2.1.2

Short-Term vs Long-Term Memory

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Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory (STM) is the point of processing sensory memory. This then determines whether information is moved into long-term memory or not.

Illustrative background for Short-term memory (STM)Illustrative background for Short-term memory (STM) ?? "content

Short-term memory (STM)

  • Short-term memory (STM) is a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory.
  • Short-term memory takes information from sensory memory and sometimes connects that memory to something already in long-term memory.
  • Short-term memory storage lasts about 20 seconds (estimated to be between 18 and 30 seconds).
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Information processing in STM

  • Think of short-term memory as the information you have displayed on your computer screen - a document, a spreadsheet, or a web page.
  • Information in short-term memory is stored in long-term memory if you save it to your computer's hard drive, or it is discarded if you close the webpage or delete the document.
  • Rehearsal is the conscious repetition of information that you want to remember. This feels like repeating something over & over in your head.
  • This step of rehearsal may help to move information from STM into long-term memory - which is called memory consolidation.
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STM capacity

  • In his research on the capacity of memory, George Miller (1956) found that most people can retain about seven items in STM.
  • Some remember five, some nine, so he called the capacity of STM seven plus or minus two.
  • Some factors affect our STM. For example, numbers recall is better than letters, and acoustic coding tends to be better than visual coding.
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Summary

  • Duration: 20 seconds.
  • Capacity: seven +/- two items.
  • Coding: primarily acoustic.

Long-Term Memory

Long-term memory is like the brain's hard-drive. It is theorised to have an unlimited capacity. Most of the time, information can be retained and moved back into short-term memory - but you may need a prompt.

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Long-term memory (LTM)

  • Long-term memory (LTM) is the continuous storage of information.
  • Unlike short-term memory, the storage capacity of LTM has no limits.
  • LTM contains everything that you can remember, even if it happened 2 minutes ago, weeks ago or years ago.
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Information processing in LTM

  • Sticking with the computer analogy, the information in your LTM would be like the information you have saved on the hard drive.
  • Information stored on the hard drive isn't visible on your computer screen (or in your immediate short-term memory), but you could probably access (or remember) the information if you wanted to.
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Strength of long-term memories

  • Not all long-term memories are remembered equally strongly. It can be harder to remember some memories and prompts (or memory cues) can make it easier to access a memory.
  • For example, you might easily recall a fact - “What is the capital of the United States?” - or a procedure - “How do you ride a bike?” - but you might struggle to recall the name of the restaurant you had dinner in when you were on holiday in France last summer.
    • However, a prompt or memory cue about the owner of the restaurant or the first word of the name may help you recall the restaurant's name.
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Summary

  • Duration: unlimited.
  • Capacity: unlimited.
  • Coding: primarily semantic but can be others.

Jump to other topics

1Social Influence

2Memory

3Attachment

4Psychopathology

5Approaches in Psychology

6Biopsychology

7Research Methods

8Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

9Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

11Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

12Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

13Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

14Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

15Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

16Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

17Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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