Memory - Multi-store model Flashcards
Who created the multi-store model (MSM)?
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
What is the MSM?
A representation of how memory works in terms of 3 stores: the sensory register, the STM and the LTM.
It also describes how:
- information is transferred from one store to another,
- what makes some memories last,
- and what makes some memories disappear.
How info transfers in and out and coding, capacity and duration
Talk about the sensory register (SR).
All stimuli from the environment pass into the SR which consists of 5 stores: our 5 senses!
Coding - modality specific/depends on sense store…visual in iconic, auditory in echoic etc.
Capacity - very high! over 100 million cells in each eye, each storing data
Duration - very brief, less than half a second (Sperling (1960))
Attention transfers info from the SR into the STM.
How info transfers in and out and coding, capacity and duration
Talk about short-term memory (STM).
Attention transfers info from the SR into the STM.
Retireval transfers info from the LTM back into the STM.
Coding - acoustic
Capacity - 7 + or - 2 items, but Cowan argues 5
Duration - 18 seconds, unless information is rehearsed
Rehearsal keeps info in the STM. If we rehearse for long enough, it passes into the LTM.
How info transfers in and out and coding, capacity and duration
Talk about long-term memory (LTM).
Info passes into the LTM if rehearsed.
Coding - mostly semantic
Capacity - potentially up to a lifetime/permanent
Duration - potentially unlimited
Info transfers back to the STM from the LTM through retrieval.
How does the case of HM support the MSM?
After an operation that removed his hippocampus, his LTM no longer took in new information. However in tests on his immediate memory, his performance was good showing his STM was still functioning and that it was a separate store to the LTM.
Give a strength of the MSM.
Baddeley’s research on coding supports the idea that the STM and LTM are 2 separate and independent memory stores as they both use different coding (acoustic vs semantic)
Give 3 limitations of the MSM.
Some evidence suggests that there is more than one STM store - KF’s STM recall for digits was poor when he heard them but much better when he read them. Other studies have also confirmed there may be a separate STM store for non-verbal sounds (e.g. noises). Therefore the MSM is limited.
Prolonged rehearsal is not needed for STM-LTM transfer. There are two types of rehearsal: maintenance (amount of rehearsal) and elaborative (link info to existing knowledge). Elaborative rehearsal is needed for LT storage. Therefore the MSM doesn’t fully understand how long-term storage is achieved.
The MSM was useful at the time and was a good starting point for developing more valid models of memory that explain the research evidence better.
