COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Memory: Short-term memory, Long-term memory, and Working Memory

Amante, Gabriel Jhonathan

Ancajas, Patrisse Clane
Rivera, Yzabelle Denise

REPORT OUTLINE

I. Interactive Introduction
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II. Lecture
A. Short-term memory (STM)
What were you thinking about before this discussion took place? This memory is
probably stored in what is known as your short-term memory.

Short-Term Memory
- It is an intermediate memory storage that begins processing perceptual
information transferred from sensory memory.
- Information that becomes the focus of attention moves from sensory memory
to STM.
- It can also be defined as the short-term storage of memory with minimal
processing that is forgotten quickly without elaborative processing.
 Information in STM can be held for a short time if it remains in the focus of attention
(e.g., by rehearsing the information).
But to store information for a longer time, the information must be transferred to
long-term memory (e.g., by connecting the information to other information already stored in
long-term memory).

Processing of the information also affects the capacity of STM. When information is
organized according to its meaning, more items can be stored in STM.

Chunking is the process of organizing information into fewer meaningful units. It

allows for more items to be stored in memory.

Capacity of STM
The average capacity of STM is about five to nine items. This is shown by Miller
(1956) in a study entitled “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”. The title
represents the average capacity of STM.

Miller measured STM capacity in a particular way. His

seven-plus-or-minus-two number is based on the average number of items his
subject could recall accurately in the correct order 50 percent of the time. This is
known as the span of STM and has been used by numerous researchers to measure
the capacity of STM for different types of information.

There are limits to the span of STM based on the type of information being
stored, however. For example, the span is smaller for words with more syllables (e.g.,
hippopotamus) than for words with fewer syllables (e.g., horse; Simon, 1974).

Duration of STM

Our attention limits the duration of STM, just as the capacity of STM can depend on
factors such as the type of information.
Information enters STM when we focus our attention on specific information in our
sensory memory. It disappears from STM when our attention moves on to the next
thing we are thinking about. Thus, memories are held in STM for as long as our
attention lasts.

If we intentionally hold information in our focus of attention for a longer period than
usual, we can increase how long that information stays in the STM.

This typically occurs through active rehearsal, which means repeating the
information within our mind.

Without rehearsal, the duration of STM is set by the typical time your attention
status is focused on the information. But this attention can be given to information in
degrees (as anyone who has worked on two tasks at once can attest). Thus,
information is lost from STM gradually, rather than instantaneously.

Retroactive Interference
- This is when new information replaces old information in a memory store.
- When new information interferes with the storage or retrieval of old
information.

This occurs when new information effectively kicks ou old information out of
STM. Numerous studies have shown that retroactive interference occurs for
information stored in STM.

Proactive interference
- Has also been shown to cause forgetting from STM.
- This type of interference occurs when the old information already stored in
STM keeps new information from being stored.
- When old information interferes with the storage or retrieval of new
information.
 Research in Short-term Memory

Short Term Memory Capacity and Recall of Students with and without Intellectual
Giftedness: An Empirical Inquiry
Angela Foil Ellison

The goal of this research is to examine the differences of short-term memory capacity
between intellectually gifted, general education, and students receiving special education
services. Using foundations in memory and recall research by Atkinson and Shiffrin and
Baddeley and Hitch, data was collected by replication of a previous serial position effect
research design. Participants were children in grades four through six located in the
southern portion of the United States. An ANOVA analysis found a statistical significance
between students receiving special education and general education and gifted students.
A failure to reject the null hypothesis supported that short-term memory capacity of gifted
students are not different from general education students.

Link/DOI

https://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2505&context=dissertations&fbclid=I
wAR3D49FNP7lfG4HvwAcfJAQtpoEats1Q6CLUMjUigsRFV-AoK0MHGyVgvZQ

B. Long-term memory (LTM)

- Long-term memory refers to lifetime storage of memory after some elaborative
processing has occurred. One study by Bahrick (1984) showed that not only can
individuals store information in LTM across their lifetimes, but also the amount of
information that can be stored appears to have no limits.
- Unlike STM, information is primarily stored according to its semantic (objective)
features.
- Retrieval of information in LTM at a given time is limited. It depends on many factors
that contribute to the context in which retrieval occurs.
Types of LTM Memories
- There are three (3) types of memories that can be stored and retrieve from the LTM:
Episodic Memories (What you had for meryenda yesterday)
- This type of memory involves “episodes” from one’s daily experiences.
- E.g. remembering what you did last summer, the atmosphere of your
birthday party last year, and the day you fell off your bike when you were
17 years old.
- Some of these memories are autobiographical memories, because
they allow an individual to make a “mental time traveling” back to a
particular episode in our lives. But not all episodic memories are
autobiographical memories.
Semantic Memories (like what cognitive psychology means)
- Involves general knowledge we have but it does not contain the
information about the time and place where one acquired that
 knowledge (e.g. you may know that mitochondria is the powerhouse of
the cell but you may not remember the day and place you learned that
fact)
- Contributes to many other cognitive abilities such as language, and
concept formation
*The key difference between episodic and semantic memory is episodic memories
contain contextual information (e.g. time, place, mood) about the formation of memory
while semantic memories do not contain any contextual information.
Procedural memory (like how to make your favorite ulam)
- Sometimes called implicit memory, involves “how to” instructions for
different skills and tasks.
- For example, knowing how to ride a bike involves procedural memory
and once the skill is learned (or even mastered), it can be performed
somewhat automatically. These memories can be retrieved without
intending to remember anything. The abilities just seem to “flow” as an
individual performs a task they already know how to do.
To simplify:
Episodic memory: memory for a specific episode or experience in one’s life
Semantic memory: memory for facts and knowledge
Procedural memory: memory for a skill or procedure

According to Moscovitch et al. (2017), brain function supports the distinctions

between these types of memory:
- Episodic memories are retrieved using the medial temporal lobe (MTL) areas,
including the hippocampus, to pull back together the perceptual pieces of memory
from the cortical areas in which they are stored.
- Retrieval of semantic memories also rely on the MTL area, but the area activated by
knowledge retrieval can depend on the type of knowledge being retrieved.

Information seems to be stored in the area related to its use:

- Retrieval of motor information will activate areas near the visual cortex areas
that detect motion in the environment.
 - The prefrontal cortex also seems to be more involved in the retrieval of
semantic memories more than episodic memories.
- Procedural memories rely on the basal ganglia and its connections to the
frontal lobe for retrieval.

Research in Long-term Memory

The Relationship between Short- and Long-Term Memory is Preserved across the Age
Range
Giedrė Čepukaitytė, Jude L. Thom, Melvin Kallmayer, Anna C. Nobre, Nahid Zokaei

Both short- and long-term memories decline with healthy ageing. The aims of the current
study were twofold: firstly, to build on previous studies and investigate the presence of a
relationship between short- and long-term memories and, secondly, to examine
cross-sectionally whether there are changes in this relationship with age. In two
experiments, participants across the age range were tested on contextual-spatial
memories after short and long memory durations. Experimental control in stimulus
materials and task demands enabled the analogous encoding and probing for both
memory durations, allowing us to examine the relationship between the two memory
systems. Across two experiments, in line with previous studies, we found both short-term
memory and long-term memory declined from early to late adulthood. Additionally, there
was a significant relationship between short- and long-term memory performance, which,
interestingly, persisted throughout the age range. Our findings suggest a significant
degree of common vulnerability to healthy ageing for short- and long-term memories
sharing the same spatial-contextual associations. Furthermore, our tasks provide a
sensitive and promising framework for assessing and comparing memory function at
different timescales in disorders with memory deficits at their core.

Link/DOI

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/1/106

C. Working Memory
According to Squire (2004), Memory is a set of systems responsible for the encoding,
storage, and retrieval of information.
Working memory is one system that has been proposed for the control of memories
that one encodes in, stores in, and retrieves from STM.
STM = passive storage unit for information held over a short period of time.
WM = the system that controls the memories we are currently “working on” or
“operating on” in our minds.
Working memory is the processing unit of information that is the current focus of
attention.
Baddeley’s Model
The Baddeley Model (Baddeley, 1992; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) contains multiple
storage subsystems for different types of information. It also proposes the
existence of a central executive subsystem that controls the flow of information between
the other storage subsystems and long-term memory and decides where one’s attention will be
at any given moment.
The primary storage subsystems in working memory are the visuospatial sketchpad
and the phonological loop that hold visual and auditory information, respectively.
In a newer version of the model, Baddeley (2000) added a fourth component that he
called the episodic buffer, which acts as a temporary episodic storage subsystem and as
a connection between working and long-term memory.

Visuospatial sketchpad: the part of the working-memory system that holds visual
and spatial codes of information
As an example of this type of study, we examine the methods used by Quinn
and McConnell (1996) in their study. They asked subjects to remember a list
of words either by verbally rehearsing the words (in their heads) or by forming
a visual image of the words. While subjects were learning the words, they were
 also presented with a changing visual display (seemingly random visual block
patterns) or no visual display. When the visual display was present, subjects
who were told to visually imagine the words remembered fewer of the words
than subjects who were told to verbally rehearse them. When no visual
display was present, there was no effect on learning instruction.

Phonological loop: the part of the working-memory system that holds auditory
codes of information
Studies by Peterson and Johnson (1971) and Baddeley, Lewis, and Vallar
(1984) have shown these results for lists of letters and words, respectively. The
word length effect also supports the dominance of verbal coding in working
memory and the existence of the phonological loop. The word length effect is
 seen when longer words (e.g., words with more syllables) show lower recall
rates than shorter words.

Try this for yourself: Read over the following list of words. Then cover
them up and try to recall them.
help, train, dream, gift, fight, blow, drive, brain, kite.
How many could you remember? Probably about four to six of them,
right? Now try a list with the same number of words.
helicopter, university, happily, hippopotamus, flowering, computer, fortify,
opportunity, grocery.
If you remembered fewer of the words in the second list, then you have
illustrated the word length effect.

Baddeley, Thompson, and Buchanan (1975) showed this effect in their study
comparing short-term recall for words with one syllable compared with words
with five syllables. When the list contained five words, the lists with
one-syllable words showed recall rates of almost 80 percent; however, the
lists with five-syllable words showed recall rates of only about 30 percent.

Episodic buffer: the part of the working-memory system that holds episodic
memories as an overflow for the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.
When performing articulatory suppression, one’s loop is completely engaged
with the verbal repetition task and is unable to verbally store a list of items
one wishes to remember. Yet recall of a list is not drastically impaired by
articulatory suppression (Baddeley et al., 1984). Thus, the list items are being
stored in another subsystem of working memory. Researchers have ruled out
the sketchpad as a storage place for the list items during this task (Nairne &
Neath, 2013); thus, a different storage subsystem is needed. Baddeley
suggested that the episodic buffer serves in this role by briefly storing
episodic memories with visual and verbal codes integrated from the other two
storage subsystems. In other words, it can bind information with different
codes (verbal, visual, semantic) to hold the combined information
temporarily.
 Central executive: the part of the working-memory system that controls the flow of
information within the system and into long- term memory.
Baddeley (1998) has suggested that Norman and Shallice’s (1986) model of
the control of action that includes a supervisory attentional system could
describe the functioning of the central executive. In this model, many tasks
are proposed to rely on automatic functioning (e.g., routines) with the
supervisory attentional system coming into play when automatic functioning
is not sufficient for a task. Baddeley argues that this model of attention can
account for performance in tasks where the central executive would be
expected to play a role (e.g., driving, playing chess, reading).

Beyond Baddeley’s Model

[Long-term memory and attention] Cowan (1999) has suggested that instead
of being a separate system of memory as Baddeley’s model proposes, working
memory is simply the part of long- term memory that is currently activated
in our attention.
[Neurobiology] Jonides and colleagues (2008) examined the neural activity
that accompanies the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information over
the short term, with an emphasis on brain activity that occurs when
information is the focus of attention and binding the features of the
information when it is stored.

Research in Working Memory

The Relationship between Students’ Working Memory Capacity and Mathematical

Performance at Secondary School Level
Tahira Batool, Umm e Habiba, and Amna Saeed

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship among Working Memory Capacity
(WMC) and Mathematical Performance (MP) of a sample of Pakistani students. A
quantitative research approach was used to find out participants’ WMC and to discover its
relationship with their MP. A sample of 1186 participants’ from fifty seven public sector
secondary schools in Lahore, through multistage random sampling was selected for this
research. Figure Intersection Test was used to measure WMC where as Mathematics
Performance Test was used to measure MP. Data were analyzed by using computer software
SPSS version 15. The results showed a notable difference in WMC and MP due to gender.
Performance of male students on Mathematics Performance Test was better than the
 performance of female students in the same test. In addition, WMC and MP of English
medium students was better than Urdu medium students. Overall, WMC was highly
connected with MP. Three groups of WMC (low, medium and high) were significantly
different from each other in scores of both Figure Intersection Test and Mathematics
Performance Test. Low performance in mathematics is may be due to overloaded working
memory; therefore, this study has recommended that curriculum designers may take
advantage of this research while selecting mathematical topics for nine graders

Link/DOI

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1244644.pdf

III. Conclusion

To summarize the topic discussed, let’s look back on the three distinct types of memory:

(1) Short-term Memory

(2) Long-term Memory
(3) Working Memory

Short-term memory refers to the short-term storage of memory with minimal processing.

Chunking refers to the process of organizing information into fewer meaningful units.

The average capacity of STM is about five to nine information.

The duration of STM is affected by our attention and the type of information it has to store.

Retroactive Inference refers to new information replacing old information in a memory store.

On the other hand, Proactive inference refers to the blocking of new information by the
stored old information.

(Dito ko lalagay yung sa long-term memory)

Working memory refers to the set of systems responsible for encoding, storage, and retrieval
of information. It retrieves from STM.
Baddeley’s Model suggests that there are multiple storage subsystems for different types of
information.
It also proposes the existence of a central executive subsystem that controls the flow of
information between other storage subsystems and LTM. It decides where one’s attention will
be at any given moment.

The Primary storage subsystems are the Visuospatial Sketchpad and the Phonological
Loop, which hold visual and auditory information respectively.

In the newer model version, the Episodic Buffer was introduced, which acts as a temporary
episodic storage subsystem and as a connection between WM and LTM.

These are only three recognized types of memory. In fact, there are no known exact quantity of
the types of memory, as this is still debated by many researchers.