the multi-store model of memory
Atkinson and Shiffrin(1968)
components
sensory information store (SIS)
information coming in through
the senses is briefly held in the
SIS as a sensry image
can only hold several items simultaneously
images fade within a
few seconds unless
attended to and recoded
so that they can pass
into STM
short-term memory (STM)
can hold 7 +/-
units for up to 30
seconds
after 30
seconds the
information
decays or is
displaced with
new
information
long-term memory (LTM)
potentially
unlimited capacity
and duration
information can be lost through
decay, distortion or failure to locate or
retrieve it
Research evidence into STM and LTM
Murdock (1962)
presented ppts with a list of words, one at a time,
which they recalled in any order (free recall)
counted frequency that each word was recalled
words at the beginning and end of the list were recalled more often than
those in the middle
more efficient recall at the beginning and end of the list was called the
primacy and recency effects respectivey
earlier words rehearsed so primacy effect was due to them being
retrieved from LTM recency effect due to retrieval of words still in STM
Glazer and Cunitz (1966)
elaborated Murdock's procedure
treated it as a controlled
condition and added an
experimental condition
in which, before recalling the list of words, ppt
had to carry out an interference task by
counting backwards for 30 seconds
ppts who were allowed immediate recall
produced same effect as Murdock
ppts who were given the interference task produced primacy effect but not recency effect
they thought this was due to prevention of using STM for later items
physiological evidence for a separate STM and LTM
Scoville and Milner (1957)
case study- HM
HM was brain damaged due to an operation that was meant to remove the hippocampus from
both sides of his brain to reduce the severe epilepsy he suffered
personality and
intellect intact
couldn't form new LTM
suggests hippocampus may function as a memory 'gateway' through which new
memories pass before entering permanent storage
Evaluation of MSM
strengths
strong evidence
does provide an account of memory in terms of
structure and process
clear predictions about memory-
psychologists can conduct studies to test
weaknesses
evidence suggests STM and LTM aren't unitary stores
Shallice and Warrington (1970)
case
study- KF
KF suffered brain damage resulting in
difficulty dealing with verbal
information but had a normal ability to
process visual information
suggests
STM isn't a
single store
Schachter et al. (2000)
Spiers et al. (2001)
studies memory in 147 patients with amnesia
in all cases, procedural
memories and
perceptual-representation
systems were intact but
other 2 systems weren't
LTM not a unitary store
suggested there are 4
LT stores
rehearsal vs. processing
Craik and Lockhart (1972)
proposed different kind of model to explain lasting memories
suggested that enduring memories are created by
processing, rather than through maintenance rehearsal
things processed more deeply are more memorable
how separate are
STM and LTM?
Logie (1999)
pointed out STM
relies on LTM and so
can't come 'first'
Ruchkin et al. (2003)
said STM is part of LTM activated at any given time
Craik and Tulving
(1975)
presented ppt with words to recall later
shallow processing
(structural or phonetic)
involved attending to the
case of a word or its
sound