Peterson & Peterson (1959)

Peterson & Peterson aimed to test...

• the duration of STM without rehearsal

• the duration of STM using rehearsal

• how schema affects memory

• the duration of LTM

What kind of experiment was it?

• Natural experiment

• Field experiment

• Laboratory experiment

Describe the sample of the study.

• 100 kids

• 53 families from Chicago

• 24 students

• 20 British people

Which is a trigram?

• 375

• TVQ

• ▽

Why were participants asked to count backwards in threes (273, 270, 267...)?

• Test mathematical ability

• Prevent encoding

• Prevent retrieval

• Prevent rehearsal

What was the shortest amount of time participants had to count backwards for?

• 2 seconds

• 3 seconds

• 4 seconds

• 5 seconds

What was the longest amount of time participants had to count backwards for?

• 18 seconds

• 21 seconds

• 23 seconds

• 30 seconds

How many trigrams were recalled after 18 seconds delay?

• less than 5%

• less than 10%

• over 50%

• over 80%

How many trigrams were recalled after just 3 seconds delay?

• less than 5%

• less than 10%

• over 50%

• over 80%

What did Peterson & Peterson conclude?

• STM lasts for around 18 sec without rehearsal

• STM lasts for 18 sec with rehearsal

• Rehearsal is necessary to transfer info from STM to LTM

• We tend to remember more words at the start and end of a list