The Multi- Store Model (MSM)

Question 1

Describe the multi- store model of memory

Answer 1

Maintenance rehearsal
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Environmental stimuli ———> sensory register—(attention)—> STM<—(retrieval/rehearsal)—> LTM
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Decay. Forgetting/ decay

Question 2

Who created the MSM?

Answer 2

Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968

Question 3

What stores were there in MSM?

Answer 3

Sensory register, STM and LTM

Question 4

Coding, capacity and duration of the sensory register

Answer 4

Codes for all senses
Capacity is high
Duration is brief

Question 5

Coding, capacity and duration of STM

Answer 5

Coding is acoustic
Capacity is 5-9 items
Duration is 18-30 seconds

Question 6

Coding, capacity and duration of LTM

Answer 6

Coding is semantic
Capacity is theoretically unlimited
Duration has the potential to last a lifetime

Question 7

Strengths of the MSM

Answer 7

Research support from Glanzer + Cunitz: participants shown list of words and tend to remember 1st and last word. This supports the existence of separate STM and LTM stores.
Research support from Baddely: we mix up words that sound similar in out STM, but mix up words that mean similar things in our LTM. This clearly shows that the STM and LTM are in different stores, as shown by the MSM.

Question 8

Limitations of MSM

Answer 8

Too simplistic as there is evidence that the STM has multiple stores: the case of KF is a man who suffered from amnesia. He had bad recall for digits when they were read aloud to him, but his recall was a lot better when he read them himself. This suggests the STM has multiple stores, perhaps a visual and an auditory store.
Prolonged rehearsal may not be needed for LTM: according to MSM, the quantity of rehearsal is what effects whether something goes into the LTM. Craik and Watkins found that it is actually the type of rehearsal that matters. They said that elaborating rehearsal is needed to transfer information to the LTM. This is where you link information to knowledge you already have.