Psych Boost - Memory

• The multi-store model of memory consists of three stores: sensory register, short-term memory, and long-term memory
• Sensory register directly receives sensory information from the five main senses and has modality-specific coding
• The capacity of the sensory register is very large, potentially unlimited, and it has a very short duration of around 250 milliseconds
• Information moves from the sensory register to short-term memory through attention, where coding is acoustic and capacity is around seven items plus or minus two
• The duration of short-term memory is between 18 and 30 seconds, and information can be passed to long-term memory through rehearsal
• Rehearsal can be maintenance rehearsal, keeping information in short-term memory by repeating it, or elaborative rehearsal, linking new information to knowledge in long-term memory
• Long-term memory has a semantic coding, with a very large, potentially unlimited capacity and duration
• Research evidence for the multi-store model includes Glanzer's study showing the primacy recency effect, supporting the separation of short-term and long-term memory processes
• Sperling's study on the capacity of short-term memory found that it can accurately recall around five to nine items
• Short-term memory has a capacity of between five and nine items, while sensory memory has a larger capacity than short-term memory
• In a study by Baddeley, participants were given word lists that were acoustically or semantically similar or dissimilar, showing that short-term memory is coded acoustically
• The capacity of short-term memory is around seven items plus or minus two, and it can be increased by chunking, which involves grouping items together
• Peterson and Peterson's study on short-term memory duration found it to be between 18 and 30 seconds, using an interference task to stop participants from using maintenance rehearsal
• Long-term memory capacity and duration are potentially unlimited, with semantic coding causing confusion in recall, as shown in a study by Baddeley
• Wagner's diary study and Barrick's study on old photographs demonstrate the large capacity and long duration of long-term memory
• Evaluations of the multi-store model of memory include concerns about ecological validity and mundane realism, as well as the model's simplicity and lack of face validity
• Three types of long-term memory are semantic, procedural, and episodic
• Semantic memory involves knowledge about the world, facts, and concepts
• Episodic memory is autobiographical, related to specific events in one's life
• Procedural memory, also known as muscle memory, is an unconscious memory of skills
• Episodic and semantic memories are declarative, while procedural memories are non-declarative
• Episodic memories can be recalled consciously and are autobiographical, while semantic memories are more resistant to forgetting
• Procedural memories are very resistant to forgetting and are performed unconsciously
• Episodic memories are coded in the prefrontal cortex and stored across the brain connected by the hippocampus
• Procedural memories involve the motor cortex and the cerebellum in the brain
• Research by Vergara Kadim showed that episodic and semantic memories are separate processes that function using different brain regions
• Case studies like Clive Wearing's demonstrate the separation of episodic, semantic, and procedural memories as distinct processes that can remain while others are lost
• Modern cognitive neuroscience studies using PET and fMRI scanners support the distinctions between the types of long-term memory
• There are arguments against a clear-cut separation between the different types of long-term memory, such as episodic memories becoming semantic over time and the strong connection between procedural and semantic memory
• The working memory model is an improved version of the short-term memory store in the multi-store model, explaining how our brain holds and works on both auditory and visual information in short-term memory
• Researchers Baddeley and Hitch criticized the short-term memory store, stating it's not unitary and not just a stopping off station for information between the sensory register and long-term memory
• Working memory is described as an active processor, with components including the central executive, visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop, and episodic buffer
• The central executive is the part of the model that pays attention to information from the senses, controlling the other components known as subsystems
• The phonological loop processes auditory information like sounds and words, with a capacity of how much can be said in two seconds
• The visuospatial sketchpad processes visual and spatial information, controlled by the central executive, and can be broken down into a visual cache and an inner scribe
• The episodic buffer integrates and stores information from visual, acoustic, and long-term memory stores, added to the model by Baddeley in 2000
• The working memory model differs from the multi-store model in that it focuses on features like coding and capacity, with the phonological loop being acoustic and the visuospatial sketchpad being visual
• A dual task performance study by Baddeley showed the separation between the slave systems, supporting the existence of the visual spatial sketchpad as a separate process from verbal processing
• A case study by Charlton and Warrington of a man known as KF demonstrated selective impairments to verbal short-term memory but not visual short-term memory, suggesting separate processes for verbal and visual memory
• Brain scanning evidence by Paulesu showed the physical location of the episodic buffer in the brain, with more activation in the prefrontal cortex when information was integrated, supporting the existence of the episodic buffer