The Test of Long Term Memory

Since both of my subject's in my previous experiment of short term memory did really well, I thought I would utilize them again to test their long term memory. Quite honestly, I was prepared for this test to be more challenging for both of them.Subject 1 recalled all 20 words from the random list immediately after he was asked to recall them. This did not surprise me at all, as he proved last week that he has an impeccable short term memory. Subject 2 recalled 13 of the 20 words from the random list immediately after she was asked to recall them.

Because I tested the same two subjects, I decided to try different lengths of time in between the delayed recalls for each. I waited an hour to ask Subject 2 recall the random list of words. She recalled 13 of the 20 words from the random list, but threw in 1 different word from the list that she didn’t recall when asked immediately after and did not recall 1 word that she did recall the first time.

After waiting 6 hours before asking Subject 1 to partake in the delayed recall, I was sure that I had stumped him. While he did not remember the entire list, he recalled 17 of the 20 words from the random list. I was very impressed at the number of recalled words after such a long time.

When talking to both subjects about their strategies in remembering words from the random list, Subject 1 said he continually repeated and rehearsed the words in between each word, as well as grouped a few of the words into a sequence he could remember. Subject 2 also repeated and rehearsed, but instead thought about images that would help to remind her of the words. For example, after I read paper, seat, tire, she said she pictured a car in her head. The car had a tire, front and back seats, and there was a piece of paper laying on one. After reading love, beach, analysis, she added to her picture…the care was driving to the beach, she was in love, and the paper on the seat needed to be analyzed. You get the picture!

Both subjects also recalled more words from the beginning of the random list than they did from the middle or the end. However, both subjects recalled more words near the end of the list than they did the middle. Thus, the words in the middle of the list were harder for them to recall.

Overall, I was very impressed with the long term memory of both subjects. I think it was definitely a huge help on the subject’s side the 10 second pause in between each word in the random list, as they had time to repeat, rehearse, or draw the picture in the mind and create a mnemonic device. It gave them the opportunity to think about, which in turn helped them store the information in their long term memory to be recalled later on.