Question

Demetra's husband is watching a football game on television. When Demetraasks if he will pick up their daughter, Zoe, from day care the next day, he doesn't reply. When Demetra asks, "Did you hear me?" her husband replies, "Yes, Iheard you. I'll pick up Zoe tomorrow." However, the next day, her husband comes home without Zoe. He claims to have no memory of being asked to pick her up. The fact that he did not have the information about picking up Zoe from day care in was most likely due to his a. short-term; never having that information in sensory memory b. short-term; not paying attention to the request c. long-term; never having that information in sensory memory d. long-term; not paying attention to the request

Short answer

b. short-term; not paying attention to the request

Step-by-step solution

Identify the role of sensory memory

In this situation, sensory memory would have been responsible for initially registering the information from Demetra, such as the sound of her voice and the words she spoke. It lasts for a very short period of time but is the very first stage in the process of storing information.

Analyze the role of attention

In this context, attention is the process of focusing mental resources on the incoming information. If the husband was not paying attention to Demetra's request, the information might not have been processed further and wouldn't have been stored in either short-term or long-term memory.

Understand the difference between short-term and long-term memory

Short-term memory (STM) is a temporary storage system that holds information for brief periods of time. The capacity of STM is limited and sensitive to interference. Long-term memory (LTM), on the other hand, stores information for extended periods and has a larger capacity.

Determine the most likely cause of the incident

Considering that the husband was preoccupied by watching the football game, it is very likely that he was not paying enough attention to Demetra's request to pick up Zoe the next day. Therefore, the information might not have been processed and stored properly in either STM or LTM. This suggests that the husband's failure to remember the task was most likely due to not paying attention to the request, rather than never having the information in sensory memory.

Choose the most appropriate answer

Based on the analysis, we can conclude that the most accurate answer is: b. short-term; not paying attention to the request

Key concepts

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory is the very first step in the process of memorizing information. It acts like a temporary storage for immediate sensory inputs we receive from our environment.
For example, the sound of someone talking or the sight of an object. This type of memory has a very brief duration, almost like a fleeting image or sound that only lasts for a second or two.

There are different types of sensory memory, like

• Iconic memory for visual stimuli,
• Echoic memory for auditory stimuli,
• and Haptic memory for touch-related stimuli.

In Demetra's situation, her husband's sensory memory would have captured the sound of her voice as she asked him to pick up Zoe. However, by itself, sensory memory isn't enough to ensure information retention—it needs further processing, which leads us to attention.

Short-term Memory

Short-term memory, often abbreviated as STM, serves as a temporary workspace for processing information. It is the stage between sensory memory and long-term memory, where information is kept for short periods and can be easily disrupted.
This type of memory usually lasts around 15 to 30 seconds unless actively rehearsed or attended to.

STM has a limited capacity, often described as being able to hold around 7 plus or minus 2 items. This is why focusing on important bits can help transfer information into long-term storage.
In the scenario with Demetra and her husband, if her husband failed to pay attention to the request, then information about picking up Zoe might not have even made it into his short-term memory. Therefore, it never got the chance to be encoded into long-term memory.

Long-term Memory

Long-term memory (LTM) is where we store information over prolonged periods. It is different from short-term memory in that its capacity is much larger, and it can retain information for days, weeks, or even a lifetime.
Information in LTM can be explicit, like remembering facts or events, or implicit, like skills we have learned.

To transfer information to LTM, it often requires reinforcement through repeated exposure or deep processing.

• Encoding is the process by which information is changed into a form that can be stored in LTM.
• This might include associating it with other known information or practices.

In Demetra's situation, because her husband's attention was compromised by the football game, the request might never have reached long-term memory. Without attention, there's no meaningful encoding and hence, no storage that can be recalled later.

Attention

Attention is a crucial mental process that determines what information we focus on in our environment and, hence, what information gets further processed.
It acts like a gatekeeper; without it, even information registered in sensory memory might get lost instead of being moved to short-term memory.

Attention is influenced by various factors such as

• the relevance of information,
• its novelty,
• or competing distractions—like a thrilling football game!

In Demetra's case, her husband's distraction led to a failure in paying attention to her request. Without attention, the words she spoke might not be processed efficiently or even captured by his memory system, preventing transfer to short-term or long-term memory. This explains why the task of picking up Zoe was forgotten.