the multi-store model of memory Flashcards
summary of the multi-store model
- stimulus from the environment
- SR —> attention to go to STM
- STM store —> prolonged rehearsal to go to LTM, maintenance rehearsal with rehearsal loop, response = remembering
- LTM store —> retrieval to get to STM
who developed the MSM and what is it?
- atkinson and shriffin (1968, 1971)
- describes how info flows through the memory system
- suggests that memory has 3 stores linked by processing
what are the three stores?
- sensory register
- short-term memory
- long-term memory
what are some key features of the sensory register?
- all stimuli from environment pass into SR
- comprises of several registers (sensory memory stores), one for each of the five senses
- coding for each is modality specific (ie. it depends on the sense)
- info only passes further into the memory system if you pay attention to it, so attention is the key process
modality specific coding examples
- visual information = iconic memory
- acoustic information = echoic memory
- there are other sensory stores for touch, taste and smell information
what is the duration and capacity of material in the sensory register?
- <0.5s
- very high capacity eg. there are over 100 million cells in one eye, each storing data
what is the coding and duration of information in the short-term memory?
- coding: mainly acoustically
- duration: about 18 seconds unless it is rehearsed
STM is more of a temporary store
describe the capacity of the short-term memory
- 5-9 items of information
- cowan’s research suggests it might be more like 5 than 9
- limited ie. it can only contain a certain number of things before forgetting occurs
what is maintenance rehearsal?
- when we repeat material to ourselves over and over
- can keep the info in STMs as long as we rehearse it
- if we rehearse it long enough, it passes into LTM
what is elaborative rehearsal?
when you:
- link info to your existing knowledge
- think about what it means
what does prolonged rehearsal mean?
the more rehearsal you do, the more likely info is to transfer to LTM
what is the coding, capacity and duration of the LTM?
- coding: mostly semantically (ie. in terms of meaning)
- capacity: practically unlimited
- duration: may be up to a lifetime
potentially permanent memory store for info that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time
how is information transferred back into STM from the LTM?
to recall info from LTM, it has to be transferred back into STM by a process called retrieval
evaluation: research support from studies showing the STM and LTM are different (eg. baddeley 1966)
- B (1966) found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when we are using our STMs but mix up words that have similar meanings when we use our LTMs
- further support from studies of capacity and duration which distinguish between STM and LTM as separate and independent memory stores, as claimed by the MSM
evaluation: MSM is not applicable to everyday life
- in everyday life we form memories related to useful things eg. people’s faces, their names, facts, places etc.
- many of the studies that support the MSM do not use these materials
- instead they used digits, letters (jacobs), words (baddeley) or consonant syllables which have no meaning (peterson and peterson)
- this means that MSM may not be a valid model of how memory works in our everyday lives where we have to remember much more meaningful information
evaluation: evidence of more than one STM store (shallice and warrington 1970)
- studied client KF who had amnesia
- STM for digits was very poor when read aloud to him but much better when he read the digits to himself
- further studies of KF and others showed there could be another ST store for non-verbal sounds eg. noises
- evidence suggests MSM is wrong in claiming there is 1 STM store processing different types of info
evaluation: prolonged rehearsal is not needed for transfer to LTM (craik and watkins 1973)
- MSM suggests that what matters is prolonged rehearsal ie. the amount of rehearsal
- C&W (1973) found that the type of rehearsal is more important than the amount
- elaborative rehearsal is need for LT storage
- therefore, info can be transferred to LTM without prolonged rehearsal
- MSM does not fully explain how LT storage is achieved
evaluation: research evidence that LTM is also not a single memory store
- we have one long-term store for our memories of facts about the world and we have a different one for our memories of how to ride a bicycle
- combined with research showing there is ore than one type of STM and more than one type of rehearsal, the MSM can be seen as an oversimplified model of memory
evaluation: evidence to support the limited duration of the sensory registers (sperling 1960)
- ps saw a grid of digits and letters for 0.5s
- they were either asked to write down all 12 items or just the top, middle or bottom row
- when asked to recall the whole thing, their recall was poorer (5 items recalled, about 42%) than when asked to give one row only (3 items recalled, 75%)
- this suggests the the SR has a very limited duration
