The Memory Models

• Working memory is a cognitive system that temporarily holds and manipulates information for complex tasks.
• The Multi-Store model of memory is a model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin and is one of the earliest models of memory 


  It is made up of the stimulus -> sensory register= iconic and echoic, other -> STM -> LTM
• The three components each have their own type of coding

  Coding, duration and capacity
• Research support for MSM - Miller


  7+/-2. Our STM has a capacity of 7+/-2 chunks of info
• Research Support for MSM - Baddeley


  supports the different types of encoding for STM and LTM (acoustic + semantic)
• Research Support for MSM - Peterson and Peterson + Bahrick


  Support the idea of limited duration in STM + Bahrick supports the idea of an unlimited duration in LTM
• What is the WMM made up of

  Central Executive, Episodic Buffer, Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad, Phonological loop
• What is the WMM for

  Short term memory
• Central Executive 


  It is the boss of the WMM and makes decisions and allocates slave systems to deal with information. It has a limited storage and capacity but is modality free so is not limited to one type of mode
• Phonological loop


  Processes auditory information and is made up of the articulatory control system and the phonological store.
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad 


  Stores visual and spatial information and is made up of the inner scribe and the visual cache
• What is the coding and capacity of the phonological loop

  The coding is acoustic and the capacity is 2 seconds of what you can say
• What is the coding and capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad

  The coding is visual and the capacity is 3 to 4 objects
• Episodic Buffer


  The storage component to the central executive. It is the temporary store for information from other stores
• What is the coding and the capacity of the episodic buffer


  the coding is visual and acoustic and the capacity is limited to 4 chunks