Memory: Lesson 4 - Evaluation of the Multi-Store Model of Memory

Question 1

Neurobiological evidence (Scoville) (+)

Answer 1

+ Scoville attempted to treat a patient’s (HM) epilepsy by removing several parts of his brain, including his hippocampus
+ resulted in the patient not being able to form new long-term memories, but he could still form short term memories
+ supports the idea of the STM being separate and distinct from the LTM

Question 2

Neurobiological evidence (Shallice and Warrington) (+)

Answer 2

+ reported the case study of KF who had a reduced short-term memory of only one or two digits as a result of a motorbike accident, but had a normal long-term memory
+ supports the idea of STM and LTM being two separate stores
- however KF had poor STM for verbal tasks but not visual tasks which suggests that there are more than one type of STM
- also the MSM suggests that LTMs are retrieved from the STM which is contradicted by the fact that KF is able to access LTM without difficulty

Question 3

Laboratory Experiments (Murdock) (+)

Answer 3

+ presented participants with a long list of words to be recalled in any order (free recall experiment)
+ words at the beginning of the list and end of the list were better recalled (serial position affect
+ this happens because words at the beginning of the list are constantly rehearsed and transferred to the LTM (primary affect) whilst words at the end of the list are still in the STM (recency affect)

Question 4

General Evaluation (Baddeley & Hitch) (-)

Answer 4

MSM does not explain the ability to Multi-task

Question 5

General evaluation (oversimplified) (-)

Answer 5

• MSM suggests that there is one STM and one LTM
• research suggests that STM and LTM have many sub components
• e.g. STM: phonological loop = verbal info; visuo-spatial sketchpad = non-verbal info
• e.g. LTM: episodic memory, semantic memory and procedural memory