Chapter 5: Short term and working memory

Test yourself 5.1

Step 1 of 3
Memory is like a time machine. One can go to his/her past whenever he/she
wants. One can think of an old memory and can revisit their past.
Step 2 of 3
People can remember their past, like a birthday party or a travel. One could
remember many of their childhood experiences, like any sports event or cultural
program. One’s mental time travel can revisit the moments they have lived by
and they can feel those events again. Memory is a process which is involved in
retaining, retrieving and utilizing the information stored in our brains. One can go
back to the situation which he/she wants to relive.
Memory plays a very vital role in our daily lives. One could memorize names,
numbers, our daily activities, and study notes. It is the memory only which assists
in doing our daily chores in systematic manner and in same routine daily without
a miss. How one brushes, bathes, cooks and eats meals without any mistakes is
due to their memory. Whatever one does is based on their past activities which
are stored in our memory. Life without memory would be very difficult to live
with.
Step 3 of 3
People, who lost memory, find it difficult to lead a normal life. They cannot
perform even the simplest of the routine activities. They forget what they have
done even 5 minutes before. Clive Wearing, a highly respected choral director
and musician in England, suffered viral encephalitis in his 40s. His temporal lobe
was destroyed. Hence, no new memory could form. He could not even remember
that he woke up just 5 minutes before. Many such incidents could be found in his
daily diary.
People, who are suffering from disorders which affect their memory, face similar
problems. They cannot recall anything. Leading a normal life becomes difficult.
They find it difficult to retrieve older incidents of their lives. They cannot perform
routine activities smoothly. They cannot participate in life’s activities in a
meaningful manner.
Therefore, it can be stated that memory is very important for leading a smooth
life without any hindrances.

2. Describe Atkinson and Shiffrin's modal model of memory both in terms of its
structure (the boxes connected by arrows) and the control processes. Then
describe how each part of the model comes into play when you decide you want
to order pizza but can't remember the pizzeria's phone number.

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Memory is a process which is involved in retaining, retrieving and utilizing the
information stored in our brains. Memory is like a time machine where we can
revisit the situation which one wants to relive. Many scientists have proposed
models which help to study the memory mechanism and its types.

Step 2 of 3
In 1968, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin proposed Modal Model of
Memory. This model was extremely influential. It contains three stages which are
known as structural features of model. They are sensory memory, which holds
memory for very few seconds; short-term memory, in which memory is stored for
about 30 seconds; and long-term memory, in which information is retained for
whole of the life.
They described memory system as a control process. It is an active process which
is under the control of an individual and varies from person to person. The more a
person rehearses and tries to remember information, more strong becomes his
memory. Similarly, if one pays more attention to any information, and finds
interest in the subject, he/she can memorize it for longer periods. Also, one can
strategize how to remember things, like numbers and names. One can build a
pictorial image of any information and can retain it for longer periods.

Step 3 of 3
Modal model theory of memory explains how one can remember or forget any
information. For instance, one want to order a pizza, but he/she does not
remember the number of the Pizzeria. It has reasons behind it. When one go
across any pizza ad or any website, the information gets stored in our sensory
memory. He/she pays attention to the article, and hence it moves to his/her
short-term memory.
A person who is willing to have pizza will remember or look into the phone
number and memorize it. This information will get stored in long-term memory.
However, if he/she is not interested to order pizza at that time, he/she may fail to
look into the contact number or try to memorize it. Hence, he/she cannot
remember the number of the pizzeria.
3. Describe sensory memory and Sperling's experiment in which he briefly flashed
an array of letters to measure the capacity and duration of sensory memory.

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Sensory memory is a type of memory in which the information is stored for brief
period of time, maybe few seconds, and the stimulation is for fractions. The
information, if not paid attention, may get lost from the memory soon.

Step 2 of 3
George Sperling in 1960 proposed an experiment to describe sensory/iconic
memory. His study demonstrated the memory-span of a person. In his
experiment, he displayed some alphabets in random order, but in matrix form to
different individuals.
‘Was’ observed that the correct responses’ number by individuals could not
exceed 4.5 alphabets, irrespective of the number of letters showed to them. This
limited information retained by the individual’s state the memory-span of a
person.

Step 3 of 3
The idea of this whole experiment was to reveal a limitation of sensory
information processed by an individual which he could remember. This
impression would suggest another interpretation of the procedure, which was
that it was a limitation of mnemonic order.
Sperling showed a matrix of 3 lines with 4 letters in every line. A person was
allowed to view it for 50 milliseconds. On an average, four correct answers were
received. Under partial report procedure of medium-, low- or high- pitched tone;
people could retain more of upper rows than the bottom one.
4. Is memory lost from STM by decay or by interference? Be sure you understand
the Peter-son and Peterson experiment and Keppel and Underwood’s
interpretation of it. What is the time span of STM?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Short-term memory or STM can be defined as a type of memory in which less
information is stored for a brief time period. Any information just read or heard
about can go to short-term memory.

Step 2 of 3
Memory lost from STM cannot be stored to LTM (long-term memory). If the
memory is not processed, it is not stored in LTM. According to Peterson &
Peterson, memory is lost due to decay. They conducted an experiment and found
out that people can remember about 80% of the information they have recalled 3
seconds before.
However, this percentage decreases as time lapse is increased. As per their
theory, the memory is slowly decayed and it becomes difficult for the individual to
recall the information.

Step 3 of 3
However, Keppel & Underwood suggested that loss in memory was not because
of decay, but due to proactive interference. In this case, new information
interferes with old information stored. For instance, if a person tries to recall the
new phone number of his friend, initially he might make mistakes in retrieving the
new number with the old one.
Whether the loss of short term memory is due to decay or interference, it has
been noted that the information is stored for maximum of 15-20 seconds.
5. What is the capacity of STM, and how is it infl uenced by chunking?

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
In 1968, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin proposed Modal Model of
Memory. This model was extremely influential. It contains three stages which are
known as a model’s structural features. They are sensory memory, which holds
memory for very few seconds of time; short-term memory, in which memory is
stored for about 30 seconds; and lastly the long-term memory, in which
information is retained for whole of the life.

Step 2 of 2
Short-term memory (STM) can be defined as a type of memory in which limited
information’s amount is stored for small time period. On an average, a person can
remember 5-9 items in STM. A person's ability to store items in memory is very
limited.
In the year 1956, Miller introduced the Concept of Chunking, which described
those small words if combined into larger phrases or sentences can be
remembered for a longer time, and the capacity of STM increases. Different
words can be linked into a meaningful story and can be remembered. This
method raises the ability to hold larger information amount in STM. Instead of 8-9
words, a person can now recall up to 25 words and can increase his memory span.
6. Describe evidence supporting the following types of coding in STM: auditory
(Conrad letter memory experiment); visual (Della Sala matrix experiment); and
semantic coding (Wickens fruits and professions experiment).

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Coding can be defined as a method of presenting information. Coding involves
conversion of audio-visual information into synaptic impulse. Coding helps in
storing information in short term memory. Coding can be auditory, visual or
semantic.
Step 2 of 3
Auditory coding involves storing information in STM (short-term memory)
received from sound. In 1964 Conrad performed an experiment where the
participants were allowed to see and listen to some information for a brief
amount of time. He found that the participants wrote the letters based on
listening and were misled in certain information which they skipped to listen.
Visual coding involves remembering the information which has been visualized by
the person. This involves floor plan, charts, tables and images. Sergio Della Sala in
1999 observed that the illustrated information was encoded more in people than
a verbal description.

Step 3 of 3
Semantic coding involves remembering items based on their meaning. Wickens
and his co-worker in 1976 found that individuals could recall those words for
which they knew the meaning. It was more of a proactive interference.

Test yourself – 5.2

Step 1 of 3
The modal model induced a big research deal on memory of short term. Such
research continued on STM, and STM concept proposed that modal model is very
narrow for explaining other findings of research. The major obstacle was that STM
was considered as a mechanism of storage, which was of short term. The part of
STM spreads beyond storage. The transfer of idea to and from LTM also occurs
from the STM.

Step 2 of 3
According to this model, there is possibility to perform some of the tasks that
occupy whole of the STM. Model takes the dynamic procedure that is in
conjugation like language understanding as well as solving problems of math’s
and the truth that individuals make out dual tasks at a time. Baddeley made a
conclusion that the STM processes must be dynamic as well as should comprise
various components, which can work separately.

Step 3 of 3
This model states that the STM is considered as working memories, which are a
system of limited capacity that is in temporary storage as well as modification of
the ideas for the tasks that are twisted like learning, reasoning as well as
comprehension. The central executive coordinates as well as combines to the
dual types of information.

2. What are the differences between STM and working memory?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
According to this model, there is possibility to perform some of the tasks that
occupy whole of the STM. Model takes the dynamic procedure that is in
conjugation like language understanding as well as solving problems of math’s
and the truth that individuals make out dual tasks at a time. Baddeley made a
conclusion that the STM processes must be dynamic as well as should comprise
various components, which can work separately.

Step 2 of 3
This model states that the STM is considered as working memories, which are a
system of limited capacity that is in temporary storage as well as modification of
the ideas for the tasks that are twisted like learning, reasoning as well as
comprehension. The central executive coordinates as well as combines to the
dual types of information.

Step 3 of 3
The difference between the STM and working memory is as follows,
1. STM is linked with the storage of information for a long time span like recalling
a telephone number, whereas the working memory is found to be linked with
modification of any information, which takes place at the time of complex
cognition like at the time of reading paragraph recalling some numbers.
2. The STM comprises only one component but the working memory consists of
various components.

3. Describe Baddeley's three-component model ofworking memory.

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
According to this model, there is possibility to perform some of the tasks that
occupy whole of the STM. Model takes the dynamic procedure that is in
conjugation like language understanding as well as solving problems of math’s
and the truth that individuals make out dual tasks at a time. Baddeley made a
conclusion that the STM processes must be dynamic as well as should comprise
various components, which can work separately.

Step 2 of 2
The three components of Baddeley working memory model are described as,
1. Phonological loop comprises two components namely, the phonological store
that is of limited capacity as well brings ideas that is only for very few seconds.
Second one is articulatory rehearsal process that is mainly for recalling, which is
capable to hold items in store of phonology from decay.
2. Visuopatial sketch pad that holds spatial as well as visual ideas. Whenever one
forms an image in his or her mind or solving puzzle then visuopatial sketch pad is
used here.
3. Central executive is a place where main memory’s work takes place. It extracts
all the information from LTM as well as coordinates the work of the loop of
phonology as well as visuopatial sketch pad by lightening the particular parts of
any task and grabbing attention from a corner to another.
4. Describe the phonological similarity effect, the word length effect, and the
effect of articulatory suppression. What do these effects indicate about the
phonological loop?

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
The modal model induced a big research deal on memory of short term. Such
research continued on STM, and STM concept proposed that modal model is very
narrow for explaining other findings of research. The major obstacle was that STM
was considered as a mechanism of storage, which was of short term. The part of
STM spreads beyond storage. The transfer of idea to and from LTM also occurs
from the STM.
Phonological loop comprises two components namely, the phonological store
that is of limited capacity as well brings ideas that is only for very few seconds.
Second one is articulatory rehearsal process that is mainly for recalling, which is
capable to hold items in store of phonology from decay. It creates confusion in
between words as well as letters, which sound similar.

Step 2 of 2
The effect of word length takes place when the memory for a list of word is quite
good for short words as compared to the long words. Demonstration list consist
of eight words rather than by the word length effect, the next list becomes
difficult to recall, as the words are lengthy. One of the ways that technique of
phonological loop studied occurs by knowing that what will happen if the
operation is destroyed. Repetition in the irrelevant sound that results in a process
that is articulatory suppression, it decreases the memory as it interrupts with the
rehearsal.
5. Describe the visuospatial sketch pad, the Shepard and Meltzger mental rotation
task, Della Sala's visual pattern task, and Brooks's “F” task. Be sure you
understand what each task indicates about the visuospatial sketch pad.

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
The modal model induced a big research deal on memory of short term. Such
research continued on STM, and STM concept proposed that modal model is very
narrow for explaining other findings of research. The major obstacle was that STM
was considered as a mechanism of storage, which was of short term. The part of
STM spreads beyond storage. The transfer of idea to and from LTM also occurs
from the STM.

Step 2 of 3
According to this model, there is possibility to perform some of the tasks that
occupy whole of the STM. Model takes the dynamic procedure that is in
conjugation like language understanding as well as solving problems of math’s
and the truth that individuals make out dual tasks at a time. Baddeley made a
conclusion that the STM processes must be dynamic as well as should comprise
various components, which can work separately.

Step 3 of 3
Visuopatial sketch pad that holds spatial as well as visual ideas. Whenever one
forms an image in his or her mind or solving puzzle then visuopatial sketch pad is
used here. It manages visual as well as spatial idea as well as it is included in the
method of visual imagery that is display of visual images of mind at time of
absence of physical and visual stimulus. Some of the problems were solved by
rotating images present in their brain, a technique called as mental rotation.
6. What is the central executive? What happens when executive function is lost
because of damage to the frontal lobe?
Answer:
Step 1 of 3
The modal model induced a big research deal on memory of short term. Such
research continued on STM, and STM concept proposed that modal model is very
narrow for explaining other findings of research. The major obstacle was that STM
was considered as a mechanism of storage, which was of short term. The part of
STM spreads beyond storage. The transfer of idea to and from LTM also occurs
from the STM.

Step 2 of 3
According to this model, there is possibility to perform some of the tasks that
occupy whole of the STM. Model takes the dynamic procedure that is in
conjugation like language understanding as well as solving problems of math’s
and the truth that individuals make out dual tasks at a time. Baddeley made a
conclusion that the STM processes must be dynamic as well as should comprise
various components, which can work separately.

Step 3 of 3
Central executive is a place where main memory’s work takes place. It extracts all
the information from LTM as well as coordinates the work of the loop of
phonology as well as visuopatial sketch pad by lightening the particular parts of
any task and grabbing attention from a corner to another. It acts as attention
controller. It commands how and when attention should be grabbed on any
particular task as well as its division into two tasks and in when it can be moved
towards the tasks.
The patients having damage in frontal lobe face the problem of having command
on their attention. They are found to be engaged in the same activity but do not
reach at the final destination.
7. What is the episodic buffer? Why was it proposed, and what are its functions?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
The modal model induced a big research deal on memory of short term. Such
research continued on STM, and STM concept proposed that modal model is very
narrow for explaining other findings of research. The major obstacle was that STM
was considered as a mechanism of storage, which was of short term. The part of
STM spreads beyond storage. The transfer of idea to and from LTM also occurs
from the STM.

Step 2 of 3
There is nothing new in this idea. It had been proved long ago working capacity
can be enhanced via chunking as well as their occurs an interchange of the ideas
within the long-term memory as well as working memory. Baddeley has
discovered that it was very essential to prove some extra components of the
working memory for addressing these abilities. The extra component of working
memory is known as episodic buffer. It is involved in storing information and
hence provides additional capacity and is linked to LTM.

Step 3 of 3
Episodic buffer states next step in the process of evolution of Baddeley’s theory
that has been a stimulating research of the working memory until thirty years
from the time it was proposed. It is considered as a very broad stage of discovery.
It increases the storing capacity as well as communication with the LTM.
 Test yourself – 5.3
1. The physiology of working memory has been studied using (a) brain lesions in
monkeys, (b) neural recording from monkeys, and (c) brain imaging and
eventrelated potential recording experiments in humans. What do the results of
each of these procedures tell us about working memory and the brain?

Step 1 of 5
Working memory can hold process and manipulate information of decision
making and behaviour. Scientists work on different aspects to understand the
mechanism of working memory in the brain.

Step 2 of 5
Researchers studied that monkeys with damaged pre-frontal cortex could not
memorize things for longer period. Their performance of identified objects drops
significantly. This study proves that the pre-frontal cortex is involved in holding
information for short periods of time. A damaged pre-frontal cortex results in lack
of recalling information and can be rightly explained as when a thing is out of
sight then it is also out of mind.

Step 3 of 5
Another study showed that neurons in the pre-frontal cortex can hold the
memory after the original stimulus is given. Funa Hashi and co-workers in 1989
performed a response task. A monkey was shown a point on the screen and after
few seconds a nerve firing was performed at the same point. After few seconds
another shot was flashed and the monkey moved his eyes to the same point
where the first firing was given. This shows that neurons work in a particular
pattern.
Step 4 of 5
Brain imaging such as PET (positron emission tomography) and MRI (Magnetic
resonance imaging) also show that the working memory activity is performed in
pre-frontal cortex. The frontal lobes, the cerebellum and the parietal lobes are
also involved in the working memory. The brain focuses its attention on
information which is important and ignores the irrelevant data. Wogel in 2005
demonstrated how human brain records a working memory. People with high
memory capacity could store large number of item in working memory and could
retrieve the information faster than others.

Step 5 of 5
Therefore, it can be stated that for a better working memory, we need a healthy
working brain and coordinated nervous system.

2. What is the reading span task? Why is it a better test of working memory than
the digit span task?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Reading span task is a memory span used to investigate working memory and
cognitive processing. It needs people to read unconnected sentences loudly and
recall the final word of each sentence. More is the participant's reading span,
more will be his recalling memory.

Step 2 of 3
Daneman and Carpenter (1980) studied and measured the capacity of STM (short-
term memory). According to them, digit span test was not sufficient in measuring
working memory capacity. They stated that working memory capacity can be
measured and tested by dynamic processing like reading.
This process increases both the storage and processing function of the brain. A
person with strong memory can read continuously while remembering the last
word of each sentence that he has read.

Step 3 of 3
Therefore, due to the above stated reason, the task of reading span is a better
test of one’s working memory than task of digit span.
3. What is the evidence supporting the idea that better comprehension,
reasoning, and intelligence are related to having a larger and more effi cient
working memory?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
It is said that the stronger the memory, the more is the person intelligent. A
mentally sound individual can restore lots of information in his brain.

Step 2 of 3
Working memory is cognitive memory holding a limited of information
responsible for decision making and behavior. Many experiments prove the above
stated sentence. When the reading spans and comprehension performance were
tested and compared, it was found that the participant with higher reading span
gave a better performance than others. They could recall more information than
the others.

Step 3 of 3
People with working memory capacity could hold and retain information. They
could efficiently focus on relevant information. This helps in filtering out
irrelevant information and storing large amount of needed messages.
Hence, it is rightly said that people with better working memory and high
comprehension possess higher intelligence as also stated by Conway and his co-
workers.