Memory - The Multi-Store Model

Memory - The Multi-Store Model

1. The Multi-Store Model is a model that describes how our whole memory works, from input to long-term memory. Developed by Atkinson & Shiffrin

   • Sensory Memory
     • Capacity
       • Large
     • Duration
       • <0.5s
     • Coding
       • 5 senses
   • Short-term Memory
     • Capacity
       • 5-9 pieces
     • Duration
       • 18-30s
     • Coding
       • Acoustic
   • Long-term Memory
     • Coding
       • Semantic
     • Duration
       • Potentially a lifetime
     • Capacity
       • Unlimited
   • Evaluation
     • Support from clinical studies - patients with Korsakoff's Syndrome have an impaired LTM so can only carry out a conversation for ~30s and then their memory will reset. This impaired transfer from STM to LTM suggests that they are separate stores like the model suggests
     • Experimental support from Glazner & Cunitz's study of primary and recency effects show that participants are most likely to remember words at the beginning and at the end of a list (LTM and STM respectively) supporting the idea that they are different and separate
     • Evidence suggests that the STM and LTM can be split into components, contrary to the MSM. Clive Wearing got extreme brain damage and lost his LTM of his wedding, but still remembered how to play piano, suggesting there are different types and components of LTM. More detail is needed in the MSM to explain this
     • The model lacks face validity as we do not always need to rehearse information to remember it, and things like personal emotion will affect how memories are transferred

2. Research into the Multi-Store Model

   • STM
     • Capacity
       • Jacobs - serial recall of letters/ digits which increased by a single item until the participants made mistakes
         • Average was 5-9 items
     • Duration
       • Peterson & Peterson - nonsense trigrams had to be recalled after a certain no. of seconds (3,6,9,12 etc), no rehearsal as they had to count backwards in 3s from 999
         • Maximum of 18-30s
     • Coding
       • Baddeley - acoustically similar and dissimilar words, had to remember and rearrange list to right order
         • Acoustically similar words got mixed up - suggests STM is coded acoustically
   • SR
     • Capacity
       • Sperling - Flashed letters on screen for 1/20s and asked participants to recall depending on differently pitched tones
         • Recall was high suggesting capacity of SM is large
     • Duration
       • Treisman - Slight delay between two identical sounds in each ear
         • Noticed message was different if delay was <2s
     • Coding
       • Crowder - visual information is kept for a few milliseconds, auditory kept for 2-3 seconds
   • LTM
     • Capacity
       • No research - it is limitless
     • Duration
       • Bahrick - longitudinal study where participants were asked to identify old school fiends from pictures.
         • After 48 years 80% could remember, meaningful memories last a long time
     • Coding
       • Baddeley - semantically similar and dissimilar words, remember and rearrange to right order after 20 minutes
         • More confusion between semantically similar words suggesting LTM is coded semantically

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