Memory

• what are the three stores of the multistore model?

  -sensory store

  -short term store

  -long term store
• how is information encoded in sensory memory?

  the five sense

  -iconic memory - visual store

  -echoic memory - auditory store
• what is the capacity and duration in sensory memory?

  duration = 1/10 second

  capacity = very large
• how is information transferred from sensory memory to STM?

  attention
• what is the capacity and duration of STM?

  capacity = 7+/- 2 items

  duration = 18 - 30 seconds
• how is information encoded in STM?

  acoustically
• what is the capacity and duration of LTM?

  capacity = unlimited

  duration = forever
• how is information encoded in LTM?

  semantically
• how is information transferred from STM to LTM according to the multi store model?

  -repeating over and over

  -maintenance rehearsal
• how did Peterson and Peterson measure the duration of STM?


  -they had 24 students recall trigrams at different intervals (3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds)

  -to prevent rehearsal the students had to count backwards in threes or fours from a specific number, until they were asked to recall the letters
• what were the key findings of Peterson and Peterson's research?

  -the longer the interval the less accurate the recall

  -STM has limited duration of approximately 18 seconds

  -if we are unable to rehearse information, it will not be passed to LTM
• how do the findings of Peterson and Peterson's study support the multi store model?

  -concluded STM has limited duration of approximately 18 seconds

  -if unable to rehearse information, it won't be passed to LTM, providing further support for the MSM and the idea of discrete memory stores
• how did Jacob measure the capacity of STM?


  -developed a technique to measure digit span

  -researcher reads out digits and participants recalls in the same order

  -continue adding digits until order is wrong -- this is the digit span
• what were the key findings of Jacob's research?

  -mean number of letters in STM is 7.3

  -mean number of numbers in STM is 9.3
• how do the findings of Jacob's study support the MSM?

  the STM is small capacity and the LTM has a large capacity so they are different memory stores
• how does Miller's research support Jacob's study?

  -Miller discovered chunking

  -this is a means of which memory capacity can be increased

  -we can remember 7+/-2 chunks of information
• how did Baddeley's study measure coding in STM and LTM?


  participants had to learn and recall the lists either immediately (test of STM) or after 20 minutes (test of LTM)
• what were the key findings of Baddeley's research?

  worst remembered immediately = acoustically similar

  worst remembered after 20 minutes = semantically similar
• how do the findings of Baddeley's study support the MSM?

  LTM is coded semantically and STM is coded acoustically so they are separate
• how did Bahrick's study measure the duration of LTM?


  participants were tested in their recall of photo recognition of 50 photos from people's school yearbook and the names of their graduating class
• what were the key findings of Bahrick's research?

  15 years - 90% accurate photo recognition, 60% accurate names

  48 years - 70% accurate photo recognition, 30% accurate names
• how do the findings of Bahrick's study support the MSM?

  shows LTM can last a very long time
• how does the case study of Clive Wearing support the MSM?

  he can't transfer from STM to LTM so they are separate stores
• how is STM not being a unitary store a limitation of the MSM?

  the case of KF suggest that STM is not a single store

  --KF could remember digits when they were read to himself but not when they were read out to him

  --a limitation of the MSM because research shows that at the very least there must be one short term store to process visual information and another one to process auditory information
• how is LTM not being a unitary store a limitation of the MSM?

  the case of Clive Wearing suggests that LTM is not a single store

  --Clive could remember playing music, his wife and his name but not anything after 7 seconds and his house and age

  --theres different LTM stores for different types of memories
• how is using artificial materials a limitation of the MSM?

  -materials used in research are digits, letter and sometimes words not useful things like people's faces, names, facts and places. They use consonant syllables that have no meaning

  -a problem with using more everyday materials in memory research is that they can't have control over the participants in an experiment
• what is elaborate rehearsal?


  -adding meaning to the memory

  -more effective than maintenance rehearsal because it transfers information into LTM rather than just maintaining it it STM
• how is maintenance rehearsal a limitation of the MSM model?

  -elaborate rehearsal has been found to be much more effective way of transferring info from STM to LTM
• what is the working memory model?

  -an explanation for STM only

  -Baddeley and Hitch developed the WMM to take account for the fact that STM is not a single store

  -it explains how STM is organised and how it functions

  -it explains how the mind is active when we are temporarily storing and manipulating information
• what are the components of the working memory model?

  -the central executive

  -the phonological loop

  -the visuo-spatial sketchpad

  -the episodic buffer
• what is the central executive?

  -the central executive is an attentional process that monitors incoming information

  -it solves problems, makes decisions and allocates tasks to the two 'slave' systems

  -it has limited capacity but can process information from any sense
• what is the phonological loop?

  -the phonological loop deals with auditory information and preserves the order of information

  -Baddeley subdivided the phonological loop into the phonological store (which holds words you hear - like an inner ear) and the articulatory loop (which silently repeats words - like an inner voice - as a rehearsal process)

  -the capacity is about 2 seconds worth of what you can say
• what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

  -the visuo-spatial sketchpad deals with spatial and visual tasks

  -has limited capacity of about 3 or 4 objects

  -it is subdivided into the visual cache (stores visual data) and the inner scribe (records spatial arrangement of objects)
• what is the episodic buffer?

  -Baddely added the episodic buffer because the model lacked a general store

  -the function of the episodic buffer is to integrate and store information temporarily from the central executive, the phonological loop, the visuo spatial sketchpad and long term memory

  -has a limited capacity of about four chunks of information
• how do dual task studies support the WMM?

  -participants asked to carry out 2 tasks at the same time

  -if both tasks involve one component of the model the participants find the task difficult

  -if each task involves a different component this is easier

  -if both tasks involve the same component this is harder as both tasks use the same slave system which has a limited capacity so overloads it

  -it supports the model because it shows there's a separate components for visual and auditory information
• what dual task study did Baddeley conduct?

  group 1

  task 1 = describe the letter F

  task 2 = track a beam of light on the screen

  group 2

  task 1 = a verbal task

  task 2 =track a beam of light on the screen
• how does the case of KF support the WMM?

  -after suffering brain damage due to a motorbike accident, KF could recall info from his STM if he read it but had difficulty with the same information when he heard it

  -supports the WMM because he has damage to the phonological loop but not the visa-spatial sketchpad with suggests they are separate stores
• how do brain scan studies support the WMM?

  -studies show the different parts of the brain are involved in visual and auditory tasks

  -supports the WMM because they are in different parts of the brain so must be different stores
• what are strengths of the WMM?

  -supporting evidence from dual task performance, case studies and brain scan studies

  -suggests STM is an active processor (more detailed) rather Tham the unitary 'stopping off station' version presented by the multi store model

  -practical application e.g teaching methods, phonological deficits observed in dyslexia linked to articulatory loop
• what are limitations of the WMM?

  -the concept of the central executive is quite vague. what is its capacity? what is its specific function?

  -some evidence suggests the central executive might be made up of different stores e.g the case study of EVR -- could problem solve but couldn't make decisions

  -the model doesn't account for musical memory because participants can listen to instrumental music without impairing performance on other acoustic tasks -- separate store