Memory - multi store model

Question 1

Who created the multi store model?

Answer 1

Atkinson and Shriffin

Question 2

What does the MSM do?

Answer 2

It describes how information flows through memory system.

Memory is made of three stores linked by processing

Question 3

What is the first part of the MSM?

Answer 3

Sensory register

Question 4

What is the sensory register?

Answer 4

All stimuli from the environment pass into the SR - this part of the memory is not one store but five, one for each sense:
- Coding - modality-specific, depends on the sense (visual is iconic, acoustic in echoic)
-Duration - very brief, less than half a second
-Capacity - very high e.g over one hundred million cells in one eye, each storing data

Question 5

What happens during the transsfer from SR to STM?

Answer 5

Information passes further into memory only if attention is paid to it

Question 6

What is the short term memory?

Answer 6

A limited capacity store of temporary duration
-Coding is acoustic
-Duration is about 18 seconds
-Capacity is between 5 and 9 items before some forgetting occurs

Question 7

What happens during the transfer from STM to LTM

Answer 7

Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves.

We can keep information in STM as long as we rehearse it
If we rehearse it long enough it passes into LTM

Question 8

What is the long term memory?

Answer 8

Permanent memory store
-Coding is mostly semantic
-Duration is potentially up to a lifetime
-Capacity is potentially unlimited

Question 9

What happens in retrieval from LTM?

Answer 9

When we want to recall information stored in LTM it has to be transferred back to STM by a process called retrieval

Question 10

What is one strength of the MSM?

Answer 10

Research support showing STM and LTM are different

Question 11

One strength of the MSM is research support showing STM and LTM are different…..

Answer 11

Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when using STM

But we mix up words that have similar meanings when we use our LTM

Supports the MSM’s views that these two memory stores are separate and independant

Question 12

What are the two limitations of the MSM?

Answer 12

Evidence suggesting there is more than one STM store
Prolonged rehearsal is not needed for STM-LTM transfer

Question 13

One limitation is evidence suggesting that there is more than one STM store……

Answer 13

KF and amnesia, STM recall for digits was poor when he heard them but much better when he read them

Other studies confirm there may also be a separate STM store for non verbal sounds

MSM is wrong to claim there is just one STM store processing different types of information

Question 14

Counterpoint - despite such apparent support….

Answer 14

The studies tend not to use everyday information. Use digits/letters or meaningless consonant syllables

Therefore MSM may not be a valid model of how memory works in everyday life where memory tends to involve meaningful information

Question 15

Another limitation is prolonged rehearsal is not needed for STM-LTM transfer……

Answer 15

Craik and Watkins argued there are two types of rehearsal, maintenance and elaborative

Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage. This occurs e.g when you link information to your existing knowledge or think about its meaning

Suggests MSM does not fully explain how long term storage is achieved

Question 16

Bygone model…..

Answer 16

MSM was a useful model that explained a lot of evidence at the time

However became clear that the MSM cannot account for many research findings e.g amnesia and oversimplifies the nature of STM LTM and rehearsal

MSM was a good start for developing more valid models of memory that explain the research evidence better