The Multi - Store Model of Memory

Question 1

Give an overview of the sensory register

Answer 1

Iconic (Visual) and Echoic (Sound) stores for stimuli from the environment - 250ms duration and large capacity

Question 2

Give an overview of the STM

Answer 2

Mainly acoustic coding, 18s duration, 7±2 items for capacity.

Question 3

Give an overview of the LTM

Answer 3

Mainly semantic coding, lifetime duration, unlimited capacity

Question 4

Explain how the MSM is a linear model

Answer 4

Information is shown to flow through the system in one direction

Question 5

Explain how the MSM has passive stores

Answer 5

The stores hold on to information before being passed on or lost

Question 6

What evidence is there to support the MSM

Answer 6

The case of HM supports the MSM because it supports the central feature of the model that there are two separate independent stores STM and LTM. What happened to HM is evidence that it is possible to sustain damage to one of these stores with the other remain ing relatively unaffected. (HM had amnesia)

Question 7

Give evaluation of MSM using research (Strength)

Answer 7

Glanser and Cunits (1966): Asked p’s to free recall word lists (any order). It was found recall was much stronger for words at start and end of the list. Supports there being separate STM and LTM stores. With words at beginning of list being remembered due to primacy effect and those at the end due to recency effect.

Question 8

Give an evaluation of MSM by assessing cognitive experiments that support it (Weakness)

Answer 8

Cognitive experiments testing aspects of the MSM are often highly artificial, lacking in external validity (not generalisable). There is low ecological validity, as results are often collected in a lab so cannot be generalised to more naturalistic situations like school/work. Also lack of mundane realism as tasks used are unlike how people use their memory in real life.