the multi-store model of memory Flashcards
What is the Multi-Store Model of Memory (MSM)?
A presentation of how memory works, including sensory register, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).
What is the Sensory Register (SR)?
The home for information received by the senses, holding it for about half a second.
What is the capacity and duration of the Sensory Register?
Capacity is limited, holding around 9 items on average, with a duration of approximately half a second.
What is Short-Term Memory (STM)?
A temporary storage system for information, primarily encoded acoustically.
What is the capacity and duration of Short-Term Memory?
Capacity is limited, typically around 7 items, and duration is between 18 and 30 seconds.
What is Long-Term Memory (LTM)?
A permanent memory store with unlimited capacity, capable of storing memories for a lifetime.
What is the Primacy Effect?
The tendency to recall information presented at the start of a list better than information presented in the middle or end.
What is the Recency Effect?
The tendency to recall information presented at the end of a list better than information presented at the start or middle.
What are the types of sensory stores in the Sensory Register?
Iconic (visual), echoic (auditory), haptic (touch), olfactory (smell), and gustatory (taste).
What is the role of attention in memory?
Attention is the key process that allows sensory information to move into Short-Term Memory (STM).
Who developed the Multi-Store Model of Memory?
Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968.
What is the duration for which information is stored in the sensory register (SR)?
Approximately half a second.
What does modality-specific mean in the context of sensory information?
It means that the storage of information depends on the sense.
What type of information does the iconic store hold?
Visual information.
What type of information does the echoic store hold?
Auditory information.
What type of information does the haptic store hold?
Touch information.
What type of information does the olfactory store hold?
Smells.
What type of information does the gustatory store hold?
Taste information.
What happens to sensory information if it is attended to?
It moves into the short-term memory (STM) for temporary storage.
How is information primarily encoded in short-term memory (STM)?
Acoustically, as a sound.
What is the key process that allows sensory information to move to STM?
Attention.
How is information coded in Short-Term Memory (STM)?
Information in STM is mainly coded acoustically.
What is the duration of information in STM?
STM has a duration of approximately 18-30 seconds.
What is the capacity of STM?
STM is believed to have a capacity of 5 to 9 items, which can be increased through ‘chunking’.
What is ‘chunking’ in the context of STM?
‘Chunking’ involves converting a string of items into several larger ‘chunks’, e.g., number 343565787 to 343 565 787.
What is maintenance rehearsal?
Maintenance rehearsal occurs when people repeat material repeatedly.
How does rehearsal help with memory retention?
Rehearsing information via the rehearsal loop helps to retain information in the STM. If rehearsed long enough, it is consolidated to Long-Term Memory (LTM).
How is information coded in Long-Term Memory (LTM)?
LTM is predominantly coded semantically, i.e., with reference to meaning.
What is the duration and capacity of LTM?
Information in LTM is thought to be stored and retrieved for up to any duration and has a seemingly unlimited capacity.
What does the Multi-Store Model (MSM) suggest about memory retrieval?
According to the MSM, information can be retrieved from LTM and brought back to STM.
What are the Primacy and Recency Effects in recall?
People are more likely to recall information if it was either the first or last ‘thing’ they were exposed to.
What is the significance of the Primacy and Recency Effect?
It is a form of cognitive bias thought to be due to how information is processed and stored in memory.
How did Murdock study the Primacy and Recency Effects?
Murdock presented participants with lists of 10 to 40 words, one word at a time, at a rate of one word per second.
What did Murdock find regarding word recall?
The probability of recalling any word depended on its position in the list; early (primacy effect) or late (recency effect) words were more often recalled.
What happens to words in the middle of the list according to Murdock’s findings?
Words in the middle were more often forgotten because they were held in STM for too long but not long enough to be transferred to LTM.
Why is recalling the first and last pieces of information significant?
It is thought to indicate recalling information from two separate stores (STM and LTM), supporting the MSM.
What was the purpose of H.M.’s surgery?
To relieve epilepsy.
Unfortunately, the hippocampi were removed.
What is now known about the hippocampi?
They are central to memory function.
What did H.M. believe about the year and his age after the surgery?
He thought the year was 1953 and that he was 27 years old (he was actually 31).
What type of memory could H.M. not form after the surgery?
New long-term memory (LTM).
How did H.M. perform on tests of immediate memory span?
He performed well, indicating that his short-term memory (STM) was unaffected.
What does H.M.’s case support regarding memory stores?
It supports the Multi-Store Model (MSM), suggesting that STM and LTM are separate stores.
What caused K.F.’s brain damage?
A motorcycle accident.
What was found about K.F.’s STM for digits?
It was very poor when digits were read out loud to him.
How was K.F.’s LTM affected by his injury?
His long-term memory (LTM) remained unaffected.
What does K.F.’s case suggest about STM?
It suggests that there may be different types of STM, as he could remember information if he read digits to himself.
What evidence supports the idea of distinct STM and LTM systems?
Case studies like H.M. and K.F. show that STM and LTM can be affected differently.
What did Clive Wearing’s case reveal about LTM?
He could not recall episodic memories but could remember how to walk and play the piano.
What was Clive Wearing unable to transfer from STM?
He was unable to transfer STM into LTM.
What could Clive Wearing remember?
Semantic memory- facts and knowledge about the world.
Procedural memory- remembered how to walk and play piano
What does the Multi-Store Model (MSM) of memory explain?
The MSM explains memory in terms of structure, consisting of three memory stores: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).
What is the serial position effect?
The serial position effect is a phenomenon where items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list are recalled better than those in the middle.
This supports the idea of separate STM and LTM stores.
What are the criticisms of the MSM?
The MSM has been criticized for being too simplistic and reductionist, assuming a single STM and LTM store, while research suggests memory is more complex.
What is maintenance rehearsal?
Maintenance rehearsal is the process of repeatedly verbalizing or thinking about information to keep it in STM and transfer it to LTM.
What does Craik and Watkins argue is necessary for transferring information into LTM?
Elaborative rehearsal involves thinking about the meaning of the information and linking it to existing knowledge for better long-term storage.
Craik and Watkins (1973) argue it is necessary for transferring information to LTM.
How does the MSM view memory processes?
The MSM primarily focuses on the structure of memory rather than the processes involved in memory formation and retrieval.
