a. The Capacity of STM• Miller (1956)• ‘Chunking’ is …• Baddeley (1975) – tested how many words

you could remember in a given time frame. He tested single and poly-syllabic words. He found that people could remember more of the shorter than longer ones in 2 seconds. Critics say that shorter words are easier to remember and that unconnected words have no meaning and are thus harder to recall.

Factors Affecting Capacity:• Influence of long- term memory –

Repeating a digit string can help the STM temporarily because some of the information is being committed to the LTM already and so is easier to remember.

• Reading aloud – you have heard it and seen it by reading.

• Rhythmic grouping – grouping numbers or ideas into rhythmic sets.

• Pronunciation time– 2 second rule -

b. Duration of STM

• What is it?• Peterson & Peterson (1959)Tested the amount of time people could remember

a set of letters and numbers. They stopped the participants from rehearsing the numbers by asking them to partake in another activity.

They found that the shorter the time interval the more people could remember. Forgetfulness decays the STM.

Critics say that you are more unlikely to remember unconnected numbers and letters.

Factors Affecting Duration:• Rehearsal – repetition serves as a method of

continually reinserting info into your STM.

• Deliberate intention to recall – you have to make an effort to recall info in your STM.

• Amount of information to be retained – Relates back to Millers idea of chunking in sets

of 7 +- 2. You will remember a certain number of chunks not necessarily individual items.

c. Encoding in STM• What is it?

• Conrad (1964)

• Brandimonte (1992)

Factors affecting encoding

• The sound of words –

3. Long - Term Memory (LTM)

What is it?

a. The Capacity of LTM

• Tulving (1962)

b. Duration of LTM

• Bahrick et al (1975)

Factors Affecting Duration:

• Childhood amnesia–

• How duration is measured –

• Through learning –

c. Encoding in LTM

• Baddeley (1966)

Factors affecting encoding

 Semantic similarity

Age

So how are STM and LTM Different?

STM LTM

Duration

Capacity

Encoding

Recap