⚪️ Memory - Multi-store Model of Memory Flashcards
Who is the multi store model of memory created by
Atkinson + shiffin (1968)
3 boxes in multi store model of memory
Sensory memory/register
Short term memory
Long term memory
Sensory register
Comes in from an external stimuli
Coded via 5 senses
Capacity is huge but it can’t be measured
Duration is 1/2 seconds
In order for information to be passed from sensory to short term memory, what has to happen
Attention has to be payed
Short term memory
Capacity = 5-9 items
Encoded acoustically
Duration is 30 seconds
Maintained through sub vocal repetition and rehearsal
For short term to go to long term memory, what has to happen
Rehearsal
Long term memory
Capacity = unlimited
Encoding = semantically
Duration = forever
What is coding
The way information is changed so that it can be stored in memory. Information enters via the senses to the brain and is then stored in various codes such as visual codes, acoustic codes or semantic codes
What is capacity
The amount of information that can be held in memory
What is duration
The length of time information can be held in memory
5 senses
Seeing
Hearing
Taste
Touch
Smell
What did Joseph Jacobs (1887) study
Developed the digit span technique
Researcher gives 4 digits and the participant must recall these in the correct order out loud
If this cis correct, he then reads out 5 digits and so on until the participant cannot recall the order correctly. This will determine the individuals digit scann
Findings of Joseph Jacobs (1887) experiment
Mean digit span across all participants was 9.3 items and mean for letters was 7.3
Miller (1956)
Millers magic 7
Concluded the capacity of human memory is 7+-2 items ofr 5-9
People cope well with counting 7 flashing dots but not much more
What is chunking
Recall 5 words as easily as 5 letters
What does chunking enable
The capacity of STM could be considerably increased by combining / organised separate bits of information into chunks
Evidence of short term memory
Peterson and Peterson 1959
Aim of Peterson and Peterson 1959
To investigate the duration of STM, and provide empirical evidence for the multi store model
Procedure of Peterson and Peterson 1959
A lab experiment - 24 participants had to recall trigrams. To prevent rehearsal, students had to count backwards from a specific random number until they saw a red light appear. Known as the BROWN PETERSON TECHNIQUE. Asked to recall trigrams after intervals of 3,6,9,12,15,18 seconds
Findings of Peterson and Peterson 1959
Participants were able to recall 80% of trigrams after a 3 seconds delay, 50% after 6 seconds and after 18 seconds less than 10%
What does it mean to be acoustically similar
Sound similar
Method of Baddeley’s coding STM experiment
Gave a different list of words to 4 groups of participants to remember
Group 1 = acoustically similar
Group 2 = acoustically dis
Findings of baddeleys research
- words with similar sounds were much harder to recall using STM than words with dissimilar sounds
- acoustically similar words get confused within it - overload of similar information therefore cannot handle it.
Conclusion of baddeleys research
- STM relieves heavily on acoustic coding. Acoustically similar words were more difficult to encode because trying to encode too much information at the same time that all sounds the same
- in long term memory, you can only store things that makes sense and that you understand (semantically)
Experiment for testing duration of long term memory
BAHRICK ET AL (1975)
- tested us graduates
- shied classmates photos years later
- 90% accuracy for remembering names and faces 14 years after graduation
- declined after 48 years
Baddeleys research for LTM
Group 1= acoustically similar
Group 2 = acoustically dissimilar
group 3 = semantically similar words (words with similar meaning)
Group 4 = semantically dissimilar (words that all have different meaning)
Findings of baddeleys research for LTM
- recall was much worse for semantically similar words than for dissimilar words
- recall from LTM was the same for acoustically similar and dissimilar words
- LTM, codes semantically, an overload of semantic information will get confused
Conclusion of baddeleys research on LTM
encoding in the OTM not exclusively but does primarily make use of semantic coding
Forgetting for sensory, STM AND LTM
sensory = decay
STM = decay or displacement
KTM = decay or retrieval failure
2 limitations of MTM
- An oversimplification, e,g doesn’t distinguish between STM stores and different LTM stores
- Rehearsal doesn’t explain all LTM MEMORIES
4 positives of MTM
- there is research support
- it can explain how it is organised / structured
- it can explain how it works (process attention rehearsal)
- makes predictions which can be tested scientifically
