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Memory has an extensive history within the topic of psychology, and you will find a lot of research, old and new, that explores the complex nature of it all. How we process, store, and then use information has been a hot topic in the history of psychology, as ultimately, it has a lot of influence on who we are and how we behave.
There are three main sections of human memory: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory. We have a tremendous capacity for what we can store and remember. However, there are also faults in our memories. They can be altered or changed by things in our environment or our expectations via schemas.
Memory is the faculty of our brain that encodes, stores, and retrieves information.
Theorists and researchers have investigated and experimented on many aspects of human memory to learn more about how it works and what affects it. Many theorists and researchers have provided valuable knowledge to the study of human memory, starting with Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909). He was the first to study memory experimentally.
Even though this research was unprecedented in memory research, carefully developed methods and measurements have stood the test of time. Since then, much research has been conducted in this field. Many have researched and experimented on various aspects of human memory, some studying its intricacies and some examining it more holistically.
Some of the most famous theories are:
There are many classic and contemporary studies in Psychology that various memory theorists have conducted. Some of the most famous ones will be briefly mentioned here, and then explained in greater detail in their respective sections. These famous psychology memory studies include:
The following section focuses on the classic studies in recall experiments in psychology.
Baddeley and Hitch put forward their Working Memory Model in 1974, which was a significant contribution to Psychology and Memory research. However, even earlier, in 1966, Baddeley conducted experiments for his research on the influence of acoustic and semantic similarity of word sequences on long-term memory. This was one of the main human memory research studies that formed the Working Memory Model.
Baddeley 1966b had three independent variables:
The dependent variable was the number of correct words recalled in order. The researchers divided 72 participants into four groups:
Examples of semantically similar words, commons.wikimedia.org
The researchers tested all four groups' performance before AND after the delay period. First, the participants did the task 4 times. They had an interference task during a 15min break. Then, the researchers tested how many words in the correct order they could recall. Here are the results of the study:
After classic studies, let's examine some more recent studies into memory research.
Patient H.M. suffered from epileptic seizures. As a treatment, his bilateral medial temporal lobes were removed, including the hippocampus. After the treatment, H.M. couldn't form new long-term memories, which led to the conclusion that the hippocampus was essential for memory formation.
Schmolk et al. (2002) wanted to find out about semantic knowledge in H.M. and patients with lesions or damage in the same location (of brain area). His research design included an Independent Variable (IV) of damaged/lesioned brain region (naturally occurring IV), and a Dependent Variable (DV) of scores on semantic memory tests.
Semantic memories are long-term memories that include our knowledge about facts, ideas, concepts, and events. These do not include memories tied to personal experiences.
There were six participants and eight control group members. Two participants had damage to the hippocampus. Three participants had large lesions of the medial temporal lobe and other lesions of lateral temporal cortex. One participant (H.M.) had medial temporal lobe damage. The researchers used MRI and CT scans to find the location of the damage.
Brain scan images, pixabay.com
Participants had to complete nine tests with line drawings of 24 animals and 24 objects, and their names. First, these animals and objects were subcategorised, e.g. into six land animals. Then, the participants had four additional tests. These tests measured different aspects of the patients' semantic knowledge in depth.
Here are the results of the study:
These results suggested that damage to the lateral temporal cortex causes impairments in semantic knowledge. Based on this, we can conclude that semantic and episodic memories are located in separate brain parts.
Digit span tests have been used in memory research for a long time. The measurement got more specific when Baddeley and Hitch (1974) introduced the Working Memory Model.
Jacobs (1887) conducted one of the first studies of digit span. He found that adults have an average digit span of 9.3, and an average letter span of 7.3.
The digit span test measures how many digits a person can hold in their short-term memory at a time. The phonological loop retains these digits in short-term memory.
Miller (1956) established the famous capacity of 7 ± 2 items at a time for short-term memory in his research.
The theory behind the digit spans was that children learn to process information faster as they grow up. Consequentially, digit span should increase with age. Near the age of six, children rehearse information in their phonological loop to keep it in their short-term memory. As a result, their digit span increases, and memory improves.
Sebastián and Hernández-Gil (2012) wanted to determine how the phonological loop develops as children grow older. They recruited 570 Spanish children between the ages of 5 and 17 for their study. The researchers administered the digit span test. The aim was to determine the children's ability to retain information in their short-term memory and compare it to British children.
Sebastián and Hernández-Gil found that as children grew older, their digit span increased. Also, their working memory continued to develop up to when they were 17 years old, compared to the age of 15 in British children. They concluded that the phonological loop appears to be affected by age.
The researchers wanted to investigate the interaction between episodic memories and prior knowledge (semantic memories). They investigated how prior knowledge would be used to help assist the reconstruction of memories for images of everyday scenes.
Phase 1 involved establishing what a person expects in a scene based on prior knowledge. Participants had to name objects they'd expect to find in five naturalistic scenes, e.g. an office. Then, they had to enter the items into a computer as a list for one minute per scene. Afterwards, a separate group observed 25 images of five scenes. They had to recall objects they saw.
Phase 2 involved 49 new participants who were shown ten of the images used in the previous phase (from those five scenes) for either two or ten seconds. The aim of this phase was to test prior/semantic knowledge and episodic knowledge, respectively. The study results revealed that:
Based on these results, semantic knowledge can help accurately recall episodic memories of naturalistic settings. This way, more cognitive resources are available for other tasks. The study itself ensured the results had high ecological validity (as it used naturalistic environments), and the researchers controlled other factors that could affect their experiment.
As they were in a laboratory setting, the research was also reliable. However, this laboratory setting affected the initial idea of having high ecological validity. Even though this was a good representation of a natural setting, the research was conducted in a laboratory.
Steyvers and Hemmer (2012) wanted to investigate the interaction between episodic memories and prior knowledge (semantic memories).
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) for the working memory model.
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) for the multi-store memory model, including short- and long-term memory, and ideas about information processing, encoding, storage and retrieval, capacity and duration.
Tulving (1972) for the explanation of long-term memory – episodic and semantic memory.
Bartlett (1932) for reconstructive memory, including schema theory.
Memory research is a type of research conducted to understand the characteristics and nature of memory processes and systems.
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) - the working memory model.
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) - the multi-store model of memory, including short- and long-term memory, and ideas about information processing, encoding, storage and retrieval, capacity and duration.
Tulving (1972) - the explanation of long-term memory – episodic and semantic memory.
Bartlett (1932) - reconstructive memory, including schema theory.
Classic and Contemporary research:
Memory research was revolutionised in the 1950s and 1960s when different experiments were conducted investigating short-term memory and its coding, capacity, and duration. The first memory model was The Multi-Store Model of memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968). Later, an improved model came along: the Working Memory Model (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974)
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) was the first to study memory in an experimental way.
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