memory models

Question 1

sensory register

Answer 1

• All stimuli from the environment is passed into the sensory register
• Memory store for each of our 5 senses
• Coding in each store is modality – specific
• Duration of the SR is very brief – less than half a second
• The SR have a very high capacity
• Information passes further into the memory system only if you pay attention to it

Question 2

multi-store memory model

Answer 2

• Representation of how memory works in terms of 3 stores
• Describes how information is passed from 1 store to another

Question 3

short term memory

Answer 3

• Coded mainly acoustically and lasts around 18 seconds unless its rehearsed
• Temporary memory store
• Limited capacity store
• Capacity is between 7 +/-2

Question 4

long term memory

Answer 4

• Potentially permanent memory store for information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time
• Coded mostly semantically
• According to the MSM when we want to recall information from LTM it has to be transferred back into STM by retrieval

Question 5

multi- store memory model evaluation

Answer 5

• research support
• more than one STM store
• elaborative rehersal

Question 6

multi-store memory model
research support

Answer 6

• MSM shows that STM and LTM are different
• Baddeley - tend to mix words that sound similar when using our STM
• mix words that have similar meaning when we use our LTM
• Shows LTM and STM are separate independent memory stores, claimed by the MSM

Question 7

multi-store memory model
counterpoint

Answer 7

• everyday life we form memories related to all sorts of useful things – names, faces
• many studies that support MSM used none of these materials
• Used digits, letters (Jacob) and sometimes words (Baddeley)
• Used consonant syllables – have no meaning
• MSM may not be valid model of how memory works in our everyday life where we have to remember meaningful information

Question 8

multi-store memory model
more than 1 STM store

Answer 8

• Shallice and Warrington studied a client with amnesia
• STM for digits was poor when read aloud to him but good when he read them himself
• Shows MSM is wrong in claiming that there is just 1 STM store processing different types of information.

Question 9

multi-store memory model
elaborative rehearsal

Answer 9

• Prolonged rehearsal isn’t needed to transfer to LTM
• According to MSM what matters about rehearsal is the amount of it (the more you rehearse something the more likely it goes to your LTM) – prolonged rehearsal
• Craik and Watkins found the type of rehearsal is more important than the amount
• elaborative rehearsal is needed for long-term storage
• occurs when you link information of existing knowledge
• suggests MSM doesn’t fully explain how LT storage is achieved

Question 10

the working model

Answer 10

• explanation of how STM is organised and how its organised
• consists of 4 main components

Question 11

4 components of working memory model

Answer 11

• central executive
• phonological loop
• visuo-spatial sketchpad
• episodic buffer

Question 12

central executive

Answer 12

• Monitors the incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates subsystems to tasks
• Very limited processing capacity and doesn’t store information

Question 13

phonological loop

Answer 13

• Deals with auditory information
• Preserve the order the information arrives
• Subdivided into
  o Phonological store – stores words you hear
  o Articulatory process – allows maintenance rehearsal, capacity is 2 seconds worth of what you can say

Question 14

visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 14

• Stores visual and/or spatial information when required
• Limited capacity – Baddeley around 3-4 objects
• Subdivided into
  o Visual cache- stores visual data
  o Inner scribe – records the arrangement of objects in the visual world

Question 15

episodic buffer

Answer 15

• Added by Baddeley
• Temporary store for information, integrated the visual, spatial and verbal information processed by other stores and maintaining a sense of time sequencing
• Storage component of central executive and has limited capacity- about 4 chunks
• Links working memory to long-term memory

Question 16

working memory model evaluation

Answer 16

• clinical evidence
• dual task performance
• nature of the central executive

Question 17

clinical evidence

Answer 17

• Shallice and Warrington case study of patient KF
• After brain injury KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally
• Immediate recall of digits were better when he read them(visual) than being read out to him (acoustic)
• KF phonological loop was damaged but his visuospatial sketchpad was intact
• Findings support the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores

Question 18

counterpoint

Answer 18

• Unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments which might have effected performance on memory
• Challenges evidence that comes from clinical studies of people with brain injuries that may have affected many different systems

Question 19

dual task performance

Answer 19

• support the separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad
• Baddeley – participants carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time, their performance on each was similar to when they did it separately
• When both task were the same – performance declined
• Because both visual tasks compete for the same subsystem whereas there is no competition when doing both
• Shows there must be a separate subsystem that processes visual input

Question 20

nature of central executive

Answer 20

• Lack of clarity over nature of central executive
• Baddeley – the central executive is most important but least understood
• CE needs to be more clearly specified than just for attention
• Some psychologists believe the CE may consist of separate subcomponents
• Means the CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the WMM