multi-store model

multi-store model

1. Atkinson and Shiffrin

   • 1968

2. The idea that there are three types of memory

   • Sensory memory
     • recieves information from the environment
     • holds information for a fractions of seconds
     • information is transferred from the sensory memory to the short term memory is attention is payed.
   • Short term memory
     • holds information for brief periods of time
     • Capactiy of short term: the short term memory is thought to have a limited capacity.
       • Can only hold plus 7 +/- 2 pieces of information at one time.
         • Digit span technique: participants listen to a string of numbers and are then asked to recall them in the correct order. Most people have a digit span of 5-7.
     • a method for holding more information in the short term is chunking
     • Information in the short term memory is mainly acoustic
     • if information is lost in the short term it is said to be displaced.
     • Information is transferred into the long term memory by rehearsal
   • long term memory
     • holds a vast quantity of information that can be stored for long periods of time
     • thought to be an unlimited capacity
     • up to a lifetime
     • inform is stored semationantically
     • information that is lost in the long term is said to displaced/

3. Strengths and weaknesses of the STM

   • Strengths
     • Evidence to support that there is a distinction between long and short terms comes from case studies.
   • weaknesses
     • Too simplistic
     • The process of rehearsal has been criticised.
     • The working memory model contradicts the idea that short term is a unitary store.

4. Three stores

   • sensory
   • short term
   • long term

5. two processes

   • rehearsal
   • paying attention