Human Memory
Lesson 12
Human Memory Factors Affecting Duration in LTM Produced by
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Factors Affecting Duration in LTM
Childhood Amnesia: • You will notice that when you try to jot down some of your earliest memories, it is unlikely that you can accurately remember many events. Some of your memories may be quite vivid. • If you can accurately remember events before your third birthday its probably because you have been told about these events by your family or you have seen them recorded or may be even seen pictures of the event.
• The most likely explanation of this amnesia is that very young children are incapable of laying down well-organised and integrated memories and so they are not available for recall.
How Duration is Measured: • Another factor that seems to be important in measuring duration of LTM is the method used to tap into memory. • As you can see from Bahrick’s study people are much better at remembering information from long ago if they are tested by recognition opposed to recall
Thorough Learning: • It also seems that people are more likely to hold material in permastore if they learned very well in the first place and if they continued to learn about related material in the interval. • Bahrick and Hall (1991) tested LTM for algebra and geometry. They found people who had only taken maths up to high-school level showed a steady decline in the accuracy of their recall over the years. • Students who had taken a higher maths course at college showed remarkably high levels of accuracy as much as 55 years later.