Nampiima Lilian

14th October, 2022

Memory
Week 05

A STUDY INVESTIGATING THE CAPACITY OF SHORT-TERM MEMORY.

Participants
● Participant 1: Friend, female, student
● Participant 2: Uncle, male, physician assistant
● Participant 3: Friend, Female, computer programmer
● Participant 4: Cousin, male, elementary teacher
Procedures
My investigation involved four participants whom I gathered after my cousin’s birthday

celebrations When I was asked to lead in creative game activities, I saw this as an opportunity for

me to put my study on the test. I designed a 12-digit number (0,4,0,7,23,12,8,4,2,3,10,11) of

which after explaining to my participants the procedures of the activity, read them the number. I

then asked them to record down the exact number that I had just read them. I gave each

participant an equal time of recording and also exposed each participant to the same environment.

After each participant had recorded down the digits they had recalled, I then compared

their recordings to my own original number

Results
Among the four participants, only participant 3 achieved Miller’s 5-9 range. Although almost

all participants could remember the last digit, it seemed hard for the remaining three to achieve

Miller’s 5-9 range.

Below is a formatted table with the findings of my activity.

Table 1
Digits recalled

1
 Participant (P) Digit stream used Digits prior to 1st error Miller’s 5-9 range?

P1 Show your entire digit Show the correct digits Show Yes or No
stream, here. recalled (those prior to the
0,4,0,7,23,12,8,4,2,3,10,11 first error). No
0,4,0,7
P2 0,4,0,7,23,12,8,4,2,3,10,11 0,4,0 No

P3 0,4,0,7,23,12,8,4,2,3,10,11 0,4,0,7,23,12,8,4 Yes

P4 0,4,0,7,23,12,8,4,2,3,10,11 0,4,0 No

Discussion.

These results could have been due to the level of concentration of each participant. Since

they were all exposed to the same environment, the results show that most influencers were

individual internal factors. The participant who remembered most digits was a computer

programmer and this could also have contributed to the results since computer programmers spend

most of their time in numbers and codes. It is also known that age differences could have

contributed to results. immediately after the activity, participant 4 lamented that such activities

should be for minds that are still active not people of his age. This lamentation also denoted that

age difference contributes to a short memory.

While reading out the digits, participant 3 became very alert and her concentration

exceeded that of her fellow participants. This shows that alertness and concentration contribute to

the level at which one’s memory can store data.

Implications

2
 The concept of short term memory was demonstrated during the study. The study showed

that a small amount of information can be stored in a given time. All save one participant failed to

reach Millers 5-9 range.

The study has shown me that for any person wishing to have an excellent memory, he or she

must utilize all the 3 components of memory. He must be ready to listen and see or even use other

semantic forms. They may do this by visualizing the materials, teaching others, and also testing

themselves. They can also use cues and personalize information in order to easily remember.

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