MEM 01 - MSM & Sensory Memory Flashcards
What is the multistore model?
- A representation of how memory works in terms of three permeanent storage systems called sensory registers, short-term memory and long term memory.
- It describes how information is transferred from one store to another, what makes some memories last and what makes some memories disappear.
Who proposed the multistore model?
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin.
What is the duration, capacity and coding of the sensory register?
Duration: less than 1/2 a second (because all 5 of our senses are taking in lots of information from our environment which isn’t necessarily important, in additon our environment is constantly changing so our brain has to keep refreshing).
Capacity: potentially unlimited.
Coding: it is modality specific (it is specific to that sense e.g. vision is coded iconically and sound is coded echoically).
How is information transferred to STM?
Information is only transferred to STM if we pay attention to it.
What is the duration, capacity and coding of STM?
Duration: 18-30 seconds if information is not rehearsed
Capacity: 7+/-2 chunks of information
Coding: acoustically (sound)
What is maintenance rehearsal?
This is when we continuously rehearse the information to ourselves keeping it in STM for as long as we rehearse it.
What causes information to be transferred from STM to LTM?
- Elaborative rehearsal (linking the information to previsouly known knownledge or to its meaning).
- Through prolonged rehearsal.
What is the duration, capacity and coding of LTM?
Duration: potentially unlimited
Capacity: potentially unlimited
Coding: semantically (meaning)
How is information transferred from LTM to STM?
Through retrieval
What are the pros and cons of the MSM?
Pros:
- first theory to suggest the seperation of STM and LTM (supported by Alan Baddeley)
- It was a very influential model which led to further research
- lots of evidence to support it
Cons:
- it is too simple an explanation for such a complex function
- too much emphasis on rehearsal, we don’t always have to rehearse to remember
- it can’t explain the many memory strategies we use to remember things
- there is evidence for more than one STM
- Studies that support the MSM do not reflect the useful things we remember in everyday life
Who found out that type of rehearsal is better than the amount?
Fergus Craik and Michael Watkins.
Who discovered there is more than one STM?
Tim Shallice and Elizabeth Warrington.
