Which one of the following situations reflects the typical duration of working memory?
A) Arnie remembers his locker combination through the entire school year. By the end of summer vacation, however, he has forgotten it.
B) At noon, Barnie makes a mental list of the five homework assignments he needs to complete that night. At 3:00 he checks himself and realizes that he still remembers all five. However, by 7:00 p.m. he cannot recall two of the five assignments.
C) Carol remembers most of the information that she has been learning about World War II in class this week, but she remembers very little of what she learned about World War I two weeks ago.
D) Darrell looks up the correct spelling of the word fossil, repeats the letters once, and closes the dictionary. But by the time he finds a piece of paper on which to write the word, he has forgotten how to spell it.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Working memory, also known as short-term memory, typically holds information for a brief period, ranging from a few seconds to a minute or so without rehearsal. Darrell's situation, where he forgets the spelling of a word shortly after looking it up and without engaging in any form of rehearsal, closely reflects the characteristics of working memory's duration.

Which One of the Following Situations Reflects the Typical Duration