Cognitive Approach - Cognitive Processing - Models of Memory - Multi-Store Model Flashcards
Memory
A cognitive process that allows us to record, store and later retrieve experiences and information
Model
A physical representation of what a psychological phenomenon could look like (mostly based on a theory).
Multi-Store Model of Memory
By Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)
Claims that information passes through different kinds of stores in order to become permanent.
Multi-Store Model of Memory - Sensory Store
Information from the 5 senses
Duration < 1 sec
Capacity unlimited
Encoding modal specific
- iconic
- echoic
- haptic
- gustatory
- smells
Multi-Store Model of Memory - Short Term Memory
Duration max 20-30 seconds
Capacity 7±2 items
Encoding verbal
Multi-Store Model of Memory - Long Term Memory
Duration unlimited
Capacity unlimited
Encoding semantic (the meaning is encoded)
Multi-Store Model of Memory - Evaluation - Strengths
Numerous studies have supported the mode
The model broke memory into components that coudl be studied individually.
Multi-Store Model of Memory - Evaluation - Limitations
Descriptions of the STM & LTM are too simplistic
Effort of rehearsal is ignored
- Maintenance rather than elaborative rehearsal
Role of emotions are neglected
Information only flows in one direction
Lack description
- How does information go from acoustic to semantic
Serial Position Curve
Primacy effect
- Enhanced memory for items presented first (LTM)
Asympote
Recency effect
- Enhanced memory for items presented last (STM)
Glanzer & Cunitz (1966)
Aim:
- To investigate the recency effect in free recall (i.e. any order)
Pps:
- 46 army enlisted men
Procedure: Each shown 15, 15-word lists - 1 work appeared at a time, for 1 sec - 2 secs interval - each word read by the experimenter - all monosyllabic nouns
After the last word in each list, the symbol # or a digit from 0-9 was shown
- If the # symbol appeared, the pps were told to write immediately
- If a nb appeared, the pps were to count from that number until the experimenter said “write”
- Measured 10 or 30 seconds before syaing “write”
- Each conditions were tested with 5 of the lists
- Words & order of the delay conditions assigned at random
- Pps tested individually
- Each pp recieved a different set of lists and a different sequence of delay conditions
- Pps given 1-5 min to complete recall of the list
Results
- Mean nb of recalled words calculated
- 10 secs delay reduced the recency effect
- 30 secs delay eliminated the recency effect
- 10 secs & 30 secs delays - still clear primacy effect
Glanzer & Cunitz (1966) - Evaluation
True experiment
Strengths
Offers evidence for two separate stores of memory ∴ supporting the MSM
High reliability
Many controlled variables
Limitations
Low ecological validity
Low generalisability (only men) - Only one culture (some culture could teach children to memorise well)
Ignored pps understanding of the world
Applications
Lawyers scheduling witnesses
Managers scheduling a list of speakers at a conference
Teachers
Politicians
HM: Milner (1966)
Aim:
- To study the biological reasons for anterograde amnesia in patient HM
Procedure:
- Psychometric testing: IQ testing was given to HM. His results were above average
- Direct observation of his behaviour
- Interviews with HM and his family members
- Cognitive testing: memory recall tests and learning tasks (reverse mirror drawing)
- MRI scan to determine the extent of the damage done to HM’s brain
Results:
- HM could not acquire new episodic knowledge (memory of events) and new semantic knowledge (general knowledge about the world)
- The brain structures that were removed from his brain are important for long-term explicit memory
- He was able to remember his house and could draw picture of the floor plan of his new home
- HM had a capacity for working memory, because he was able to carry on a normal conversation
- HM was able to recall the number 584, 15 minutes later, apparently by means of constant verbal rehearsal.
- After the task was over, the number and HM’s strategy in remembering it were lost
- Memories in the form of motor skills (i.e. procedural memories) were well maintained
- He know how to mow a lawn
- He showed improvements on the performance of new skills such as reverse mirror-drawing in which he had to acquire new eye-hand coordination
- MRI scan showed that parts of HM’s temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, had the most damage.
- Damage to hippocampus explains the problem of transferring short-term memory to long-term memory as this is the area where the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is believed to play an important role in learning and formation of explicitly memories
