Memory: The multi-store model of memory

Question 1

Who created the Multi-Store Model of Memory (MSM) ?

Answer 1

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)

Question 2

What are the 3 MSM stores?

Answer 2

• Sensory Register
• Short Term Memory (STM)
• Long Term Memory (LTM)

Question 3

What features are there to know about in the MSM stores?

Answer 3

• Coding
• Capacity
• Duration

Question 4

What is coding?

Answer 4

The type of information which is stored in each memory store

Question 5

What is capacity?

Answer 5

How much information can be held in a memory store

Question 6

What is duration?

Answer 6

How long information can be held in a memory store

Question 7

What happens in the sensory register?

Answer 7

1. Sensory information coming from senses is detected and recorded automatically
2. Information is passed onto the STM by paying attention

Question 8

What is the coding of the sensory register?

Answer 8

Store depends on the sense organ that the information come from (modality specific)

Question 9

What is the capacity of the sensory register?

Answer 9

Very large

Question 10

What is the capacity of the sensory register?

Answer 10

Very short- 250 milliseconds

Question 11

What is short term memory (STM)?

Answer 11

Memory that receives information from the sensory register by paying attention

Question 12

What is the coding of STM?

Answer 12

Acoustic (sounds)

Question 13

What is the duration of STM?

Answer 13

Small, Miller suggested you can only remember 7 items + 2 items or - 2 items

Question 14

What technique can be used to improve the duration of STM?

Answer 14

‘Chunking’ - making groups of items, which reduces the number of items

Question 15

What is the duration of STM?

Answer 15

Short, 18- 30 seconds ( The duration of information can be extended by verbal rehearsal)

Question 16

What long term memory (LTM)?

Answer 16

Memory that can store information permanently

Question 17

What is the coding for LTM?

Answer 17

Semantic (meaning)

Question 18

What is the capacity for LTM?

Answer 18

Unlimited capacity , information can be lost

Question 19

What is the duration of LTM?

Answer 19

Unlimited

Question 20

What is AO3 research evidence that the STM and LTM are seperate processes?

Answer 20

Glanzer & Cunitz (1966):
1. Asked participants to free recall word list s(any order)
2. Recall is much stronger for words at the start and end of word lists
3. Results suggest there are seperate STM and LTM memory stores with the words first heard entering LTM and being recalled( primacy effect) and the words most recent words being held in STM and being recalled ( regency effect)
the middle words were in the STM but were displaced by later words

Question 21

What is AO3 research evidence for the sensory register?

Answer 21

Sperling (1960):
1. Trained participants were presented with a three by four grid of letters
2. When presented quickly (1/20th of a second) then had to recall one row.
3. It was found a recall for one row was 75%
4. This suggests that all the rows were contained within the capacity of the iconic (visual) store, so sensory memory is large

Question 22

What is AO3 research evidence for the coding of STM?

Answer 22

Baddeley (1966):
1. Gave four 10 word lists to four participant groups
2. List A: Acoustically similar- words sound the same
List B: Acoustically dissimilar- words sound different
List C: Semantically similar- words have related meaning
List D: Semantically different- words have unrelated meaning
3. It was found that immediate recall was the worst for List A and recall after 20 minutes was the worst for List D
4. This suggests that the coding for STM is acoustic as recalling list A was the most difficult because recalling similar words caused confusion in recall

Question 23

What is AO3 research evidence for the capacity of STM?

Answer 23

Jacobs(1887):
1. Participants were presented with lists of letters or numbers
2. Participants then had to recall the list
3. It was found that the capacity for letters was on was around 7 items for letters and 9 for numbers
3. This suggests that the capacity for STM is very limited
4. Miller suggested that chunking can be used to reduce the number of items overall

Question 24

What is AO3 research evidence for the duration of STM?

Answer 24

Peterson & Peterson(1959):
1. Showed participants 3 letter trigrams (e.g. HDF)
2. Participants had to count backwards for a few seconds to stop maintenance rehearsal( interference task)
3. It was found after 18 seconds recall was less than 10%
4. This suggests unless maintained information is held in STM for only a few seconds( 18-30 seconds) before it disappears

Question 25

What is AO3 research evidence for the coding of LTM?

Answer 25

Baddeley (1966):
1. Gave four 10 word lists to four participant groups
2. List A: Acoustically similar- words sound the same
List B: Acoustically dissimilar- words sound different
List C: Semantically similar- words have related meaning
List D: Semantically different- words have unrelated meaning
3. It was found that immediate recall was the worst for List A and recall after 20 minutes was the worst for List D
4. This suggests that the coding for LTM is semantic as recalling list C was the most difficult because recalling similar meanings caused confusion in recall

Question 26

What is AO3 research evidence for the capacity of LTM?

Answer 26

Wagenaar(1986):
1. Created a diary of over 2400 weeks during 6 years including recording who, when, what and where.
2. It was found when tested these cues he had a 75% recall of one specific important detail after 1 year and 45% after 5 years
3. His sense of remembering the event ( retention judgement) was 80% after 5 years
4. This suggest the capacity of the LTM is very large and potentially limitless

Question 27

What is AO3 research evidence for the duration of LTM?

Answer 27

Bahrick(1975):
1. 392 participants aged 17-74 were tested for memory of old photographs and names of their school friends.
2. It was found recall in matching name to face was 90% after 15 years and 80% for names after 48 years.
3. This suggests a duration of LTM is very large and potentially limitless