PSYCH 140M Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Memory Span, Psych
Document Summary
Improved memory for items at the beginning of a list. Words at the beginning of the list must not be in stm, since they are still remembered even when there is a rehearsal prevention task. Perhaps having more time to rehearse those items encoded them into. Presented list at a slower pace, allowing subjects more time to rehearse. Increased memory for words at beginning of list. Research suggests that stm consists of a verbal component and a visual component. Items registered in store as memory traces that decay within a few seconds. Traces can be refreshed by rehearsal of material. System by which we rehearse material vocally or sub-vocally. Each digit registered as memory trace in phonological store. Through articulatory rehearsal process, we repeat each digit, refreshing memory trace. If sequence of digits is too long, it takes too long to rehearse entire sequence, and increases chances that memory traces may fade away before being able to be refreshed.
