memory: the multi-store model of memory

Question 1

who proposed the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 1

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968, 1971)

Question 2

what is the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 2

• a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, STM and LTM
• it is a linear model as information is shown to flow through the system in one direction
• it has passive stores which hold onto information before being passed on or lost

Question 3

describe the processes of the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 3

• environmental stimuli enter the sensory register so this part of memory is not one store but several (one for each sense)
• information is passed onto the STM by paying attention to it
• information from the short-term memory is passed onto the long-term memory only if that information is rehearsed
• maintenance rehearsal is repetition that keeps information in STM, but eventually, such repetition will create an LTM.
• if maintenance rehearsal (repetition) does not occur, then information is forgotten and lost from the short-term memory through the processes of displacement or decay.

Question 4

what is the sensory register?

Answer 4

the memory stores for each of our five senses, such as vision (iconic store) and hearing (echoic store)

Question 5

what is the coding of the sensory register?

Answer 5

• coding in the iconic sensory register is visual
• coding in the echoic sensory register is acoustic
• coding depends on the sense organ that the information is coming from
• it is modality specific

Question 6

what is the capacity of the sensory register?

Answer 6

the sensory register has a very large capacity to store all sensory experiences

Question 7

what is the duration of the sensory register?

Answer 7

very limited (approx 250 ms)

Question 8

what is the coding of the STM?

Answer 8

information in the STM is coded acoustically
- discovered by Baddeley (1966) who investigated the different types of encoding in STM

Question 9

what is the capacity of the STM?

Answer 9

• the STM has a limited capacity of 7 items plus or minus 2
• this can be improved by chunking information, proposed by George Miller

Question 10

what is the duration of the STM?

Answer 10

limited and short (18-30 seconds)
- discovered by Peterson and Peterson in 1959
- however, duration can be extended by verbal rehearsal (rehearsal loop)

Question 11

what is the LTM in the MSM?

Answer 11

information stored may last permanently and the LTM may be unlimited in the amount of information it can contain.

Question 12

how is information transferred from the STM to the LTM?

Answer 12

• Information comes into the LTM from STM via rehearsal
• in order to use the info in LTM it needs to be passed back to the STM via retrieval

Question 13

what is the coding of the LTM?

Answer 13

information in LTM is stored semantically

Question 14

what is the capacity of the LTM?

Answer 14

the capacity of the LTM is unlimited
- e.g. Bahrick et. al (1975) -> found that many of their pps were able to recognise the names and faces of their school classmates almost 50 years after graduating

Question 15

what is the duration of the LTM?

Answer 15

the duration of the LTM is potentially unlimited

Question 16

AO3: what evidence is there to support the fact that the STM and LTM stores are separate processes?

Answer 16

• Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) asked pps to free recall word lists
• found recall was much stronger for words at the start and at the end of the list
• these results suggest there are separate short and LTM stores with the words first heard entering LTM and being recalled because the person has time to rehearse the word (the primary effect)
• words at the end went into short-term memory (recency effect)
• words in the middle were in STM but were displaced by later words

Question 17

AO3: how does the case study of HM support the MSM?

Answer 17

• HM’s case study shows that there are two separate and independent memory stores, the STM and LTM
• it provides evidence that it is possible to sustain damage to one of the stores with the other remaining relatively unaffected

Question 18

AO3: how does Baddeley’s (1966) research into coding support the MSM?

Answer 18

• his study found that when using STM we mix up words that are acoustically similar but have better recall for acoustically dissimilar words
• we mix up words that are semantically similar in the LTM and have better recall for words that are semantically dissimilar
• so they are different; this supports the MSM’s view that these two memory stores are separate and independent

Question 19

AO3: evaluation of the MSM -> there is more than one type of STM (limitation)

Answer 19

• the MSM states that the STM is a unitary store (only one type of STM)
• evidence from amnesia patient KF showed that he had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally
• his immediate recall of letters and digits was better when he read them (visual) then when they were read to him
• research shows at the very least there must be one STM store to process visual information and another one to process auditory information
• the WMM includes these separate stores

Question 20

AO3 evaluation of the MSM -> there is more than one type of rehearsal (limitation)

Answer 20

• Craik and Watkins (1973) discovered that there are two types of rehearsal:
• Maintenance rehearsal which remains in the STM (mentioned in the MSM but this doesnt transfer information to the LTM)
• elaborative rehearsal which can be transferred to the LTM by linking the information to your existing knowledge or you think about what it means
• serious limitation of the MSM as it is another finding that cannot be explained by the model