Unit 1 - Memory MSM Flashcards
Describe the MSM in terms of the flow of information.
The MSM suggest that the flow of information through the memory system is sequential. That the STM and LTM are unitary stores that are not sub-divided. Also rehearsal is the onlu way of transferring nformation from STM to LTM.
Briefly describe sensory memory in the MSM. Include encoding, duration and capicity.
External environment stimulus first register in the sensory memory, the are different types of input: ionic (visual), echoic (auditory) and hapitic (tactile). Information only says here for less than 2 seconds before deacying or transfering to STM.
Briefly describe STM in the MSM. Include transfer, encoding, duration, capicity and forgetting.
Information is transferred her by paying attention to information in the sensory store. Information is maintained in the store by maintenance rehearsal. The duration is 18-30 seconds. The capacity is 7+-2 items. Encoding method is mainly acoustic (sound). Forgetting here occurs mainly be displacement and decay.
Briefly describe LTM in terms of the MSM. Include transfer, encoding, duration, capacity and forgetting.
Information is transferred to the LTM by elaborate rehearsal. LTM has an unlimited capacity and duration. The main encoding method is semantic (understanding). Information is mainly forgotten due to interference, decay and retrieval failure.
Describe one study into encoding into STM in terms of the STM.
Conrad (1964)
Aim: to determine how information is encoded in to the STM.
Method: Participants were presented with a random sequence of six consonants.
Sequences of consonants were either acoustically similar (e.g. P, V, D…) or acoustically dissimilar (e.g. S, K, G).
Participants were asked to write down the letters in the same order they appeared.
Results: Participants were more likely to confuse letters that sounded the same/ they made acoustic confusion errors:
62 cases of B being mistaken for P
83 cases of V being mistaken for P
Only 2 cases of S being mistaken for P
Conclusion: The principal coding system for STM is acoustic (information is stored largely as sound). Whether letter are presented acoustically of visually they are turned in to an acoustic code.
Describe one study into the capacity of STM in terms of the MSM.
Jacobs (1887)
Aim: to determine the capacity of STM.
Method:A technique called “serial digit span” was used.
Participants were presented with a series of letter or digits, starting from 3 items and increasing by 1 each time until the participant was unable to correctly reproduce the sequence.
Participants were asked to recall in the order the sequences were presented. This is known as serial recall.
The longest sequence recalled on at least 50% of the trail was taken as the participants digit span.
Results:The average number of items recalled was between 5 and 9 (this was descried by Miller as the magic number: 7+-2).
On average digits were recalled better than letters (9.3 compared to 7.3).
Capacity increased with age up to 19 years then remained constant (an average of 6.6 at 9 years compared to 8.6 at 19 years).
Conclusion: The capacity varies between 5 and 9 items.
Describe one study into the duration of STM in terms of the MSM.
Peterson and Peterson (1959)
Aim: to determine the duration of STM.
Method:A technique called the Brown-Peterson Technique was used to prevent rehearsal by a distracter task.
Participants were pesented with meaningless trigrams (three consonants e.g. HMB).
One group recalled immediatley.
The second group was given a distracter task of counting back in threes froma three digit number, for either 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds. Then they were ased to recall the trigram.
Results:Immediate recall: nearly 100% of trigrams were recalled.
3 second delay: approx. 80%
6 second delay: approx. 55%
18 second delay: fewer than 10% were recalled
Conclusion: Very little information remains in the STM after 18 seconds.
Describe one study into endocing of LTM in terms of MSM.
Baddeley (1966)
Aim: to determine how information is encoded into LTM.
Method:75 participants were divided into 4 groups.
They were they given one of 4 lists: acoustically similar (man, map, mat), acoustically dissimilar (sit, new, got), semantically similar (large, big, wide), semantically dissimilar (cold, late, thin).
Participants were asked to recall the list in the same order as presented 20 minutes after delay.
Results:Performance on acoustically similar and dissimilar was the same.
There was a clear difference in semantically similar and dissimilar. It was found that the list if words with the same meaning was recalled worse than the words with different meanings.
Conclusion: coding on to LTM is mainly semantic.
Describe one study into the capcity of LTM in terms of the MSM.
Linton (1975)
Aim: to determine the capacity of LTM
Method:She wrote a diary over 6 years contain 5500 personal events.
She tested herself for recognition of events each month.
Results: She found that she had excellent recall of dates.
Conclusion: The LTM has an amazing potential capacity
Describe one study into the duration of LTM in terms of MSM.
Bahrick et al. (1975)
Aim: to determine the duarion of LTM.
Method:Approx. 400 ex-students that had left school between 3 months and 47 years were tested on their recall of other students they spent time with at school.
Three measures of recall were used: Free Recall (participants were asked to list all the names they could recall), Name Recognition (asked to name the photos in the year book), and Picture Recognition (asked to pick out photos of classmates).
Results:Participants tested within 15 years of leaving school were 90% accurate for both name and photo recognition. Free recall was 60% at this time.
After 47 years thee was 80% accuracy in name recognition, 70% in photo recognition and approx. 30% in free recall.
Overall, there was little decline in name and picture recognition but free recall showed a decline.
Conclusion: Although there is some memory loss there is evidence of very long term memories. Recall was better with cues so vast amounts of information in the LTM may not be assessable without cues.
Describe one study that provides support for STM and LTM being distinct stores.
Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)
Aim: to illustarte functional dissociation.
Method: Participants were given a list of word and then their free recall of the words was tested. There were two condtions: condition 1 – recall word immediatley after they were presented, and condition 2 – recall words sfter a 30 second distracter task.
Results: In condition 1 participants could recall more words from the beginning than they could from the end (Primacy and Recency Effect i.e. they found the serial position curve).
In condition 2 the distracter task disrupte dthe recency effect so more words were forgotten from the end of the list were forgotten. The primacy effect wasnot affected.
Conclusion: They explained the distracter task of counting back in threes has dissplaced the last few words in the STM but not affected eariler words because ethey had already been rehearsed and passed on to the LTM. There is strong evidence for functional dissociation (suport that the LTM and STM are separate).
Describe some of the neuropsychological evidence for the MSM.
- Some evidence comes from the study of those with brain damage. The loss of memory is usually selective i.e. affects one type of memory but no the other.
- Shallice and Warrington investigated K.F. who had been involved in a motorbike crash. K.F.’s LTM appeared to be OK in the fact he could recall store information and learn new information but, his STM was damaged as he could only recall the last piece of information he heard.
- Clive Wearing suffered a virus that damaged his brain. He was left unable to transfer new information from his STM to his LTM so no memories could be stored for over 30 seconds. He was able to aquire new procedural memories.
- HM is another example. He could not form new memories longer than 20-30 seconds after undergoing surgery to treat his epilepsy, but could still remember older information and learn procedural skills.
- People suffering from Alzheimer’s disease are also researched.
Evaluate the MSM as a whole (strenghts only).
- The MSM has been an influential model that is still used today. It has allowed psychologists to contrast testable hypothesis which has experimentally supported there is a separate STM and LTM.
- There is supporting evidence. Murdock’s serial position research which demonstrates the primacy and recency effect shows there is and existence of 2 separate memory stores.
- Case studies such as K.F. and Clive Wearing also provide support for the MSM as they show an impairment to the STM but were still able to use much of their LTM showing existence of two stores.
- Most of the research was lab based experiments allowing high levels of control and standardisation. This means they are easy to replicate so the reliability of the findings can be established.
Evaluate the MSM as a whole (limitations only).
- The model is reductionist and very oversimplified. It does not reflect the complexity of memory e.g. the complexity of STM.
- It emphasises the need for rehearsal when over psychologist such as Craik and Lockhart found that memories are best remembered when processed semantically. This occurs when flash bulb memories are imprinted immediately in LTM without rehearsal because they are so meaningful.
- The model is disrobed as linear meaning information has to pass through the STM before the LTM yet some information has to be retrieved from LTM before STM can process it.
- Most of the research was lab experiments therefore highly artificial so low in ecological validity making it had to generalise t the real world.
