The Multi-store Model of Memory

Question 1

What is the multi-store model?

Answer 1

A representation of how memory works in terms of the three stores:
Sensory register
STM memory store
LTM memory store

Question 2

Explain the multi store model

Answer 2

Stimulus from environment
Sensory register
Iconic/Echoic/other sensory stores
Attention
STM memory store - response- Maintenance rehearsal
Prolonged rehearsal
Retreival
Long term memory store

Question 3

How can you link sensory memory to coding,capacity & duration?

Answer 3

Sensory Memory
Coding- Info is coded via all the senses
Capacity- Has a large capacity
Duration- Has a duration of milliseconds

Question 4

What are the 3 types of memory?

Answer 4

Sensory memory
Short- term memory
Long-term memory

Question 5

What is the sensory register?

Answer 5

The memory stores for each of our 5 senses
The capacity of SR is huge (millions of receptors)
Information lasts for very short period of time (half a second)

Question 6

What is the Iconic & Echoic stores within the sensory register?

Answer 6

Coding in each store is modality specific

Iconic memory- coding for visual information
Echoic memory- store coding acoustically (for sound)

Question 7

Explain the characteristics of the STM store.

Answer 7

• Info in STM is coded mainly acoustically & lasts about 18 seconds unless rehearsed
• STM- temporary store
• Limited capacity store 7+/- 2 items
• Though Cowan suggested its 5 items

Question 8

What happens when you rehearse material to yourself over & over again?

Answer 8

Maintence rehearsal
We can keep info in our STM as long as we rehearse it
If rehearsed enough it passes into our LTM

Question 9

Explain the characteristics of the LTM store.

Answer 9

• Potentially permanent memory store for info that has been rehearsed for prolonged period of time
• LTMS mostly coded semantically
• LTM duration may be up to a lifetime (supported by Bahrick)

According to the MSM when we want to recall info from LTM it has to be transferred back into STM by a process called retrieval

Question 10

What did Murdock (1962) find?

Use this when eval MSM as a strength

Answer 10

• Found that words at the beginning and end of a list are more likely to be remembered than the words in the middle.
• Words at the end are in STM
• Words at the beginning are in LTM because they have been rehearsed
• Words in the middle are forgotten

Question 11

Evaluate Murdock’s findings, what do they suggest?

Answer 11

Supporting the idea thatthere are ST and LT stores.
Also supportsthe idea of rehearsal to transfer info atbeginning of list to LTM.

Question 12

What is one strength of the MSM?

Answer 12

Laboratory research into coding capacity andduration shows that the memory stores havedifferent properties. (as they do in the model)

These studies are highlycontrolled and therefore have high validity.

E.g Baddeley (1966), Peterson andPeterson (1959) and Miller (1973).

Question 13

What is a limitation of the MSM?

Answer 13

The model is over-simplified, assuming that LTMand STM memory are single stores.

The WorkingMemory Model shows STM has multiplecomponents.
As there is a lot of researchsupporting the WMM, e.g. dual task research,this reduces the validity of the MSM.

Question 14

Give another limitation to the MSM

Answer 14

Prolonged rehearsal is not needed for transfer to LTM
Researchers found that elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage not necessarily prolonged

Suggesting that MSM does not fully explain how long term storage is achieved

Question 15

Give another strength to the MSM.

Answer 15

First cognitive explanation of memory,which inspired research and interest for thesubject

Leading to a greater understanding.