Psychology - Structures of Memory

• Multi-store model


  A model that describes how information is processed in the mind
• Multi-store model


  • Identifies three memory stores: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory
• Information processing in the multi-store model

  1. Sensory information enters the sensory register

  2. Attended information passes to short-term memory

  3. Information in short-term memory is either lost or processed into long-term memory through rehearsal (maintenance or elaborative)
• Sensory register


  Stores sensory information briefly, capacity is very large but duration is very short (around 250 milliseconds)
• Short-term memory


  Stores information acoustically, capacity is around 7 items plus or minus 2, duration is very short (around 18 seconds)
• Long-term memory


  Stores information semantically, capacity and duration appear to be unlimited
• The multi-store model is supported by evidence such as the case study of Clyde Wearing who had short-term memory impairment but intact long-term memory
• The multi-store model is criticised as being too simplistic, as long-term memory is not just one store and short-term memory is better explained by the working memory model
• Serial position effect


  The tendency to better recall items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list, compared to the middle items
• Murdoch's study on serial position effect


  1. Participants listened to a word list and recalled as many words as possible

  2. Results showed both primacy and recency effects, suggesting evidence for both long-term and short-term memory stores
• Knowledge from Murdoch's study can be applied in education to design activities that take advantage of the serial position effect