Multi Store Model of Memory Flashcards
What is the Multi-Store Model (MSM) of memory?
A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores: sensory register, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM), including how information is transferred, remembered, and forgotten.
Who proposed the Multi-Store Model and when?
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968 (updated in 1971).
What are the key features of the sensory register?
- Coding: Iconic (visual) and Echoic (acoustic)
- Capacity: Very large (millions of receptors)
- Duration: Less than half a second
What are the three main stores in the MSM?
Sensory register, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).
What determines whether information from the sensory register enters STM?
Attention
What are the key features of STM in the MSM?
- Coding: Mainly acoustic
- Capacity: 5–9 items (Miller’s Magic Number 7 ±2)
- Duration: About 30 seconds unless rehearsed
How is information transferred from STM to LTM?
Through maintenance rehearsal (repeating information)
What are the key features of LTM in the MSM?
- Coding: Mainly semantic
- Capacity: Unlimited
- Duration: Can last a lifetime
What is retrieval in the MSM?
The process of transferring information from LTM back to STM to access it.
What does the case study of HM show about memory?
HM’s STM was intact, but he couldn’t form new LTMs, supporting the idea that STM and LTM are separate stores.
What is a key strength of the MSM?
Research support, e.g., Baddeley’s findings on different coding in STM (acoustic) and LTM (semantic).
What evidence challenges the idea of STM as a unitary store?
KF (Shallice and Warrington): poor STM for digits when heard, better when read = suggests separate STM stores for auditory and visual info.
What’s the problem with the MSM’s view on rehearsal?
Craik and Watkins found that elaborative rehearsal (linking info to meaning) is needed for LTM transfer, not just maintenance rehearsal
What is a limitation of the MSM regarding materials used in research?
Much supporting research uses artificial materials (e.g. digits, consonant syllables), reducing ecological validity.
How does the MSM oversimplify LTM?
It treats LTM as one store, but research shows there are different types (e.g., semantic vs procedural memory).
How would the MSM explain students who revise by repeating information?
They are using maintenance rehearsal, which keeps information in STM but may not be effective for transferring it to LTM.
