Multi-store Model Of Memory Flashcards
Who developed the Multi Store Model of Memory?
Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)
It is a linear model with unitary stores.
Describe the Multi Store Model of Memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin)
Environmental Stimuli -> Sensory Register - -Attention-> STM —Rehearsal-> LTM —Retrieval-> STM
Maintenance Rehearsal—> STM
Outline Sperling’s (1960) procedure.
- Partcipants saw a grid of digits for 50 milliseconds
- Either asked to write down all 12 items, or that they would hear a tone immediately after and they would have to recall that particular row.
Outline Sperling’s (1960) findings.
Whole thing = 5 items about 42%
One row = 3 items recalled at 75%
Suggests sensory memory cannot hold information for long - around 250 milliseconds.
Capacity is limitless, and the coding is modality free meaning it stays in the format it comes in.
What is the sensory register (SR)?
The sensory register is the place where information of held at each of the senses. They are constantly receiving information but rarely receives attention and remains in the SR for milliseconds.
Outline the strengths of MSM.
- P - Supporting Evidence showing the existence of a separate STM and LTM store.
- E = Beardsley (1997) found that the prefrontal cortex is active during STM but not LTM tasks.
- P - Research evidence from case studies of individuals with brain damage
E - HM (Scoville and Milner), damage to the hippocampus caused by surgery left HM’s personality and intellect intact but he could not make new long-term memories, although he could remember things from before the surgery.
Outline the limitations of MSM.
P - Experimental reductionism
E - Research tries to explain complex behaviours by relying on isolated variables operationalised in a laboratory experiment such as the capacity of STM or the duration of STM.
E - Reducing memory to isolated variables undermines the complexity of the human memory
P - Too simplistic
E - The WMM show that the TM is divided into a number of different stores that also relates to the type of memory stored there. Research shows there are different types of LTM.
E - TMB it shows that STM and LTM are not single unitary stores.
Outline Beardsley’s (1997) study. (Supporting evidence)
Performed controlled lab studies on capacity, duration and coding to support the existence of separate STM AND LTM stores. He found that the prefrontal cortex is active during STM but not LTM tasks.
Outline the case study of HM.
HM (Scoville and Milner) had brain damage caused by an operation to remove the hippocampus from both sides of his brain to reduce his epilepsy. He developed anterograde amnesia. HM’s personality and intellect remained intact, however he lost the ability to form new long-term memories (STM to LTM) yet was able to retrieve information from his surgery.
Key people
HM
Sperling - SM duration
Beardsley - Prefrontal cortex
Atkinson&Shiffrin
Sperling - How many items did they have to write down?
12
Sperling - percentage for whole thing remembered
42 percent
Sperling - one row remembered percentage
3 items at 75 percent
