Multi-Store Model of Memory

Question 1

Multi-store Model

Answer 1

MSM describes how info flows through the memory system. Memory is made of 3 stores linked by processing.

Stimulus (from environment) –> Sensory Register (Iconic or Echoic) –> (attention) STM –> (prolonged rehearsal) LTM

Question 2

Sensory Register

Answer 2

1) All stimuli from the environment (e.g. sound of someone talking) pass into the SR. 2) This part of memory is not one store but five, one for each sense.
• Coding - modality-specific, depends on the sense (visual in iconic, acoustic in echoic, etc.).
• Duration - very brief, less than half a second.
• Capacity - very high, e.g. over one hundred million cells in one eye, each storing data.

———————————————

1) Atkinson & Shiffrin Model described memory as a flow of info through stages - passes from one store to another.
2) Info enters system from environment & registers on SR and stays for half a sec before decaying or passing into STM.
3) We mainly use iconic store for visual info & echoic for auditory info.

Question 3

Transfer from SR to STM

Answer 3

ATTENTION - Info passes further into memory if attention is paid to it.

Question 4

Short-term Memory

Answer 4

A limited capacity store of temporary duration.
• Coding - acoustic (based on sound).
• Duration - about 18 seconds unless the info is rehearsed.
• Capacity - between 5 and 9 (7 + 2) items before some forgetting occurs (Cowan argues for around 5).

Question 5

Transfer from STM to LTM

Answer 5

REHEARSAL - Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat (rehearse) material to ourselves. We can keep information in STM as long as we rehearse it.
If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into LTM.

Question 6

Long-term Memory

Answer 6

A permanent memory store.
• Coding - mostly semantic (i.e. in terms of meaning).
• Duration - potentially up to a lifetime.
• Capacity - potentially unlimited.

2 sub-types of LTM:
Episodic - memory of events
Semantic - general knowledge

Second Main Type of Memory:
Procedural - knowing how (riding a bike)

Question 7

Retrieval from LTM

Answer 7

RETRIEVAL - When we want to recall information stored in LTM it has to be transferred back to STM by a process called retrieval.

Question 8

Strength of MSM

Answer 8

RESEARCH SUPPORT THAT STM & LTM ARE DIFF

1) Baddeley (1966) found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when using our STMs (so STM coding is acoustic).
2) But we mix up words that have similar meanings when we use our LTMs (which shows LTM coding is semantic).
—> Supports MSM’s views that 2 stores are separate.

Question 9

Limitation of MSM

Answer 9

EVIDENCE SUGGESTING THERE IS MORE THAN ONE STM STORE

1) KF had amnesia (Shallice and
Warrington 1970), STM recall for digits was poor when he heard them, but much better when he read them.
2) Other studies confirm there may also be a separate STM store for non-verbal sounds (e.g. noises).
—> SO MSM is wrong to claim there is just one STM store processing diff types of info.

Question 10

Limitation of MSM

Answer 10

PROLONGED REHEARSAL ISN’T NEEDED FOR STM-LTM TRANSFER

1) Craik and Watkins (1973) argued there are 2 types of rehearsal called maintenance and elaborative.
2) Maintenance (amount of rehearsal) is the one described in the MSM. But elaborative rehearsal is needed for long-term storage. —> This occurs e.g. when you link info to your existing knowledge, or think about its meaning.
—> Suggests MSM doesn’t fully explain how long-term storage is achieved.

Question 11

Primacy-Recency Effect

Answer 11

Glander and Cunitz

1) Pps read list of words then recall them immediately or after a distraction.
2) Results:
- Recall of first & last words are best, middle is poor.
- Because in immediate recall first words are in LTM from being rehearsed & last words are still being rehearsed in STM.
- Words in middle are less recalled from being too busy rehearsing first words.

Question 12

Case Study of HM

Answer 12

1) Suffered brain damage during an operation to reduce epilepsy.
2) Hippocampus was removed - central to memory function.
3) Personality and intellect remained intact, but he could not form new long-term memories. E.g. read same mag repeatedly without remembering it.
4) Despite this he performed well on tests of immediate memory span, a measure of STM
—> study tells us there are different LTM stores (procedural & episodic) & supports Peterson and Peterson’s study - STM was 20 secs long.

Question 13

Strengths & Limitations of HM

Answer 13

1) Can establish cause and effect - hippocampus is key to formation of memories.
2) Case Studies - difficult to generalise.
3) Lacks reliability