PSYCH 351A - Topic 5
1. According to Atkinson and Shiffron what is the Modal Model of Memory: It is an information processing model
that describes memory as an integrated system whose components do not act in isolation that can acquire, store, and
retrieve information but limited by its capacity
2. What are the processes of the modal Model of Memory?: Rehearsal Encoding to LTM and retrieval
from LTM
Strategies for encoding stimulus Strategies of attention
3. Using the modal model of memory, how would you order a pizza?: Info about the pizza shop would enter your
sensory memory, the number for the pizza place enters your STM where you rehearse the number so you can remember
it. From there the number goes into your LTM which allows you to order another pizza
4. Explain the relationship between Sensory memory, STM, and LTM: Sensory memory gathers info from our
environment through our sensory receptors and send the subsequent information to your STM which can then that
information to our LTM if properly encoded
5. Explain Sensory memory: It is a very short lived buffer for moist information that hits our sensory receptors
6. What is an iconic memory?: Visual sensory memory
7. How come, for example, when we see a sparkler waving around a dark room we see a trail of light?: Since
information is held in sensory memory for a brief portion of time we are able see the retention of the perception of light
8. How come film projections appear to be smooth and continuous when they are really just glorified
slideshows?: Because they play fast enough (24 fps) to trick our brain into thinking it is a moving smoothly
9. Explain Echoic memory: Auditory sensory memory
10.How come when we hear someone ask a question and while we go "huh" we know the answer: Since we
retain information in sensory memory for a brief period, well respond to stimulus (someone talking to us)
simultaneously as we're processing what they said
11.Explain the Sperling, 1960 study measuring iconic sensory memory and its results for the whole, partial,
and delayed-partial report: He had an array of letters flashed quickly on a screen and asked participants to report as
many as possible
For the whole report condition: 4. letter or 37.5% For the partial report
condition: 3. letters or 82.5%
For the delayed partial report condition: 1. letter or 37.5%
, PSYCH 351A - Topic 5
12.What is the whole report method for Sperling's 1960 experiment and its results: Participants were asked to
report as many letters as possible with an average of about 4.5/12 letters or 37.5%
13.How come for the whole report method for Sperling's 1960 experiment
on messing iconic sensory memory were participants only able to remember such a low amount of letter (37.5%):
Not the capacity of sensory memory that is the issue but the duration, as you are writing down the first letter down you
are losing memory of the other letters. You can only record something so quickly
14.What was the partiel report for Sperling's 1960 experiment and its results (its capacity estimate): Participants
heard a tone which corresponds to which row they needed to focus on and only had to report the letters in that row.
Participants averaged 3. Letters or 82.5% with a capacity estimate of 9.9 letters
15.Why might the partial report for Sperling's 1960 experiment might be an underestimate for the capacity of
sensory memory: Its an underestimate due to cueing the rows and the duration of sensory memory again, as you are
writing down each letter you begin to forget the fourth when you get to it
16.Explain the delayed partial report for Sperling's 1960 experiment and did participants performance drop
back to similar levels as the whole report condition: Similar to the partial report condition, there was a delay for the
tone which caused performance to rapidly drop. Participants averaged about 1. letter or 37.5% due to the short
duration of sensory memory
17.How does sensory memory work according to Sperling (1960): Iconic sen- sory memory holds lots of
information about it decays very rapidly (1s or less) and acts as a buffer, briefing holding onto stimulus so they can be
processed
18.Based on the conclusions of Sperling's 1960 partial report experiment explain the capacity and duration of
Sensory Memory: Iconic sensory memory holds on to large amounts of information that decays very rapidly, meaning
that information in sensory memory only lasts about ~1s
19.Explain the duration and capacity of Short-Term Memory: It has a capacity of about ~4 chunks and a duration
of about 15-20 seconds
20.What is the phonological loop in Working Memory: The storage of verbal and auditory information
21.For the CogLab: Sternberg Search retrieval of information is and is
, taking about ms to process one item: The retrieval of information is a serial process (one at a
time) and is exhaustive (all items will be retrieved) and each item takes about ~50 ms to process
22.What is the visuospatial sketch pad for working memory: The storage of visual and spatial information
1. According to Atkinson and Shiffron what is the Modal Model of Memory: It is an information processing model
that describes memory as an integrated system whose components do not act in isolation that can acquire, store, and
retrieve information but limited by its capacity
2. What are the processes of the modal Model of Memory?: Rehearsal Encoding to LTM and retrieval
from LTM
Strategies for encoding stimulus Strategies of attention
3. Using the modal model of memory, how would you order a pizza?: Info about the pizza shop would enter your
sensory memory, the number for the pizza place enters your STM where you rehearse the number so you can remember
it. From there the number goes into your LTM which allows you to order another pizza
4. Explain the relationship between Sensory memory, STM, and LTM: Sensory memory gathers info from our
environment through our sensory receptors and send the subsequent information to your STM which can then that
information to our LTM if properly encoded
5. Explain Sensory memory: It is a very short lived buffer for moist information that hits our sensory receptors
6. What is an iconic memory?: Visual sensory memory
7. How come, for example, when we see a sparkler waving around a dark room we see a trail of light?: Since
information is held in sensory memory for a brief portion of time we are able see the retention of the perception of light
8. How come film projections appear to be smooth and continuous when they are really just glorified
slideshows?: Because they play fast enough (24 fps) to trick our brain into thinking it is a moving smoothly
9. Explain Echoic memory: Auditory sensory memory
10.How come when we hear someone ask a question and while we go "huh" we know the answer: Since we
retain information in sensory memory for a brief period, well respond to stimulus (someone talking to us)
simultaneously as we're processing what they said
11.Explain the Sperling, 1960 study measuring iconic sensory memory and its results for the whole, partial,
and delayed-partial report: He had an array of letters flashed quickly on a screen and asked participants to report as
many as possible
For the whole report condition: 4. letter or 37.5% For the partial report
condition: 3. letters or 82.5%
For the delayed partial report condition: 1. letter or 37.5%
, PSYCH 351A - Topic 5
12.What is the whole report method for Sperling's 1960 experiment and its results: Participants were asked to
report as many letters as possible with an average of about 4.5/12 letters or 37.5%
13.How come for the whole report method for Sperling's 1960 experiment
on messing iconic sensory memory were participants only able to remember such a low amount of letter (37.5%):
Not the capacity of sensory memory that is the issue but the duration, as you are writing down the first letter down you
are losing memory of the other letters. You can only record something so quickly
14.What was the partiel report for Sperling's 1960 experiment and its results (its capacity estimate): Participants
heard a tone which corresponds to which row they needed to focus on and only had to report the letters in that row.
Participants averaged 3. Letters or 82.5% with a capacity estimate of 9.9 letters
15.Why might the partial report for Sperling's 1960 experiment might be an underestimate for the capacity of
sensory memory: Its an underestimate due to cueing the rows and the duration of sensory memory again, as you are
writing down each letter you begin to forget the fourth when you get to it
16.Explain the delayed partial report for Sperling's 1960 experiment and did participants performance drop
back to similar levels as the whole report condition: Similar to the partial report condition, there was a delay for the
tone which caused performance to rapidly drop. Participants averaged about 1. letter or 37.5% due to the short
duration of sensory memory
17.How does sensory memory work according to Sperling (1960): Iconic sen- sory memory holds lots of
information about it decays very rapidly (1s or less) and acts as a buffer, briefing holding onto stimulus so they can be
processed
18.Based on the conclusions of Sperling's 1960 partial report experiment explain the capacity and duration of
Sensory Memory: Iconic sensory memory holds on to large amounts of information that decays very rapidly, meaning
that information in sensory memory only lasts about ~1s
19.Explain the duration and capacity of Short-Term Memory: It has a capacity of about ~4 chunks and a duration
of about 15-20 seconds
20.What is the phonological loop in Working Memory: The storage of verbal and auditory information
21.For the CogLab: Sternberg Search retrieval of information is and is
, taking about ms to process one item: The retrieval of information is a serial process (one at a
time) and is exhaustive (all items will be retrieved) and each item takes about ~50 ms to process
22.What is the visuospatial sketch pad for working memory: The storage of visual and spatial information
