Multi Store Model Flashcards
Short term memory
Info is present due to conscious experience
Info remains due to rehearsal or leaves due to displacement or decay
Limited capacity and duration, encoded predominantly acoustically or visually
Long term memory
Info enters through rehearsal in the STM
Use ‘retrieval’ to access info from STM
Permanent storage, unlimited capacity and duration
Interference whereby info is stopped being maintained or decays
‘Retrieval failure’- memories can’t always be recalled
Advantages and disadvantages of the MSM
- evidence from Clive Wearing
- Also highlights a weakness
- Lab studies such as Glanzer and Cunitz support
- Reductionist
Evidence supporting comes from the case of Clive Wearing
Sustained brain damage due to a virus, LTM severely impaired. Unable to form new LTMs, STM still intact
Fact LTM so severely impaired yet STM remains supports they are separate stores
The case of Clive Wearing also highlights a weakness in the model
Unlike Wearing’s episodic memory or semantic memory, his procedural memory is largely still intact as he maintains the ability to play piano
This therefore demonstrates that the MSM is too simplistic as it doesn’t acknowledge the different types of the LTM
Evidence comes from lab studies such as that of Glanzar and Cunitz
Ppts could remember start of the list of words as they became ingrained in the LTM and the end as they remained in the STM. Yet when asked to complete a distraction task after hearing words, could not recall words from the start of the list
Shows that the LTM and STM are separate stores
Model could be criticised as reductionist and inflexible in explaining entire memory system
Reductionism is breaking things down into simplistic component parts that may then be unrealistic or unrepresentative of the origin, eg in the case of the MSM, different types of memory (procedural, episodic, semantic) fail to be considered
This means that the MSM could be accused as not a full explanation of how memory works and is thus partially invalid
Sensory register
All info enters through senses as an automatic response to sensory info
Info either decays or if paid attention to is transferred to the STM
SR is said to have a large but limited capacity, brief duration and is encoded in its raw form
