memory models Flashcards
what is the multi store model of memory
a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores, the sensory register, stm and ltm. Also describes how information is transferred from one store to another, how it is remembered/forgotten
what is the sensory register?
stimulus from the environment passes into here, the memory stores for each of our five senses , such as iconic, echoic. capacity is huge and lasts for long time
what did Atkinson and Shiffrin suggest?
that STM and LTM are seperate, unitary stores. A model that passes information in a linear way
short term memory
if attention has been payed passses into this store, limited capacity store, has a capacity of 5-9 items, duration of upto 30 seconds without rehearsal and codes acoustically. Maintenance rehearsal will keep it in our STM
long term memory
if prolonged rehearsal occurs, passes into LTM. Permanent information. Codes semantically, has a duration of a lifetime and has an unlimited capacity. Retrieval can only occur from LTM transferred to STM, not directly from LTM.
evaluation - MSM (cw)
N - support from case study of Clive Wearing, who contracted a virus causing serious amnesia
A - following the virus, wearing could only remember information for 20-30 seconds, however he could remember information from the past, such as his wife’s name and how to play the organ. He was unable to transfer information from stm to ltm, but could retrieve from ltm
E - case supports the idea that memories are formed by passing information from one store to another in a linear fashion. Supports that stm and ltm are seperate, unitary stores
C-C = lacks population validity, as only one person was studied so lacks generalisability to other populations
evaluation - MSM ( research)
N - supported by research studies that show that STM and LTM are separate stores
A - for e.g. Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar in our stm whereas we mix up words that have similar meaning in our ltm. Further support comes from the studies into duration and capacity of our stm and ltm. Jacobs found that the capacity of STM is indeed 5-9 and peterson & peterson found that the duration of our stm is upto 30 seconds without rehearsal
E - clearly shows that stm coding is acoustic and ltm coding is semantic. Therefore, supports that stm and ltm are seperate, unitary stores
evaluation - MSM (wmm)
N - STM is no longer regarded as a single store
A - Working Memory Model demonstrates that STM is made up of at least four separate components: central executive, phonological loop, episodic buffer and visuo-spatial sketchpad. Research has shown that at the very least, there must be one short-term store to process visual information and one store to process auditory information
E - limitation as STM must be more complex than the msm suggests, far too simplistic to propose that it is a single store. WMM better explanation of human memory
