MSM

Question 0

Short term memory

Answer 0

Brief storage of processed information

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

• the ability to retain information, and demonstrate retention through behaviour
• split into encoding, storage and retrieval

Question 2

Capacity of the STM

Answer 2

• small capacity
• can be measured with immediate digit span
  (i) digit pyramid starting small at the top, eg 1,12,123,1234…participants recall digits until they cannot do successfully. Length of digit string where participants are correct 50% of the time is the immediate digit span
• Miller’s (1956) magic number: 7 +- 2

Question 3

Factors affecting the capacity of the STM

Answer 3

Long term memory: bower and winzenz (1969) found that digit strings repeated in trials become progressively easier to remember suggesting LTM involvement

Reading aloud: more information can be recalled if information is read aloud as opposed to subvocally

Pronoun citation time: pronunciation time may be a better indication of capacity than digit span. Naveh-Benjamin and Aryes (1986) found digit span was longer in English speakers than Arabic speakers. Suggests pronunciation time is factor as Arabic words take longer to say

Question 5

Sensory memory

Answer 5

• Holds information very briefly after physical stimulus is gone
• Very little processing
• Assumes there are separate sensory stores for senses (iconic, echoic/audio/visual)
• Baddeley (1988) suggested sensory memory allows eye fixations to be related and integrated into a continuous image, gives continuity to a visual environment

Question 6

Duration of the STM

Answer 6

• Duration is very short

- Anything we need to remember for longer is transferred to the LTM

Question 7

Factors affecting the duration of the STM

Answer 7

Maintenance rehearsal: Repetition of information you are trying to remember continually reinstates information into the STM. Supported by Peterson/Peterson (1959)

Deliberate intention to recall: Sebrechts et al (1989) found that correct recall fell to 1% after only 4 seconds if pps were not aware of the incoming recall test

Question 8

Encoding in the STM

Answer 8

-Semantic, audio or visual processing. Mainly acoustic!

Question 9

Factors affecting encoding in the STM

Answer 9

The sound of words: Conrad (1964) suggest acoustic encoding is predominantly used, Baddeley (1966) supports this. Sound of word is more important than meaning

Other forms of encoding: Visual may also be used, supported by Bradimonte (1992)

Question 10

Long Term Memory

Answer 10

• Vast store of information
• Far more complex than the STM
• Not a passive system, dynamic and constantly adapting in light of new information

Question 11

Capacity of LTM

Answer 11

• Infinite, we are always capable of learning more
• However information may be lost through lack of recall
• Must have complex structure to store all that information, perhaps multiple sub systems

Question 12

Duration of the LTM

Answer 12

• Considerably longer than the STM
• Has been called a “permastore” as it can hold memories for a lifetime
• Supported by Bahrick et al. (1975)

Question 13

Factors affecting the duration of the LTM

Answer 13

Childhood amnesia: young children are unable to lay town well organised and integrated memories, so they cannot be recalled later. For example you cannot remember being born

How duration is measured: Recognition of memory seems to allow for better recall than freely recalling information (Bahrick et al. 1975)

Thorough learning: Recall better if information was well learned initially and continued to be referred to in the interval before recall. Bahrick and hall (1991): people who had taken maths up to high school showed steady decline in their recall accuracy, those on a higher course more accurate even after 55 years

Question 14

Encoding in the LTM

Answer 14

• Mostly semantic

- Supported by Baddeley (1966)

Question 15

Factors affecting encoding in the LTM

Answer 15

• Acoustic encoding: our ability to remember sounds such as phones ringing and police sirens shows we can store information acoustically
• We can visualize pictorial images of people/places which suggests some visual encoding in the LTM

Question 16

The Multi-store model of memory

Answer 16

• Proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
• Fixed flow of information through the model
• Fixed capacity/duration at each stage
• Transfer of information between stores may require re encoding
• Sensory (brief, raw)> STM (small amounts/small time, rehearsal, acoustic)>(by rehearsal) > LTM (large, infinite time, semantic, lost through no rehearsal/failure to retrieve)

Question 17

Strengths of the MSM

Answer 17

-Research evidence: Glanzer and Cunitz (1966), Patient HM
-Differentiates between the long and short term memory: different duration, capacity and encoding methods. Examples of difference in case studies of those brain damaged and left with memory impairment
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Question 18

Weaknesses of the MSM

Answer 18

• Too simplistic, fails to account for strategies employed by people to remember things. Focus on the amount of information over the nature of it/what makes it easier to remember
• Memory flow must be interactive not sequential as MSM suggests: (sensory>stm) - requires visual>auditory encoding which in turn requires LTM memory to link picture to sound. Eg seeing the letter ‘m’ and linking it to the phonetic ‘em’
• Too simplistic in view of the STM: WMM suggests it is not a single store of limited capacity
• Rehearsal cannot be only means of STM>LTM transfer as people acquire new information constantly without concious rehearsal