Multi Store Model

Question 1

What is memory?

Answer 1

A system of retaining information from our daily experiences

Question 2

What is a schema?

Answer 2

Our daily experiences create schemas. A schema is a mental template for interpreting and processing incoming information based on our unique experiences of the world
Eg having a difficult experience with maths at school may result in the schema of avoiding numerical problems later in life

Question 3

Outline the multi store model (brief overview)

Answer 3

The MSM was developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin and incudes 3 separate stores (SR, STM, LTM)
These stores are unitary (have no sub sections)
The MSM believes that information flows through the 3 separates stores in a fixed linear order and each store has a different role

Question 4

What is the capacity, duration and coding of the sensory register?

Answer 4

Capacity is very large (Sperling)

Duration is 1/4 to 2 seconds (depending on sense processed in)

Coding is modality / sense specific

Question 5

What is the capacity, duration and coding of the short term memory?

Answer 5

Capacity is 5 to 9 items (Jacob’s)

Duration is 18 to 30 seconds (Peterson and Peterson)

Coding is acoustic (Baddeley)

Question 6

What is the capacity, duration and coding of the long term memory?

Answer 6

Capacity is unlimited

Duration is potentially a lifetime (Bahrick)

Coding is semantics / meanings (Baddeley)

Question 7

Outline the sensory register

Answer 7

SR gathers info from sense organs (eyes, nose, mouth etc) nd each sense coded differently
SR has limited duration form 1/4 to 2 seconds depending on sense processed in however has very large capacity
If we pay ATTENTION to sensory info it will pass to STM
Forgetting occurs to rapid decay if no attention is given

Question 8

Outline the short term memory

Answer 8

STM has limited capacity of 5 to 9 items and a limited duration of 18 to 30 seconds
Coding in STM is acoustic
MAINTENANCE REHEARSAL allows info to be held in STM
ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL transfers info from STM to LTM by processing info semantically
Forgetting occurs from STM due to displacement and decay.

Question 9

Outline the long term memory

Answer 9

LTM has an unlimited capacity and a duration of a few minutes to a lifetime
LTM codes info semantically (meaning)
Forgetting occurs due to interference and retrieval failure

Question 10

Evaluate a strength of the MSM using clinical studies as support

Answer 10

Evidence supports distinction between STM and LTM in clinical studies of patients w Korsakoff’s syndrome (can be developed due to alcoholism as causes damage to parts of brain)
Korsakoffs has little effect on STM but LTM is severely impaired eg patients can have conversations but forget after
Further clinical evidence comes from case study of KF (patient with brain damage from a motorbike accident)
This had no effect on KFs LTM but he struggled in STM assessments
Suggest STM and LTM are completely separate stores
Case studies like this support Atkinson and Shiffrins model as they show there is a clear distinction between STM and LTM

Question 11

Evaluate experimental support as a strength of the MSM

Answer 11

Experimental support that STM and LTM are separate stores
Eg Glazner and Cunitz’s study on Primary And Recency effects
PPT’s recall list of words
More likely to remember 1st few (primary effect) and last few (recency effect)
More likely forget middle words as 1st few are transferred to LTM through rehearsal and end words are still in STM
Supports idea that STM and LTM are separate stores as multi store model suggest

Question 12

Evaluate the MSM using the arguement that LTM and STM are not unitary stores

Answer 12

One issue is MSM proposes that LTM is a single unitary store however evidence from Tulvig suggests LTM made several components (episodic, semantic and procedural)
Clive Wearing case supports separate LTM stores (extensive brain damage due to a virus)
Lost episodic memory eg no memory of wedding
Has procedural memory eg can play piano
Suggests at least 2 separate systems of LTM therefore criticising MSM as view on LTM too simplistic

Question 13

Evaluate the MSM using the limitation that there is too much emphasis on rehearsal

Answer 13

MSM suggests rehearsal only method of transferring from STM to LTM
MSM lacks face validity as don’t always need to rehearse info to remember it
Other factors which impact how info is transferred eg things easier to recall if their funny, significant, or distinctive
Also, what is funny to one person may not be to another
Therefore, individual differences in human memory influence how info transferred to LTM and is not accounted by MSM

Question 14

How have psychologists investigated capacity of the sensory register and what was found?

Answer 14

Procedure: Sperling flashed 3x4 grid of letters on screen for 1/20th second and asked ppts to recall letters from 1 row
To decide which row to recall he would sound a different tone

Findings: Recall row high, suggests all info originally there therefore capacity of SR quite large

Question 15

How have psychologists investigated duration of sensory register and what was found?

Answer 15

Procedure: ppts presented w identical auditory messages to both ears, with slight delay

Findings: ppts noticed messages were identical if delay 2 seconds or less
Suggests SR has limited duration of 2 seconds

Question 16

How did psychologists investigate the coding of the sensory register and what was found?

Answer 16

Crowder found the SR only retains info presented visually for a few milliseconds but if the information is presented in an auditory form then it can be retained for 2-3 seconds
Supports idea that SR is coded in different formats / modality specific

Question 17

How did psychologists investigate the capacity of the STM and what was found?

Answer 17

Procedure: PPT’s presented with series of letters / digits, which they had to repeat back immediately to experimenter in same order they were presented (serial recall)
List increased by a single item until ppts consistently made mistakes
Investigated by Jacob’s

Findings: Average STM span was 5-9 items
Digits were recalled better than letters
STM span increased with age

Repeated measures design

Question 18

How did psychologists investigate the duration of the STM and what was found?

Answer 18

Procedure: Peterson and Peterson presented nonsense trigrams (VGT, PXR) to ppts and asked them to recall after 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds
Prevented from rehearsing them as asked to count backwards in 3s from 999
The % of trigrams correctly recalled was recorded for each time interval

Findings:
If rehearsal prevented the recall was negatively affected with the max duration being 18 to 30 seconds

Repeated measures design

Question 19

How did psychologists investigate the coding of the short term memory and what was found?

Answer 19

Procedure: ppts given 1 of 2 word lists by Baddeley
List A included acoustically similar words eg cat, mat, sat
List B was acoustically dissimilar words eg pit, day, cow
Ppts given list in wrong order and asked to rearrange into correct order to test coding

Findings: ppts given list A (acoustically similar) performed worse with 10% recall as confused similar sounding words, suggesting STM is coded acoustically

Independent groups design

Question 20

What have psychologists found about the capacity of LTM?

Answer 20

Capacity of LTM assumed to be limitless as research hasn’t found a finite capacity

Question 21

How did psychologists investigate the duration of the LTM?

Answer 21

Procedure: Bahrick did a longitudinal study w 400 participants at 17- 74
Shown photographs and names of old high school classmates and asked to identify their friends

Findings: 90% people could remember names and faces after 15 years

80% could remember classmates names and 70% of faces after 48 years
Suggests meaningful memories are long lasting

Question 22

How did psychologists investigate the coding of the LTM?

Answer 22

Procedure: Baddeley presented ppts with 1 of 2 word lists
List C had semantically similar words eg big, huge, tall and list D had semantically dissimilar words eg hot, safe, foul
To test coding after 20 mins ppts given list in wrong order and asked to rearrange in correct order

Findings: ppts given list C (semantically similar) performed worse with recall of 55% as they confused semantically similar words
Suggests LTM coded semantically