6A The explanatory power of the Atkinson-Shiffrin multi-store model of memory Flashcards
Memory
An information processing system that actively receives, organises, stores and recovers info.
Information processing model
three-stage process
1) encoding
2) storage
3) retrieval
Info processing model - Encoding
converting sensory info into a usable form that can be processed by the brain
- must pay attention to info
Info processing model - Storage
retaining info over time
- organised = easier to recover
Info processing model - Retrieval
accessing info that has previously been stored
- relys on usong the right cues or hints so you can locate the correct piece of info
Multi-store model of memory
- Atkinson-Shiffrin
Sensory memory
Short-term memory (STM)
Long-term memory (LTM) - each process info in different ways and varies in its role, capacity and duration
Sensory memory
a memory store that recieves and stores an unlimited amout of incoming sensory info for a breif time
- must pay attention to important sensory info for it to be further processed and transfered to STM if not it will be lost from memory forever
Sensory memory function
filters out unnecessary info, preventing us from being overwhelmed by the amount of sensory info we get
- stores sensory impressions long (allows us to percieve the world around us as continuous
Sensory memory capacity
unlimited
- structured to deal with lots of sensory stimuli entering at any given time
Sensory memory duration
0.2-4 seconds
Types of sensory memory registers
- Iconic memoryFunction
Exact replica of visual infoDuration
0.3-0.5 secondCapacity
Unlimited
- Echoic memoryFunction
Exact replica of auditory infoDuration
3-4 secondsCapacity
Unlimited
Short-term memory
memory store that has limited capacity of short duration, unless info is renewed
Short-term memory function
when info enters we can actively manipulate encoded info while we complete everyday tasks
e.g
Sensory memory
sensory info about food e.g colour taste texture is attended
to and transferred to short-term memory
LTM
past experiences of similar foods are retrieved
from LTM to be compared to info in short-term memory
Short-term memory capacity
limited
- average adult can hold 7±2 iterms or 5-9 unrelated iteems
- If short-term memory is at capacity new items can only be added by pushing old ones out
can be extended by chunking
- grouping separate items together to form a larfe single of info
Displacement
adding new single items to short-term memory by pushing out old ones