Memory Flashcards
What is the multi-store model of memory?
environmental stimuli - sensory register - attention - short term memory (maintenance rehearsal) - elaborative rehearsal - long term memory - retrieval from short term memory
What is the encoding of the sensory register in MSM?
Iconic and echoic
What is the duration of short term memory in MSM?
18 - 30 secs
What is the duration of the sensory register in MSM?
0.5 secs
What is the encoding of short term memory in MSM?
Acoustic
What is the capacity of the sensory register in MSM?
Unlimited
What is the capacity of short term memory in MSM?
Limited 5 - 9 terms
What is the duration of long term memory in MSM?
Potentially permanent
What is the encoding of long term memory in MSM?
Semantic
What is the capacity of long term memory in MSM?
Unlimited
What is the research for the duration of the sensory memory in MSM?
Walsh and Thompson (1978) flashed images of the letter o twice with a brief interval between. The researchers recorded the interval from which pts could report that they saw a continuous stimulus. It was found that the iconic sensory had an average duration of 500 millisecond. This suggests duration is limited.
What is the research for the capacity of the sensory memory in MSM?
Sperling (1960) studied the sensory memory for vision. He asked pts to recall as many letters as they could from a grid of 12 symbols that he displayed on a screen for just 50 milliseconds, and found that while they could only recall around 4 of the symbols before the grid faded from their sensory memory, they typically reported seeing a lot more than they had time to report
What research is there to support the duration of short term memory in MSM?
Peterson & Peterson (1959)
Nonsense trigrams were read to pts and were asked to count backwards in 3s from a large random 3 digit number for varying periods of time. After a 3 second delay, there was a 90% recall compared to just 2% after 18 secs. This shows that duration is very limited.
What research is there to support the coding of short term memory in MSM?
Baddeley (1966)
Gave pts four sets of words. Set 1 had similar sounding words and set 2 were different. Set 3 had similar meaning words and set 4 had different meanings. When asked to recall immediately they made more mistakes on words sounding alike. This shows it is encoded acoustically.
What research is there for the capacity of short term memory in MSM?
Jacobs (1887)
Serial digit span method where pts are presented with increasingly long lists of numbers or letters and have to immediately recall them in the right order. Capacity for numbers was 9.3 items and for letters it was 7.3 items. Supports capacity being 5 - 9 items.
What research is there for the duration of long term memory in MSM?
Bahrick et al (1975)
392 US ex high school students between 17 and 74 were tested by free recall and a photo recognition test. They were asked to identify former classmates from a set of 50 photos. Recognition was 90% accurate after 14 years and 60% accurate after 47 years. This shows that duration is potentially unlimited.
What research is there for the coding of the long term memory in MSM?
Baddeley (1966)
Demonstrated it is semantic. Pts given four sets of words.
Set 1 = similar sounding
Set 2 = different sounding
Set 3 = similar meaning
Set 4 = different meaning
After a delay of 20 minutes, pts had more difficulty remembering the semantically similar words.
What is the research for the capacity of long term memory in MSM?
Wagenaar (1986)
Created a diary of 2400 events over 6 years and tested himself on recall of events rather than dates. He had excellent recall, suggesting capacity is unlimited.
What are some criticisms of the research being unrealistic?
Studies are not in natural environments
Tasks are not everyday tasks
Stimuli is not realistic
Collection techniques similar
What is some evidence supporting MSM?
Glanser and Cunitz
Presented two groups of pts with same list of words. One recalled immediately after, whilst other waited for 30 secs. Both tended to remember first few and last words. Supports LTM and STM sores because of primary and recency effects.
Is there naturalistic research to support MSM?
Case study of HM. Male patient who suffered from epilepsy who underwent major surgery to relieve the symptoms. Temporal lobes of both sides of the brain were removed, and since then HM has been unable to form new long term memories. His STM was relatively normal but he was unable to transfer information, proving that there are separate stores.
Are there alternative theories to MSM?
WMM is a more recent approach to understanding the STM. It takes into account that each store is not a single structure and consists of several structures. It doesn’t oversimplify memory and it has practical applications. Suggests MSM is too simplified.
Is there a theoretical problem with MSM?
Mainly emphasises on the structure of memory and tends to neglect the process. MSM only focuses on cognition and ignores when events are emotionally charged. MSM states that LTM is semantically encoded but does not expand to wider emotional connections.
Are there practical applications of MSM?
First suggestion that the memory is made up of various sections, which led to other psychologists looking at better models. this suggests that further research can be linked back to MSM.
Extension evaluation point on KF
Had a motorbike accident in his 20’s. Parietal-occipital area was damaged, which affected his STM as he was only able to recall 1 or 2 items acoustically. However it could retain information if it was presented visually. LTM remained intact.
What is encoding?
Changing incoming information into a form usable to different kinds of memory.
What is semantic encoding?
Coded according to its meaning
What is acoustic encoding?
Coded according to its sound
What is iconic encoding?
Coded according to the images
What is haptic encoding?
Coded according to touch
What is capacity?
Holding information in the memory system
What is retrieval?
Recovering information from storage
What is elaborative rehearsal?
A way to more effectively memorise information and maintain it from long term memory. By making associations between the new information you’re trying to learn and the information you already know.
What is maintenance rehearsal?
Simple repetition of items that need to be remembered in order to prevent them from fading out of short term memory.
What is the concept of the working memory?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
Developed as a new approach to understanding short term memory
Accounts that STM is not a single store but a workspace in which we carry out various tasks.
Links to long term memory through the episodic buffer
What is the encoding of the central executive?
Modality free - any senses
What is the capacity of the central executive?
limited
What is the central executive?
Determines how resources are allocated
Involves reasoning and decision making tasks
Collects information from the inner ear, eyes and LTM
What research is there to support the central executive?
Bunge (2000)
Experiment in which MRI scanner was used to see which parts of the brain were most active when pts were performing a single task and also two tasks at once.
What did the research into the central executive show?
Significantly more activity in the brain when two tasks were performed, indicating that there was an increased demand for attention when performing two tasks simultaneously.
What is a strength of the central executive?
Baddeley suggested it was more like a system which controls attentional processes rather than a memory store, unlike phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad. It allows the working memory system to selectively attend to some stimuli and ignore others.
What is a weakness of the central executive?
Very vague in its explanation and processes. Model also suggests there is one single CE, which is unlikely. It is more likely to have several components, which is not factored into the model.
What is the encoding of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Visual
What is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Limited - approx 3 - 4 objects
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Stores visual and/or spatial information when required
What is the visual cache?
Part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad which stores visual data
What is the inner scribe?
Part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field
What research is there for the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Brookes (1968)
Pts had to mentally visualise a letter, and then were asked some questions about it. They had to either speak allowed, tap or point to a yes/no sign to respond.
What did the research for the visuo-spatial sketchpad show?
It found that the response was faster when it was spoken or tapped, indicating they have the same limited capacity component.
What is a strength of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Has real life applications. Plays an important role in helping us keep track of where we are in relation to other objects as we move through our environment. It has high mundane realism.
What is a weakness of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
The model implies that all information starts as visual and then turns spatial. However, this is unlikely to be the case all of the time. Lieberman (1980) argues that blind people have excellent spatial awareness, although they have never received any visual information. Based on this, Lieberman suggests that the VSS should be separated into two different components.
What is the encoding of the phonological loop?
Acoustic
What is the capacity of the phonological loop?
Limited - approx 2 secs
What is the phonological loop?
Deals with auditory information and preserves word order.
Inner ear.
What are the two parts of the phonological loop?
Baddeley subdivided it in 1986
Phonological store
Articulatory loop
What is the phonological store?
Holds words heard
What is the articulatory loop?
Silently repeats words like an inner voice
What is the research for the phonological loop?
Baddeley (1975)
He found that pts recalled more short words in serial order than longer words. Supports capacity of PL is set by how long it takes to say words rather than number of words.