MSM Description

MSM Description

1. Information moves through 3 systems; Sensory Memory, Short Term Memory and Long Term Memory under the control of attention & rehearsal

2. The distinctions among the 3 structures are made on the basis of capicity duration and encoding

3. STM has a capacity of 7(+/-2) items, a duration of 15 - 30 seconds and its encoding is primarily acoustic

4. We recieve information from the environment through our senses, which is automatically stored briefly in a sensory buffer

5. Coding and rehearsal determine the fate of this information.

   • Rehearsal is seen as a key process as it not only keeps information in the STM but also transfers it to the LTM

6. Material in the sensory register that is attended to is coded in STM

   • and information that is sufficiently rehearsed is coded in LTM

7. Then information is used as an output

8. LTM has infinite capacity, a duration of a lifetime and its encoding is primarily semantic