2.1.2 multi-store model of memory

Question 1

describe the multi store model

Answer 1

In the multi store model created by Atkinson and Shifrin in 1968, information from the environment goes into the sensory register and if we pay attention to it, it will go into the short term memory where it is there for 30 seconds if not rehearsed. The short term memory has a limited capacity of 5 to 9 seconds and ecodes acoustically. If the information is then rehearsed for long enough it then goes into a long-term memory. This is known as maintenance rehearsal. The long-term memory has a unlimited capacity and unlimited duration.

Question 2

evaluate the multi store model of memory

strengths

Answer 2

• The multi store model is an early but influential model of memory that many psychologists still find useful today. It has allowed psychologist to construct testable models of memory and provided foundations for later important work
• morms et al 1985 showed that previous knowledge and interest in football could help in the recall of fixtures football scores. This suggests a two-way form of information between the long-term memory and short-term memory
• there is considerable research evidence for making the distinction between several types of memory stores and this means it is reliable and credible
• several case studies exist that further support the distinction between types of memory store for example HM
• The recency effect appears in serial recall tasks, items at the end of the list seem to be better record than those in the middle

Question 3

evaluate the multi store model of memory

weaknesses

Answer 3

• cohen 1990 argue that memory capacity cannot be measured purely in terms of the amount of information to be recalled, but rather the nature of the information to be recalled. Somethings seem to be harder to learn regardless of the amount there is to learn
• rehearsal is not always needed for information to be stored and some items can’t be rehearsed like smells
• bekerian and baddley 1980 found that people did not know of the changes to BBC radio wavelengths despite hearing information well over 1000 times. This suggests rehearsal is not the only factor in transferring information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory
• The multi store model is too simple and fails to reflect the complexity of human memory. It is reductionist and it assumes that there is a single short-term memory and long-term memory
• much of the evidence for the multi store model comes from artificial lab studies which might not reflect in every day life and therefore lacks ecological validity

Question 4

Who was HM

Answer 4

HM lost his memory on an operating table in a hospital in August 1953. He was 27 years old and had suffered from epileptic seizures for many years. The operation was successful in that it significantly reduced Henry seizures, they left him with a dense memory loss. up until till then, it had not been known that the hippocampus was essential for making memories, and that if we lose both of them we will suffer global amnesia. Once this was realised, the findings were widely publicised so that this operation to remove both hippocampi would never be done again.

this was due to the fact that he could not make any new conscious memories and his global amnesia meant that he could not learn new words, songs or faces and forgot who he was talking to as soon as he turned away and didn’t know how old he was and never again clearly remembered and event