Multi-store Model of Memory Flashcards
Who devised the multi-store model of memory?
Atkinson and Shiffrin
What does the multi-store of memory show?
How memory flows through a series of component systems
What are the 3 stores in the multi-store model of memory?
Sensory register
Short term memory
Long term memory
How does information get to the sensory memory store?
Iconic stores and echoic store
How does information get lost in the sensory memory store?
Forgetting
How does information transfer to the sensory memory store to the short-term memory store?
Attention
How does information stay in the short-term memory store?
Rehearsal
How does information get lost in the the short-term memory store?
Decay and displacement
How does information transfer from the short-term memory store to the long-term memory?
Rehearsal
How does information transfer from the long-term memory store to the short-term memory store?
Retrieval
How does information get lost in the long-term memory store?
Interference or retrieval failure
What is capacity?
How much data can be held in a memory store. Represented in terms of bits of informations as number of digits
What is duration?
How long information can be held in a memory store before it is no longer available
What is coding?
How information is changed so that it can be stored in memory
What is the capacity of the Sensory register store?
Quite large
What is the duration of the Sensory register store?
200-500ms
What is the coding of the Sensory register store?
Through the senses
What is the capacity of the Short-term memory store?
7 +/- 2
What is the duration of the Short-term memory store?
18-30 seconds
What is the coding of the Short-term memory store?
Acoustically
What is the capacity of the long-term memory store?
Potentially unlimited
What is the duration of the long-term memory store?
Potentially unlimited
What is the coding of the long-term memory store?
Semantically
What did Crowder (1993) find referring to the sensory register and coding?
The sensory register only retains information from the iconic store for a few milliseconds but 2-3 seconds for the echoic store.
What did Walsh and Thompson (1978) find referring to the sensory register and duration?
The sensory register could only hold information for around 500 milliseconds.
What did Sterling (1960) find referring to the sensory register and capacity?
Flashed 3x4 grid of letters onto the screen for 1 20th of a second and asked participants to recall letters of one row, he found recall was high and mostly could remember all letters.
What did Miller (1956) find referring to short-term memory and capacity?
People on average can count 7 dots flashed on screen and recalled musical notes. Jacobs (1887) found the average span of letters was 7.3
What did Peterson and Peterson (1975) find referring to short-term memory and duration?
People had 80% accuracy of the trigrams after 3s but 10% after 18s. Tested at the following intervals:3,6,9,12,15,18
What did Baddeley(1966) find referring to short-term memory and coding?
Participants struggled to remember acoustically similar words within 30s.
What did Bahirk et al (1975) find referring to long-term memory and duration?
Asked 400 people to identify their friends from high school yearbooks. After 15 years 90% accurate. 48 years 70% accurate.
What did Baddeley(1966) find referring to long-term memory and coding?
Participants struggled to remember semantically similar words after 30s. Research has said that LTM may not be exclusively, Frost suggested it may also be visual.
What did Wagenaar find referring to long-term memory and capacity?
The ability to recall a large number of events, such as his own diary entries, was highly accurate.
One weakness of the multi-store model is that it is over-simplified. What evidence is there to support this?
Assumes the STM and LTM are both single stores. The working memory model suggests that STM is split into several stores such as one for visual processing.
One weakness of the multi-store model is that it is over-simplified. How can this be evaluated?
Theory is reductionist.
Doesn’t fully explain how STM functions meaning the theory is outdated lacking temporal validity.
A strength of the multi-store model is that it was the first model of memory considered a cognitive explanation for memory. What evidence is there to support this?
It suggested a theoretical framework for how memory may work in the human mind.
A strength of the multi-store model is that it was the first model of memory considered a cognitive explanation for memory. How can this be evaluated?
Theory was helpful in pioneering cognitive perspective in memory research.
Lead to future developments such as working memory model.
A strength of the multi-store model is that there is research to support it from case studies such as Clive Wearing. What evidence is there to support this?
He was unable to store 30s long memories. He couldn’t remember where his wife went when she left the room.
A strength of the multi-store model is that there is research to support it from case studies such as Clive Wearing. How can this be evaluated?
Provides validity for the model as it suggests STM/LTM are separate stores.
A strength of the multi-store model is that there is research to support it from case studies such as Clive Wearing. However, what is the counterargument for this?
It is a case study and his memory loss was by an infection in the brain = specific to him.
Difficult to replicate as damage is unlike others.
Can’t be sure findings are reliable.
A problem with the multi-store model is that it mainly focuses on structure. What evidence is there to support this?
The idea that there are separate stores of memory. However, less research has been conducted into the processes that occur between the stores.
A problem with the multi-store model is that it mainly focuses on structure. How can this be evaluated?
Can’t be sure the processes described are accurate in representing real-life memory.
More research needs to be conducted to be sure the processes are valid.
