The multi-store model (MSM)

• The multi-store model: -It was developed by Atkinson & Schiffrin (1968) - Developed at a time when the cognitive approach was becomeing influential in psychology - This approach assumes that mental processes can be understood by comparing them with the operations of a computer and also that they can be interpreted as information progressing through a system in a series of stages - Atkinson & Schiffrin's model describes how information flows through the memory system - This model suggests that memory is made up of three stores linked by processing
• Sensory memory (register): Any stimulus from the environment (sights, sounds, smells) will pass into the sensory registers. This is not one store but several for each of the five senses. The two main stores are called iconic memory (visual information is coded visually) and echoic memory (sound or auditory information is coded acoustically). Material in sensory registers lasts only very briefly (less than a second). However the registers have a high capacity as it takes in all sensory information. Very little of what goes into the sensory memory passes further into the memory system but it will if you pay attention to it
• Short term memory in MSM; STM has a capacity, on average, somewhere between 5 and 9 items of information. Information in the STM is coded acoustically and the duration is around 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed. The rehearsal loop is a part of the store which helps us to maintain rehearsal. This means we can keep the information in our STM as long as we rehearse it. If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into our long-term memory (LTM)
• Long term memory in the MSM: This is the potentially permanent memory store for information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time. Psychologists believe that its capacity is unlimited and the duration can last many years. LTM is coded semantically which suggests that the information is stored as facts. Although this material is stored in LTM, when we want to recall it, it must be transferred back into the STM through retrieval. According to the MSM this is true of all memories and none of them are recalled directly from LTM
• Strengths of MSM: - It is supported by research studies that show that LTM and STM are qualitatively different. - Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound similiar when we use our STM. But we mix up words that have similiar meanings when we use our LTM. The strength of this study is that it clearly shows that coding in STM is acoustic and coding in LTM is semantic. - Case studies show that STM and LTM are seperate as damage to one memory store does not affect the functioning of another. One case study is HM (Scoville and Milner 1957) who had an operation to remove his hippocampus to reduce the epilepsy he suffered. Following the surgery, HM could not form new long-term memories, although his STM remained intact. This provides further evidence to support the role of the hippocampus in forming new long term memories and the seperation of STM and LTM
• Study: Murdock's primacy & recency effect: Aim; To examine whether there are two seperate memory stores. Method; Participants were shown a list of words and were asked to recall them immediately after they had been presented Results; Participants tended to recall more words at the beginning and at the end of the word list. Words presented in the middle were recalled the least Conclusion; This suggests that the results was due to the primacy and recency effect whereby words recalled from the beginning as they have been rehearsed more and therefore transferred to LTM (primacy effect) and words at the end of the list were last seen and therefore were still fresh in the STM (recency effect). This study suggests that there is a functional separation between the STM and LTM Evaluation; It lacks ecological validity as it is an artificial situation and therefore the results cannot be generalised to real life situations. Slower rates of presentation can improve the primacy effect but it does not have any influence on the recency effect