Memory is the input, the storage and retrieval of information
What does MSMM stand for and who proposed it?
Multi-Store Model of Memory, Attkinson & Shiffrin (1968)
Outline 4 features of the MSMM
3 different types of memory
Sensory register, STM & LTM
Linear model meaning it flows in one direction only
Each store can retain different info for different amount of time and way
Capacity, Encoding and Duration?
capacity - the amount of info to be held.
encoding - the way the info can be stored.
duration - the length of time the info can be stored.
SPERLING (1960)
Investigated sensory register, the ppts were shown grids of letters for less than 0.5 sec. The ppts recalled the first few letters but were aware that there were more letters in the grid. The attention is needed to pass info into the STM, the capacity is high and the duration is less than half a second (<0.5 sec)
JACOBS (1887)
Devised a technique to measure digit span. Digits read out. As new digits are added ppts are asked to recall previous ones plus the new ones after a pause. Mean span for digits: 9.3 and mean span for letters:7.3
MILLER (1956)
Chunking method - several pieces of ingo can be chunked together to form one piece of info. STM is 7 + or -2 chunks of info. There was a lack of control over time and location that may of influenced the results
Sensory memory - CDE
C - HIGH
D - <= 0.5 secs
E - 5 senses
STM CDE
C - 7+ OR -2
D - 18-30 sec
E - ACOUSTICALLY
LTM CDE
C - unlimited
D - YEARS
E - semantically (synonyms)
Peterson and Peterson ( 1959)
To investigate the duration of STM. Ppts were given trigrams and were asked to verbally complete along with distraction tasks by counting down in intervals of threes and then were asked to recall this piece of info. They found the duration was 18 - 30 seconds
Evaluation of investigating the encoding of memory stores?
The research involves artificial stimuli which could be less applicable to the real world. This means that we should be cautious about generalising findings to different kinds of memory tasks e.g more meaningful info people may use semantic coding for STM tasks
Bahrick (1975)
Investigated the duration of LTM using yearbooks and then were tested on free recall and cued recall (random 50 photos). Duration was found to be unlimited
had high external validity
confounding variables are not controlled (low)
Baddeley (1956)
Ppts were presented with semantically similar and dissimilar words. Tested immediately and then after a 20-minute delay. They found that the 20 min delay reduced their performance (prolonged rehearsal).
Conclusion for encoding of LTM with semantic words
This suggest that the LTM encodes semantically as the dissimilar words MERGE together, so its harder to remember
Types of LTM
Semantic
Episodic
Procedural
Semantic?
“Concerns facts taken independent of context”
Objective facts, concepts and words
Requires effort
Declarative
Not time-stamped
Rote learnt or learnt through experience
Episodic?
“More personal memories such as associations of a particular place or time”
Events, places, people & emotions
Declarative
Time stamped
Learnt through personal experiences
Procedural?
“Concerned with learning motor skills”
Skills and how to do things (muscle memory)
Automatic
Non-declarative
Practice & repetition
Not time-stamped
What does WMM stand for and who proposed it?
Working model of memory proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
Function of Central Executive
Slave driver and has overall control over the slave systems by monitoring info from coming in from different resources, decides what to pay attention to and allocates tasks to slave systems
Function of Episodic Buffer
Receives info from the CE and the other slave systems. It temporarily stores info allowing it to be manipulated or 'worked on'. Some studies have estimated the capacity at around 4 itwm. It can pass info back to the CE to the LTM
Function of Phonological Store
Deals with auditory info, the articulatory process allows maintenance rehearsal
The Articulatory Control Process
Capacity of 2 sec and alternative for maintenance rehearsal in the MSMM
Function of the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
The VSS stores visual info when required. Has two subsystems of the visual cache to store visual data.
Evaluation of MSMM
Supporting research evidence
There is more than one type of STM
There is more than one type of rehearsal
Evaluation of WMM
Clinical evidence
Dual task performance
Lack of clarity over the central executive
Word length effect
Monosyllabic and polysyllabic words. Average recall over several trials found that people remembered mono better than poly. This is because more complete words could be stored in the 2 seconds.
Articulatory Suppressive task
This is a verbal task used to distract the ppt when recalling information
Dual-task performance
The STM has separate visual and acoustic stores and they function independently.
They both have unlimited capacity (empirical evidence)
WMM has external validity
What is interference?
How info is lost from the LTM. It is when one memory prevents the retrieval of another memory and gets in the way.
Retroactive interference
When new info interferes with an old memory
Proactive interference
When old memory interferes with new info
Memory involves the input, storage, and retrieval of information