasks in the second task in Brooks experiment on short-term memory?

A
  1. Concurrent articulation:
    E.g. keep saying American bourbon whisky is the best, over and over.
  2. Visual tracking of a moving point of light.
90
Q

What were the results of Brooks experiment on long-term memory?

A

Primary task accuracy was significantly greater during concurrent articulation than in visual tracking.

91
Q

What are the 2 main conclusions of Brooks experiment on long-term memory?

A
  1. It is more difficult to do 2 visual spacial tasks at once, than 1 visual and 1 verbal task.
  2. We can hold more info in our short-term memory by using 2 different codes.
92
Q

Who proposed the idea of a ‘working memory’ in 1986, 2000?

A

Baddeley

93
Q

What does the Working Memory Model consist of?

1.
2.
a.
b.
c.
A

What does the Working Memory Model consist of?

  1. Central executive (controls system)
  2. Slave systems:
    a. Articulatory (phonological loop).
    b. Visuo-spatial sketchpad.
    c. Episodic buffer.