Memory - The multi-store model of memory Flashcards
What is the multi-store model of memory?
- The multi-store model of memory was a theoretical cognitive model created by Atkinson and Shiffrin
- The model aims to explain how the memory system processes information
What are the 3 stores in the multi-store of memory?
1) Sensory register, receives raw sense impressions, attention then passes the information to short term memory
2) Short term memory, the temporary active store, receives information from the SR by paying attention, or from the LTM from retrieval, maintenance rehearsal keeps information in STM and elaborative rehearsal passes the information to the LTM
3) Long term memory, the permanent memory storage, the information must be passed to the STM to use it, this is called retrieval. The types of LTM are episodic, semantic and procedural
What is coding?
Coding is how the memory is stored, this can be either:
- Iconic = Vision
- Echoic =Sound
- Haptic = Touch
- Gustatory = Taste
- Olfactory = Smell
What is capacity?
Capacity is how much information can be stored
What is duration?
How long the information can be stored for
What is the coding, capacity and duration for information in the sensory register?
Coding = Specific to how the information was received Capacity = Very large, for all sense impressions that are received in each moment Duration = Very short, 250ms but varies with different stores
What is the coding, capacity and duration for information in short term memory?
Coding = Acoustic Duration = Approximately 18 seconds Capacity = 7 +/- 2 items according to Miller
What is the coding, capacity and duration for information in long term memory?
Duration = Very long/permanent memory storage Capacity = Unlimited Coding = Semantic (In the form of meaning)
Explain the process of storing memories according to the multi-store model?
- A stimulus is received from the environment
- Information enters the sensory register for half a second
- The information is then passed to short term memory if the person pays attention to the stimulus
- If memory is rehearsed then it enters LTM
- When the memory is then needed again it is retrieved from LTM and enters the STM to be “Remembered” this creates a response
How does Spearling’s study support the multi-store model? (Capacity and duration of the sensory register)
- Spearling found that recall of a random row of a 20 letter grid that flashed for 1/20th of a second was high
- All 20 letters could not be written as items were forgotten too quickly
- This suggests that all the rows were stored in the sensory register
- This implies that the SR has a large capacity, therefore Spearling’s study supports the multi-store model as they both show that the SR has a large capacity
How does Miller’s study support the multi-store model? (Capacity of STM)
- Miller found that recall for lists if letters was around 7 items and 9 numbers
- This suggests a limited capacity of STM
- However Miller found that this can be improved from chunking and making small sets/groups of items
How does Wagnaar’s study support the multi-store model? (Capacity of LTM)
- Wagnar created a diary over six years
- He tested himself on events and found a 75% recall after 1 year and 45% after 5 years
- This suggests that LTM has a very large capacity that is potentially limitless
- This supports the multi-store model of memory as they both state that LTM has a very large capacity
How does Baddeley’s study support the multi-store model? (Coding of STM and LTM)
- Baddeley produced 4, 10 word lists to 4 participant groups
- The word lists were: Acoustically similar or dissimilar and semantically similar or dissimilar
- Baddeley found that immediate recall was worst for acoustically similar and recall after 20 minutes was worst for the semantically similar words
- This suggests that STM is coded acoustically and LTM is coded semantically with similar sounds/meanings causing confusion in recall
How does Peterson and Perterson’s study support the multi-store model? (Duration of STM)
- Peterson and Peterson found that recall of a three letter trigram was less than 10% after 18 seconds if performing an interference task (Counting backwards, to prevent rehearsal of the information)
- This supports the multi-store model as Peterson and Peterson’s findings supports the hypothesis that the duration of STM is very short
How does Bahrick’s study support the multi-store model? (Duration of LTM)
- Bahrick found that recall of schoolfriends in photographs was 90% after 15 years, and still 80% for names after 48 years in participants ranging from 17-74
- This suggests that the duration of LTM is potentially limitless
