What is Memory Psychology? Coding, Capacity, and Duration Explained!

Erica

26/10/2025

Psychology

Coding, capacity and duration of memory

900

•

26 Oct 2025

•

2 pages

What is Memory Psychology? Coding, Capacity, and Duration Explained!

Name: Knowunity
Brand: Knowunity

Erica

@erica4

Coding, Capacity, and Duration of Memory in Psychology- This... Show more

Memory

CODING, CAPACITY AND DURATION OF MEMORY

Paper 1

A01

Research on coding

- Coding - the process of converting information from one

Evaluating Memory Studies in Psychology

When assessing famous psychology memory experiments, it's important to consider their strengths and limitations:

Strengths:

Bahrick's study used real-life memories, enhancing external validity
Multiple studies have confirmed the general findings of the digit span task

Limitations:

Peterson & Peterson's study used artificial stimuli, potentially reducing ecological validity
Jacobs' digit span research is quite old and may not have controlled for all confounding variables
Participants in Bahrick's study may have reviewed yearbooks over the years, affecting results

Highlight: While these studies have provided valuable insights into memory processes, their limitations underscore the need for ongoing research in memory psychology.

These classic experiments form the foundation of our understanding of memory, but current research continues to refine and expand upon these findings. For students preparing for AQA A level Psychology memory exam questions and answers, it's crucial to understand both the seminal studies and more recent developments in the field.

Example: Modern memory research often incorporates neuroimaging techniques to observe brain activity during memory tasks, providing new insights into the neural basis of encoding, storage, and retrieval processes.

By critically evaluating these studies, students can develop a deeper understanding of research methods in psychology and the complexities of human memory systems. This knowledge is essential for success in Psychology Memory A Level coursework and exams.

Research on Coding in Memory Psychology

Baddeley's 1966 coding study examined how information is encoded in short-term and long-term memory. Participants were given different types of words to recall:

Acoustically similar (sound alike)
Acoustically dissimilar (sound different)
Semantically similar (similar meanings)
Semantically dissimilar (different meanings)

The results showed that for immediate recall (STM), participants performed worse with acoustically similar words. For delayed recall after 20 minutes (LTM), they performed worse with semantically similar words. This suggests that short-term memory coding is primarily acoustic, while long-term memory coding is primarily semantic.

Highlight: The study provides evidence that STM and LTM use different coding processes.

Vocabulary: Coding refers to the process of converting information from one memory store to another.

However, this study has limitations:

Example: The use of artificial word lists may not generalize well to real-world memory tasks.

Capacity and Duration of Short-Term and Long-Term Memory

Research on STM capacity includes:

Jacobs (1987) digit span test: Found mean spans of 9.3 for digits and 7.3 for letters
Miller's $1956$ "magical number seven": Proposed STM capacity of 7 +/- 2 items
Cowan's (2001) revised estimate: Suggests true STM capacity may be closer to 4 items

Definition: Chunking is the process of grouping individual pieces of information into larger, meaningful units to increase memory capacity.

Studies on memory duration include:

Peterson & Peterson (1959): Demonstrated rapid forgetting in STM without rehearsal
Bahrick $1975$ : Showed impressive long-term retention of high school memories decades later

Quote: "Photo recognition: 15 years after graduation - 90% accurate, 48 years -70%"

These studies highlight the stark differences between short-term memory duration (seconds without rehearsal) and long-term memory duration (potentially lifelong).

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Psychology

26 Oct 2025

900

2 pages

What is Memory Psychology? Coding, Capacity, and Duration Explained!

Erica @erica4

Coding, Capacity, and Duration of Memory in Psychology- This summary explores key research on how information is encoded, stored, and retrieved in short-term and long-term memory, including studies by... Show more

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Evaluating Memory Studies in Psychology

When assessing famous psychology memory experiments, it's important to consider their strengths and limitations

Strengths

Bahrick's study used real-life memories, enhancing external validity
Multiple studies have confirmed the general findings of the digit span task

Limitations

Peterson & Peterson's study used artificial stimuli, potentially reducing ecological validity
Jacobs' digit span research is quite old and may not have controlled for all confounding variables
Participants in Bahrick's study may have reviewed yearbooks over the years, affecting results

Highlight While these studies have provided valuable insights into memory processes, their limitations underscore the need for ongoing research in memory psychology.

Example Modern memory research often incorporates neuroimaging techniques to observe brain activity during memory tasks, providing new insights into the neural basis of encoding, storage, and retrieval processes.

Sign up to see the contentIt's free!

Access to all documents

Improve your grades

Join milions of students

By signing up you accept Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Research on Coding in Memory Psychology

Baddeley's 1966 coding study examined how information is encoded in short-term and long-term memory. Participants were given different types of words to recall

Acoustically similar (sound alike)
Acoustically dissimilar (sound different)
Semantically similar (similar meanings)
Semantically dissimilar (different meanings)

Highlight The study provides evidence that STM and LTM use different coding processes.

Vocabulary Coding refers to the process of converting information from one memory store to another.

However, this study has limitations

Example The use of artificial word lists may not generalize well to real-world memory tasks.

Capacity and Duration of Short-Term and Long-Term Memory

Research on STM capacity includes

Jacobs (1987) digit span test Found mean spans of 9.3 for digits and 7.3 for letters
Miller's $1956$ "magical number seven" Proposed STM capacity of 7 +/- 2 items
Cowan's (2001) revised estimate Suggests true STM capacity may be closer to 4 items

Definition Chunking is the process of grouping individual pieces of information into larger, meaningful units to increase memory capacity.

Studies on memory duration include

Peterson & Peterson (1959) Demonstrated rapid forgetting in STM without rehearsal
Bahrick $1975$ Showed impressive long-term retention of high school memories decades later

Quote "Photo recognition 15 years after graduation - 90% accurate, 48 years -70%"

These studies highlight the stark differences between short-term memory duration (seconds without rehearsal) and long-term memory duration (potentially lifelong).