the multi store memory model

Question 1

What are the three stores of memory called in the MSM?

Answer 1

1) sensory memory
2) short term memory
3) long term memory

Question 2

How does info get from the first store of memory to the second store?

Answer 2

by paying attention

Question 3

How does info get from the second store of memory to the third store?

Answer 3

through rehearsal

Question 4

what is the capacity, duration and encoding of sensory memory?

Answer 4

Capacity: fragile and sensitive
duration: echoic (3/4 secs)
Iconic (1/2 secs)
encoding: what the sensory organs do

Question 5

what is the capacity, duration and encoding of short term memory?

Answer 5

Capacity: 5-9 unrelated items
duration: (15-30 secs)
encoding: mainly acoustic

Question 6

define what maintenance rehearsal is

Answer 6

straight repeating of information to memorise it + keeping information in the short term memory.

Question 7

where do we retrieve all our information and memory from?

Answer 7

Environmental input through senses into sensory memory

Question 8

describe 5 (A01) points about the sensory memory

Answer 8

• receives and stores information from the environment through our sense
• information from sight = iconic
• information from hearing = echoic
• decay is a few seconds but lasts long enough to be encoded
• attention mechanism selects what information it encodes.

Question 9

what is encoding?

Answer 9

the process of changing information to a form the memory can deal with

Question 10

describe 3 (A01) points about short term memory

Answer 10

• holds all the information the individual is thinking about consciously at one time
• encode acoustically (echoic) to STM
• encode semantically to LTM

Question 11

what is the capacity, duration and encoding of Long term memory?

Answer 11

capacity: virtually limitless/unlimited capacity
duration: minutes to many years
encoding: semantic

Question 12

explain the supporting studies of the MSM (A03) - strength

Answer 12

• support from Peterson and Peterson (1959)
• demonstrated that these trigrams were forgotten quickly if rehearsal was interrupted
• suggesting that rehearsal is needed to put memories into long term storage.

Question 13

explain the contradicting studies of the MSM (A03) - weakness

Answer 13

• model suggests rehearsal is needed to transfer information into LTM
• but not essential as it does not explain real world phenomena
• like why we are able to recall information which we did not rehearse yet

Question 14

can the MSM explain real world phenomena? (A03) - strength

Answer 14

• e.g clive wearing (cannot make new long term memory but can still have conversations as their short term memory functions for a few seconds)
• so it supports msm as it shows LTM and STM are seperate.

Question 15

what is a real world application of the MSM? (A03) - strength

Answer 15

• in classrooms
• teachers can ask students to repeat things (rehearsal)
• to help get info into their LTM’s

Question 16

why can the MSM be considered reductionist (A03) - weakness

Answer 16

• divides memory into 3 simplistic stores
• whereas many believe memory to be a complex interplay about the different kinds of memory we know about

Question 17

why can the MSM study be criticised? (A03) - weakness

Answer 17

• P+P is a lab experiment and testes PP’s ability to recall trigrams in an artificial environment
• lacks ecological validity and PP’s recall may have been unrealistic compares to recall in every day life

Question 18

evaluate the multi store model of memory (8 Marks)

Answer 18

(strength - supporting evidence)
- baddeley said that people tend to mix up words that sound similar when using short term memory
- tend to mix up words that have similar meanings when using long term memory
= encoding in STM is acoustic and encoding in LTM is semantic
- showing that STM and LTM are different in terms of encoding, capacity and duration’s
- supports the multi store model
- the two memory store are different and work independently

(contradicting theory - WMM)
- wmm has three different components (central executive, phonological loop, visuo spatial sketchpad) - describe what they are and what they do
- MSM is an incomplete theory, doesn’t take into account other theories like WMM and other factors like genetics and environment

(applications - memorising)
- limited capacity of the STM can be increased by chunking
- putting words in bigger chunks = number of items to be stored increases
- but is not any more difficult as the brain can easily remember the groups
can be used in revision for exams
- by grouping concepts and key facts together can help us remember more than we usually would be able to without chunking
- shows that the multi store model of memory can be applied to improving memory in real life and can be used for revision in exams

(weakness - reductionist)
- Most of the studies into MSM lack ecological validity
- because the Brown-Peterson Technique is unrealistic.
- Learning lists of trigrams is not an ordinary activity
- means the model is based on research that lacks ecological validity.