Memory Flashcards
Coding
The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores.
Capacity
The amount of information that can be held in a memory store.
Duration
The length of time information can be held in memory.
Short-term memory (STM)
The limited-capacity memory store.
Storing is mainly acoustic (sounds).
Capacity between 5 and 9 items on average.
Duration between 18 and 30 seconds.
Long-term memory (LTM)
The permanent memory store.
Coding is mainly semantic (meaning).
Unlimited capacity.
Duration up to a lifetime.
Multi-store model (MSM)
A representation of how memory works in terms of 3 stores, the sensory register, short-term memory and long-term memory. It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another, how it is remembered and how it is forgotten.
Sensory register
The memory stores for each of our 5 senses, such as vision (iconic store) and hearing (echoic store). coding is the iconic sensory register is visual and in the echoic sensory register it is acoustic.
Capacity is huge (millions of receptors).
Duration less than half a second.
Episodic memory
An LTM store for personal events. Includes memories of when the events occurred and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. Memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously with effort.
Semantic memory
An LTM memory store for our knowledge of the world, including facts and our knowledge of what the words and concepts mean. Usually need to be recalled deliberatley.
Procedural memory
An LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things.
Includes our memories of learned skills. Usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort.
Working memory model (WMM)
A representation of STM. It suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system.
Central executive (CE)
The component of WMM that co-cordinates the activities of the three subsystems in memory. It also allocates processing recourses to those activities.
Phonological loop (PL)
The component of the WMM that processes information in terms of sound. This includes both written and spoken material. It’s divided into the Phonological store and the Articulatory process.
Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)
The component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space, often called our ‘inner eye’.
Episodic buffer (EB)
The component of the WMM that brings together material from the other subsystems into a single memory rather than separate stands. It also provides a bridge between working memory and long-term memory.
