Multi Store Model

Question 1

What is the multi store memory model?

Answer 1

• developed by Atkinson and shiffrin in 1968
• allows us to visualise how info flows through the 3 memory stores

Question 2

Sensory register

Answer 2

• stimulus from the environment will pass into the sensory registers
• 2 main stores are iconic and echoic memory
• to transfer sensory info to stm we have to pay attention to it

Question 3

Transfer of stm to ltm

Answer 3

• info will disappear/decay if not rehearsed
• info also disappears if new info enters stm and pushes out original info (DISPLACEMENT)
• rehearsing info via the rehearsal loop helps retain info in the stm and if we rehearse it enough it will transfer to the ltm store

Question 4

Transfer from ltm to stm

Answer 4

• when we want to recall material stored in the ltm it has to be transferred back to the stm by a process called retrieval

Question 5

Rehearsal loop

Answer 5

Rehearsal is the process in which info is kept in stm by mentally repeating it

Question 6

Retrieval

Answer 6

Process of accessing info stored in ltm

Question 7

Limitation - MSM OVERSIMPLIFIES LTM

Answer 7

P - multi store model oversimplifies ltm
E - some types of ltm can be retrieved unconsciously (procedural) and some are retrieved consciously (semantic)
I&D - msm takes a nomothetic approach as it is a universal model which tries to explain the process of human memory
C - msm is limited as it doesn’t reflect the different types of ltm

Question 8

Limitation - EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THERE IS MORE THAN ONE TYPE OF STM

Answer 8

P - evidence suggests that there is more than one type of stm
E - KF a patient with amnesia has poor stm for digits when read aloud to him but recall was better when he read them himself
C - suggests there must be one stm store to process visual info and another to process auditory info

Question 9

Strength - SUPPORTS THE STM AND LTM ARE SEPARATE

Answer 9

P - research evidence that supports that stm and ltm stores are separate
E - Baddeley found that we mix up words that are acoustically similar when using stm but mix up words that are semantically similar when using ltm
I&D - research examining msm is an example of experimental reductionism as it attempts to explain complex behaviour by relying on isolated variables operationalised in lab experiments. However, psychologists argue that this undermines the complexity of human memory
C - supports the msms view that these memory stores are separate and independent