Coding, Capacity and Duration
Coding
The process of converting information from one format to another and the format it is stored in
Baddeley found that immediately people did worse with recalling acoustically similar words
After 20 mins they did worse with semantically similar words
Suggests that the STM codes accoustiaclly
Suggests that the LTM codes semantically
Used artificial stimuli and so lacks external validity because the results cannot be generalised to meaningful memories
Capacity
How much information the STM can hold
Jacobs found that the mean number of numbers participants could remember was 9.3 and the mean number of letters was 7.3
Done in old, uncontrolled labs, lacks internal validity
Recent, more scientific studies have confirmed findings
Miller found that things seem to come in 7's in everyday life eg days of the week
Duration
The amount of time information can be stored for
Peterson asked people to remember information for different durations, they counted down to prevent rehearsal
Found that the duration of the STM is very low because after 18 seconds recall was poor
Artificial stimuli
Bahrick’s yearbook study found that after 15 yrs photographic recognition was 90% and recognition of names was 60% and after 48yrs it was 70% and 30%
High external validity
Individual differences, some people would look at their year book more than others