the multi-store model Flashcards
multi-store model of memory
the multi-store model of memory was suggested by Atkinson and Shiffrin and it describes how information gets into the memory system (encoding), is stored temporarily (STM) and permanently (LTM) and how it gets out again (retrieval)
the model suggests there are three different stores included in the memory - the sensory register, the short term memory and the long term memory
sensory register - P1, A01
information enters the the system through the sensory register which is modality specific
there are several stores within the sensory register - one for each of our 5 sense, so 5 different stores
the capacity of the sensory register is very large, for example for the visual store there are over 100 million cells in one eye
encoding of the sensory register depends on the sense, for example visual in the iconic store and acoustic in the echoic store
the duration of the sensory register is less than half a second so information only lasts very briefly unless attention is paid to it
very little of what goes into the sensory passes further into the memory system but if attention is paid to it, it will pass onto the short term memory
strength of sensory register - Beardsley P1, A03
one strength of the multi-store memory model is study evidence from Beardsley
Beardsley carried out a study on participants carrying out different activities and showed that there was activation in different areas of the brain for Short Term memory and long term memory
this shows that memory is divided into separate stores within the brain
therefore, this means that there is study evidence to show that there are different stores of memory in the brain as there were different regions of the brain seen to be active when short term memory or long term memory was activated
COUNTER ARGUMENT TO strength of sensory register - Beardsley P1, A03
However, not all psychologists accept that the short term memroy and long term memory are seperate stores
some psychologists argue that it is difficult to identify where short term memory stops and where long term memory begins
therefore, some psychologists are arguing that short term memory is the part of long term memory that we are currently focusing on and that separate stores do not exist
short term memory - P2, A01
information which is attended to in the sensory register is passed into the short term memory
the short term memory is a temporary store
George Miller suggested that it has a capacity of 7 +/- 2 so the capacity is between 5 and 9
Baddeley discovered that information is encoded acoustically in short term memory - he found that when people recall words from a list immediately any mistakes are acoustic
Peterson and Peterson found the duration of the short term memory is between 18 and 30 seconds - so most information is forgotten quickly but the duration of the short term memory can be extended through maintenance rehearsal. this occurs when we rehearse the information ourselves over and over again. information is kept in the short term memory as long as we rehearse it and if we rehearse it long enough, it will pass into long term memory
weakness of multi store model - evidence for more than one type of short term memory
one weakness of the multistore model of memory is that it states that there is only one type of short term memory store
but there is evidence form people with a clinical condition called amnesia which shows that this cannot be true
Tim Shallice and Elizabeth Warrington studied a patient known as KF
his short-term memory for digits was very poor when they were read out loud to him
but his recall was much better when he was able to read the digits himself
further studies showed that there could even be a short-term store for nonverbal sounds (such as noises)
therefore, this shows that the multistore model of memory is not a complete explanation of memory because there must be separate stores for visual and auditory information
long term memory - P3, A01
the long term memory is the potentially permanent memory store for material that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time
its capacity is practically unlimited
Baddeley found that long term memory is encoded semantically (what information means)
Bahrick found that the duration is also potentially unlimited as people were able to recognise faces of school classmates almost 50 years later
when an individual wants to recall material stored in the long term memory, to has to be transferred back into the short term memory
application of the working memory model - P4, A03
one strength of the multistore model of memory is that it can help us to improve memory
the research shows that the limited capacity of short term memory can be increased through a process of chunking e.g., if the letters are in the list
C A R D O G L I T P E N B U Y this is double the average capacity of short term memory
but if the letters are organised into bigger chunks e.g., CAR DOG LIT PEN BUY the number of items to be stored is 5 which is within most peoples short term memory capacity
therefore, this shows how knowledge of the memory system as shown in the multistore model can be applied to improving memory
