Multi Store Memory Model

Multi Store Memory Model

1. SHORT TERM MEMORY

   • Encoding: Acoustically (Baddeley 1966)
     • Acousitcally: By sound
       • When we read something that we need to remember we repeat it in our heads by saying the word or sentence over and over (inner voice)
     • Factors affecting encoding in STM
       • The sound of words
       • Other ways of encoding
   • Duration: 20 Seconds (Peterson and Peterson 1959)
     • Factors affecting duration of STM
       • Maintenance Reheasal
       • Deliberate intention to recall
       • Amount of information to be retained
   • Capacity: 7 +/- 2 items (Miller 1956)
     • Factors affecting capacity of STM
       • Influence of long term memory
       • Reading aloud
       • Rhyming grouping

2. LONG TERM MEMORY

   • Capacity: Infinite
   • Duration: Infinite (Bahrick et al 1975)
     • Factors affecting duration in LTM
       • Childhood amnesia
       • How duration is measured
       • Thorough learning
   • Encoding: Semantically
     • Semantic: Importance
       • When we are told information that means something to us, we remember it because it is important. Information that has no meaning to us is often forgotten
     • Factors affecting encoding in LTM
       • Acoustic encoding and Visual encoding

3. Weaknesses of the MSMM

   • Too simplistic and too inflexible to explain the entire system
   • Critisized for focusing on the structure of the memory system at the expenses of adequately explaining the processes involved
   • The Working Memory Model casts doubt on the assumption that STM is a unitary store

4. Strengths of the MSMM

   • Distinguishes between STM and LTM in terms of capacity, duration and encoding
   • Further evidence for the existence of separate store comes from lab experiments that have investigated primacy and recency effects