EXPERIMENT NO.

4 : SHORT TERM MEMORY

Title : Short Term Memory

Statement of Problem:-
To study the effects of length of retention interval in short term memory.

Introduction:
Memory is the ability to take in information, store it, and recall it at a later time. In
psychology, memory is broken into three stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Stages of memory: The three stages of memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Problems
can occur at any stage of the process.

The Memory Process

Encoding (or registration): the process of receiving, processing, and combining information.
Encoding allows information from the outside world to reach our senses in the forms of
chemical and physical stimuli. In this first stage we must change the information so that we
may put the memory into the encoding process.
Storage: the creation of a permanent record of the encoded information. Storage is the second
memory stage or process in which we maintain information over periods of time.
Retrieval (or recall, or recognition): the calling back of stored information in response to
some cue for use in a process or activity. The third process is the retrieval of information that
we have stored. We must locate it and return it to our consciousness. Some retrieval attempts
may be effortless due to the type of information.
Problems can occur at any stage of the process, leading to anything from forgetfulness to
amnesia. Distraction can prevent us from encoding information initially; information might
not be stored properly, or might not move from short-term to long-term storage; and/or we
might not be able to retrieve the information once it’s stored.
Types of Memory
Sensory Memory
Sensory memory allows individuals to retain impressions of sensory information after the
original stimulus has ceased. One of the most common examples of sensory memory is fast-
moving lights in darkness: if you’ve ever lit a sparkler on the Fourth of July or watched
traffic rush by at night, the light appears to leave a trail. This is because of “iconic memory,”
the visual sensory store. Two other types of sensory memory have been extensively studied:
echoic memory (the auditory sensory store) and haptic memory (the tactile sensory store).
Sensory memory is not involved in higher cognitive functions like short- and long-term
memory; it is not consciously controlled. The role of sensory memory is to provide a detailed
representation of our entire sensory experience for which relevant pieces of information are
extracted by short-term memory and processed by working memory.

Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory is also known as working memory. It holds only a few items (research
shows a range of 7 +/- 2 items) and only lasts for about 20 seconds. However, items can be
moved from short-term memory to long-term memory via processes like rehearsal. An
example of rehearsal is when someone gives you a phone number verbally and you say it to
yourself repeatedly until you can write it down. If someone interrupts your rehearsal by
asking a question, you can easily forget the number, since it is only being held in your short-
term memory.

Long-Term Memory
Long-term memories are all the memories we hold for periods of time longer than a few
seconds; long-term memory encompasses everything from what we learned in first grade to
our old addresses to what we wore to work yesterday. Long-term memory has an incredibly
vast storage capacity, and some memories can last from the time they are created until we die.

There are many types of long-term memory. Explicit or declarative memory requires
conscious recall; it consists of information that is consciously stored or retrieved. Explicit
memory can be further subdivided into semantic memory (facts taken out of context, such as
“Paris is the capital of France”) and episodic memory (personal experiences, such as “When I
was in Paris, I saw the Mona Lisa“).
In contrast to explicit/declarative memory, there is also a system for procedural/implicit
memory. These memories are not based on consciously storing and retrieving information,
but on implicit learning. Often this type of memory is employed in learning new motor skills.
An example of implicit learning is learning to ride a bike: you do not need to consciously
remember how to ride a bike, you simply do. This is because of implicit memory.

Hypothesis:
1. As a retention interval increases, number of correct response decreases.
2. Practice and familiarity increasing number of correct responses.

Variables:
1. Independent variable- Retention interval, practice, familiarity.
2. Dependent variable- Number of correct responses

Material-
List of 24CCC trigrams with corresponding three digit numbers, metronome, wooden screen paper
pencil extra, stopwatch.

Design of the experiment:

To test subjects recalls for list of 24CCC trigram with retention interval (RI) of 3, 9, 18 sec the
counting backwards by 3’s activities used to prevent rehearsal.

Precaution:
1. Metronome is used to control the time for counting backward activity.
2. Record the subject’s responses carefully and in detail Al.
3. Subject is asked to count backward numbers as fast as possible and without stopping immediately
after the combination.
4. Randomise the order of presentation of the trigrams in order to eliminate habit formation

Procedure:
All necessary arrangement are made by the experimenter before subject is called for experiment. The
following instructions are given to the subjects.
Instructions:
1. “This is an interesting experiment. I will give you a combination of three letters for example BCJ,
PGM, HTK followed by a number.
2. You have to count the number backwards in steps of 3 as soon as I order the numbers as (413,
531).in this way all 24 trigrams presented to the subject. The first session was 3,9,18 seconds
interval.
3. The second session was of9 of, 18, 3 and the third session was 18, 9, 3 seconds interval. Observe
this pattern for the combination and no doubt response is very carefully. partial responses were
specifically noted down and absence of response was marked with a negative sign (-)

Introspective report:
In this experiment 3 CCC (consonant consonant consonant) triagram and numbers are used to
recall. Subject found it difficult to recall these CCC words, syllables because it has no such meanings.
Subject cannot recall properly the triagram because he is busy in counting backward numbers
so by the time he forgets those nonsense syllables because it has no meaning so it is easy to forget.
Counting the numbers backwards creates an interference to recall the triagram.

Discussion:
This is the experiment to study the effect of length of retention interval in short term memory.
There were two hypothesis.
1. As the retention interval increases the number of correct responses decreases.
2. Practice and familiarity increases number of correct responses.
I established a rapport with the subject and give him instruction. when he fully understood the
instructions I started the experiment.
At first I told CCC syllable loudly with numbers, then I asked him to count backward by 3’s for 3
sec, after that I asked him for the CCC triagram. For 24 Triagram I used this process. The total
number of correct responses was 12 for 3 sec.

After that this process was applied for 9 seconds. He found it difficult to recall because the counting
time was increased so he gave ____ correct responses for 9 seconds. He felt more difficult for 18
seconds because he was very busy in counting the numbers so had a very poor recall for 18 second. It
was ______. He forgot many Triagrams.
This same procedure was followed for trial 2 and 3.
In the trial number 2 first I gave 9 second and there were _____ correct responses for 18 seconds.
There were only _____ correct responses given by him for 3 sec. The recall was more because there
was a less disturbing task.

In the third trial, first I give 18 second and the number of correct responses were ______. Then for 3
seconds it was ______ and for 9 seconds it was _____. The number of correct responses were
increased. It has happened because there were repetition and practice occurs in the third trial. So he
gave more correct answers compared to the previous trials. As the time goes on repetition positively
affects so he can give more correct answers even when interruption taste time is for 18 seconds
compared to previous trials. But it is less compared to the 3 seconds and 9 seconds time recall
triagrams.

Conclusion:
In the case of my subject as the retention level is increased number of correct responses
decreased so the hypothesis is accepted.

References:
1. Matlin, M. W. (2005). Cognition. Crawfordsville: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2. Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our
capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63 (2): 81–97.
Observation table:
Trial I seconds Trial II seconds Trial III seconds
Sr No Triagram 3 9 18 9 18 3 3 18 9
1 BCH-419
2 PGI-574
3 RJH-226
4 QKG-512
5 GJP-827
6 BGK-400
7 SHX-681
8 DKM-200
9 DJN-532
10 CMF-644
11 CJF-311
12 FDM-156
13 HCX-794
14 JDP-209
15 MPB-717
16 QSG-288
17 CMZ-619
18 SZP-575
19 FNQ-528
20 DFX-700
21 HRX-781
22 LSH-894
23 PHT-751
24 ZEF-366