The multi store model

Question 1

Who was the multi-store model devised by?

Answer 1

Atkinson and Shiffren

Question 2

What is the sensory register (SR)?

Answer 2

The automatic response to the reception of sensory information by the sense organs.

Question 3

How is the SR coded?

Answer 3

There are Separate sensory stores for different sensory inputs - echoic store for auditory info, iconic store for visual, haptic store for tactile, gustatory store for taste & olfactory for smell.

Question 4

What is Crowders research on the coding of the SR?

Answer 4

Found that SR only retains info in the iconic store for a few milliseconds but for 2-3 seconds within echoic store.

Question 5

What is the capacity of the SR?

Answer 5

Large

Question 6

What is Sterling’s research on the capacity of the SR?

Answer 6

Flashed a 3x4 grid of letters onto a screen for one-twentieth of a second & asked participants to recall the letters of one row. He sounded different tones to indicate which row had to be recalled - recall of letters in the indicated row was high - so all info already there - so SR large.

Question 7

What is the duration of the SR?

Answer 7

It is brief but it varies between different sensory stores

Question 8

What is Walsh and Thompson’s research on the duration of the SR?

Answer 8

Found that the iconic sensory store has an average of 500 milliseconds which decreases as people get older - this suggests duration of sensory memories is limited & dependent on age

Question 9

What is short term memory (STM)?

Answer 9

It temporarily stores info received from the SR. It is an active memory system as it contains info currently being thought about.

Question 10

What is the coding of the STM?

Answer 10

Mainly acoustic but also visually and semantically.

Question 11

What is the procedure for Baddeley’s research into the influence of acoustic & semantic similarities on STM & LTM?

Answer 11

75 pp’s were shown one word list repeated 4 times:
List A - acoustically similar words
List B - acoustically dissimilar words
List C - semantically similar words
List D - semantically dissimilar words
Had to rearrange words in correct order for STM & same for LTM with 20 minute interval.

Question 12

What are the findings for Baddeley’s research into the influence of acoustic & semantic similarities on STM & LTM?

Answer 12

For STM, those given list A did the worst - recall of 10% - They confused similar sounding words.
For LTM, those with list C performed the worst - recall of 55% - they confused similar meaning words.

Question 13

Give evaluations for Baddeley’s research into the influence of acoustic & semantic similarities on STM & LTM.

Answer 13

Lab study so may lack ecological validity but can be replicated.
The small difference in recall between semantically similar & dissimilar lists suggests there’s also semantic coding in STM.

Question 14

What is the capacity of the STM?

Answer 14

5-9 items can be held but can be increased by chunking.

Question 15

What is Miller’s research on the capacity of the STM?

Answer 15

Found that the chunk was the basic unit of STM - this means that 5-9 chunks can be held at any one time - increasing the stores capacity.

Question 16

What is the duration of the STM?

Answer 16

Small - 30 seconds - can be extended by rehearsal of the info.

Question 17

What is Marsh et al’s research on the duration of the STM?

Answer 17

Found that if pp’s weren’t expecting to have to recall info, STM duration was only 2-4 seconds - suggests duration of STM is affected by the amount of time taken to process info.

Question 18

What is Long term memory (LTM)?

Answer 18

Storing info over lengthy periods of time - info stored for longer than 30 seconds considered LTM. Different types of LTM & each one has different strengths.

Question 19

What is the coding of LTM?

Answer 19

Mostly semantic but it occurs also in other codes.

Question 20

What is Frost’s research into the coding of the LTM?

Answer 20

Gave pp’s 16 drawings in 4 categories, differing in visual orientation - the order of recall of items suggests they used visual and semantic coding.

Question 21

What is the capacity of LTM?

Answer 21

Unlimited

Question 22

What is Anokhin’s research on the capacity of LTM?

Answer 22

Estimated the no. of possible neuronal connections in the human brain is 1 followed by 10.5 mill km of noughts. He concluded that no human exists who can use all potential of their brain.

Question 23

What is the duration of the LTM?

Answer 23

Potentially for a lifetime.

Question 24

What is Barrack et al’s research on the duration of the LTM?

Answer 24

Showed 400 pp’s aged 17-74 a set of photos and list of names and asked them to identify ex-school friends. Those who left high school in the last 15 years identified 90% of faces and names. Those who left 48 years previously identified 80% - memory for faces is long lasting.

Question 25

What are the strengths of the Muti-store model?

Answer 25

Influential as it was the first cognitive explanation of memory.
Lots of research evidence to support.

Question 26

What are the limitations of the multi-store model?

Answer 26

Oversimplified - it assumes that there are single STM & LTM stores.
Focuses too much on structure and not enough on processes.