Psychology 2135A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Cognitive Load, Memory Span, Decay Theory

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2135A/B
• Professor: Ruby Nadler

Document Summary

Peterson and peterson study: tested undergrads on their ability to remember. E. g. subject heard the letters chj followed by the number 506. They would then count backward until a light presented, which was a signal for recalling the three consonants (the counting down from 506 by 3s disabled any verbal rehearsal). The light went on between 3-18 sec after the subjects began counting. Results: probability of a correct recall declined rapidly over the 18- second retention interval: implies we must rehearse verbal info to keep it available in. Stm: good side about putting a phone number in stm rather than. Ltm: harder to retrieve the few numbers that you actually regularly dial. Interference theory: memory for other material or the performance of another task interferes with memory and causes forgetting. Decay theory: info is spontaneously lost over time, even when there is no interference from other material.