The multi-store model of memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin)

Representation of memory sees memory as transfer of info in 1 direction through 3 different stores.These 3 stores are:
Each store differs in Capacity, Duration and Encoding
Sensory information enters sensory memory. This info is held for fractions of seconds and is likely to decay if it's not attended to quickly.
Atkinson & Shiffrin proposed separate stores within sensory store for each of the senses:
Iconic-things we see. Echoic-things we hear. Haptic-things we touch.
If info is sensory store is attended to it will be transferred to Short term memory store. Info in this store can remain if rehearsed but not for long. Info can be transferred to long term if it's rehearsed enough. It can be retrieved when necessary and can potentially remain there forever.
Capacity of STM: Jacobs devised - 'The serial digit span'- findings: average STM span was between 5-9.
Miller conducted review of studies that investigated capacity of STM which supported Jacobs study, conclusion: Capacity of STM- 7+/-2 chunks of info.
Capacity of LTM
In comparison to STM, research says capactiy of of LTM is unlimited. It is possible to lose data from LTM, Through processes like decay & interference, but forgetting does ot occur because of capacity limitations
Duration of STM
STM-Temporary memory store, anything that needs to be stored for a long time needs to be transferred to LTM.
Brown-Peterson technique:ppts briefly shown consonant trigrams e.g. BVM & were given interference task of counting backwards in 3's to prevent rehearsal. After intervals of 3,6,9,12,15,18 seconds asked to recall trigram. Findings: No interference after 3 seconds but as time increased, performance decreased. After 18 seconds memory trace for trigram had decayed. Peterson & Peterson concluded duration a STM is about 18 seconds.
Duration of LTM
Some Psychologists argue LTM is for life. Certain forms of info have a longer duration. Like info based on skills-PROCEDURAL rather than facts-DECLARATIVE.
Bahrick et al showed 400 ppts aged 17-74 yrs set of photos and list of names, some of which were old school friends , & were asked to identfy old school friends in the photos. Those who had lef school 48 yrs previously recalled 80% of names and 70% of faces suggesting memory of ames and faces is long lasting.
Encoding
Info arrives in it's original form, such as sound or vision. This is then encoded into a form that your memory can deal with This could be based on how it sounds- ACOUSTIC, what it looks lik VISUAL or what the work means SEMANTIC
Encoding in LTM
Encoding in STM
Baddeley examined whether encoding in STM was primarily acoustic or semantic. 75 ppts presented with 1 of 4 word lists. List A acoustically similar. List B Acoustically disimilar. List C Semantically similar. List D semantically disimilar. Ppts given list containing original words and task was to arrange in correct order. Ppts given list A performed significantly worse with recall of 10% compared to other groups where recall was 60-80%. Appeared to be acoustic confusion with words in list A suggesting STM is encoded ACOUSTICALLY.
Baddeley used same procedure as in STM study but with 20 minute interval before recall, during which ppts conducted another task. This time he found ppts that were given List C (semantically similar) only had 50% recall whereas other groups had 70-85%. As list C was recalled least effectively it appears there is semantic confusion in LTM suggesting it's encoded semantically.

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Note on Multi-store model of memory - created from Mind Map, created by minowanorton on 04/06/2014.

Multi-store model of memory - created from Mind Map