Multi-Store Model of Memory

Question 1

Who described the MSM?

Answer 1

Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968

Question 2

MSM stages?

Answer 2

1. Sensory register - place where info is held at each of the senses. Capacity is large. Constantly receives info but majority receives no attention and remains in sensory register for brief duration
2. Attention - if a person’s attention is focused on a sensory store, data is transferred to STM
3. STM - limited duration. Fragile state, will decay quickly if it isn’t rehearsed. Info will disappear if new info enters STM, displacing the original info, due to limited capacity
4. Maintenance rehearsal - the more the info is rehearsed, the better it is remembered and then stored in LTM
5. LTM - potentially unlimited in duration and capacity
6. Retrieval - getting info from LTM involves the info passing back through STM

Question 3

Evaluation? ✅

Answer 3

• controlled lab studies on capacity, duration, coding support existence of a separate short and long term store
• Beardsley 1997: prefrontal cortex is active during STM but not LTM tasks
• Squire et al 1992: hippocampus
  is active when LTM is engaged
• supports the basis of the MSM

Question 4

Evaluation? ✅

Answer 4

• Scoville and Milner 1957
• case study HM
• had hippocampus removed from both sides of brain
• personality and intellect remained intact but he couldn’t form new LTMs
• unable to transfer info from his STM to LTM but could retrieve info from before his surgery
• support for MSM’s notion of separate stores

Question 5

Evaluation? ❌

Answer 5

• criticised for emphasis on maintenance rehearsal
• Craik and Lockhart 1972: enduring memories are created by processing rather than maintenance rehearsal
• Craik and Tulving 1975: participants given list of nouns and asked a question that involved deep or shallow processing
• participants remembered words in task involving deep processing
• suggests process of rehearsal doesn’t fully explain process of creating long term memories
• deep/elaborate processing is key part

Question 6

Evaluation? ❌

Answer 6

• MSM suggests that STM is involved before LTM
• Logie 1999: suggested STM relies on LTM and therefore cannot come first
• suggests STM is actually just a part of LTM and not a separate store