The multi - store model of memory

Question 1

Sensory register

Answer 1

• All stimuli from environment is passed here
• Has a memory store for each of the five senses
• Coding in each is modality specific (depends on the sense)
• Iconic memory = visual information
• Echoic memory = acoustic information
• Duration is very brief = less than half a second
• Capacity is very high = one hundred million cells in one eye, each storing data
  Information passes further into the memory system only if you pay attention to it

Question 2

Short - term memory

Answer 2

• Coded acoustically
• Duration = around 18 seconds
• Capacity = limited
• Maintenance rehearsal = repeat material over and over again to ourselves
• Then passes into LTM

Question 3

Long - term memory

Answer 3

• Coded semantically
• Duration = up to a lifetime
• According to the MSM, when we want to recall information from the LTM, it has to be transferred back into the STM by a process called retrieval

Question 4

Evaluation for Multi - store model

Answer 4

Research support:
- studies have shown that the STM and LTM are separate stores due to being coded differently
This is a strength as it backs up the idea that they are different models, as shown in the MSM

Counterpoint:
- Studies that support MSM only used digits and letter which are basic materials and don’t show how we have to remember much more meaningful information
This suggests that MSM may not be a valid model of how memory works in our everyday lives where we have to remember much more than meaningful information

More than one STM store:
- study showed that KF who has amnesia (clinical memory disorder) could remember digits better when he read them to himself than when someone else read them to him (non - verbal recall)
This suggests that MSM is wrong in claiming that there is just one STM store processing different types of information (visual, auditory, etc)

Elaborative rehearsal:
- prolonged rehearsal is not needed for transfer to LTM, whereas elaborative rehearsal is
- this occurs when you link the information to your existing knowledge, or you think about what it means
- this means that information an be transferred to LTM without prolonged rehearsal
This suggests that the MSM does not fully explain how long - term storage is achieved