The multi-store model of memory

Question 1

What is the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 1

The MSM is a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores. It helps to describe how information is transferred from one store to another, how it remembered and how it is forgotten.

Question 2

The MSM is composed of three stores linked by processing. What are these three stores?

Answer 2

1. Sensory register
2. Short-term memory (STM)
3. Long-term memory (LTM)

Question 3

Who proposed the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 3

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin

Question 4

Why did Atkinson and Shiffrin first propose the MSM?

Answer 4

Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed the MSM because they wanted to describe how information flows through the memory system.

Question 5

What is the first store in the multi-store model?

Answer 5

The sensory register is the first store in the multi-store model.

Question 6

What type of information will pass into the sensory register?

Answer 6

Any stimulus from the environment will pass into the sensory register. This part of the memory is therefore composed of several stores (one for each of our five senses).

Question 7

The sensory register is composed of which two main stores?

Answer 7

1. Iconic memory

2. Echonic memory

Question 8

What is our iconic memory responsible for?

Answer 8

Our iconic memory irresponsible for coding visual information visually.

Question 9

What is our echonic memory responsible for?

Answer 9

Our echonic memory is responsible for coding sound or auditory information acoustically.

Question 10

What is the duration of information in the sensory register?

Answer 10

The duration of information in the sensory register is less than half a second.

Question 11

What is the capacity of our sensory register?

Answer 11

The sensory registers have a high capacity. For example, there are over one hundred million cells in one eye, each storing data.

Question 12

Very little of what goes into the sensory register passes further into the memory system. What could one do to increase the amount of information entering the system?

Answer 12

To increase the amount of information that passes into the sensory register, one must pay attention to it.

Question 13

What is the short-term memory?

Answer 13

STM is a limited capacity store because it can only contain a certain number of items before forgetting takes place.

Question 14

What is the capacity of STM?

Answer 14

The capacity of STM is between 5 and 9 items of information (7±2). Research does suggest that it is more likely to be 5 rather than 9.

Question 15

How is information coded in the STM?

Answer 15

Information is coded acoustically in the STM.

Question 16

What is the duration of information in the STM?

Answer 16

Information in the STM lasts for about 30 minutes unless it is rehearsed.

Question 17

What is maintenance rehearsal?

Answer 17

Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves over and over again. If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into the long-term memory.

Question 18

What is the long-term memory?

Answer 18

This is the potentially permanent store for information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time.

Question 19

What is the capacity of LTM?

Answer 19

Psychologists believe that its capacity is unlimited and can last for many years.

Question 20

How is information coded in the LTM?

Answer 20

Information is coded semantically in the LTM.

Question 21

How do we recall information in our LTM?

Answer 21

When we want to recall information in the LTM, it has to be transferred back into the STM by a process called retrieval. No memories are recalled directly from LTM.