MSM

• Multi Store Model (MSM)

  
• Sensory Buffer

  Absorbs information and acts as a filter based on our senses

  First store- very brief
• Sensory memory (SM)

  Capacity: all sensory experiences

  Duration: 1/4 to 1/2 second

  Encoding: Sense specific

  Attention determines whether sensory information is further processed, if not paid attention to it will decay and not pass on to STM.
• Short-term memory (STM)

  Capacity: 7 +_ 2 (5-9)

  Duration: 15-30 seconds

  Encoding: mostly phonetic

  Displacement: forgetting in STM by FIFO (first in first out- old info is replaced with new memories and decay)

  Once the amount of information gets above maximum that can fit displacement occurs.

  Rehearsal of info increases chance of transfer to LTM.
• Long-term memory (LTM)

  Capacity: Unlimited

  Duration: Unlimited

  Encoding: Semantic

  Decay: forgetting in LTM

  Strength of memory is dependent on transfer method from STM due to rehearsal or semantic ways.

  Without rehearsal, memories become faint and fade.
• Evaluation of MSM

  Strengths: The serial position effect, case studies, research

  Weaknesses: Oversimplified/reductionist, emphasis on rehearsal, case studies
• MSM- Strength: Case study CW

  CW showed that you can have implicit memory for new motor tasks and previous ones but not remember doing it at all.

  His STM was not impacted so it must be a separate store.
• MSM- Strength: Case study HM

  Henry Molasian: suffered from epileptic seizures and had surgery to try and fix it, which left him with severe amnesia

  
  

  HM's case study established that implicit memory must be stored somewhere else in the brain than explicit due to the nature of his complications of brain surgery.

  He shows the importance of the MSM by demonstrating that STM and LTM are separate stores in different areas.

  His case inspired new research surrounding memory, the hippocampus and other brain regions.
• MSM- Strength: Serial position effect

  Glanzur and Cuntiz 1966

  Showed the primacy and recency effect as participants were asked to recall words presented, most remembered the first and last words.

  First - LTM, Middle - displacement, Last - STM

  This suggests that STM and LTM are seperate memory stores, as it shows the effect of displacement and rehearsal.
• MSM- Strength: Research generated

  MSM is influential and has generated a lot of research, eg HM case study shows distinctions between STM/LTM.

  He had issues in LTM after surgery and could remember little about personal details or public events over his life, but his STM was intact
• MSM- Weakness: Oversimplfied


  It suggests that STM and LTM operate in a single uniform fashion which is not the case, as they are very complicated.

  E.g, Baddeley and Hitch suggest that WM is made up of lots of different components and LTM is believed to be made up of different types of stores for different knowledge.
• MSM- Weakness: Emphasis on rehearsal


  MSM suggests that rehearsal helps transfer info from STM to LTM, but you can recall info without rehearsing it and you can not recall info even if you have rehearsed it. The role of rehearsal is much less important than claimed and the model neglects the process elements of memory.
• MSM- Weakness: Case study CW

  Clive wearing: developed amnesia after a brain infection

  
  

  His LTM was impacted but his STM wasn't, but he could remember how to play the piano, facts and his wife.

  He contradicts how MSM works because he can remember parts of each of the stores but not all and shows they could be linked or more complicated. They raise questions the MSM can't answer and suggest the importance of aspects of STM/LTM that the MSM doesn't explain.

  This is because it suggests the importance of semantic memory and that different types of memory have more or less significance.
• MSM- Weakness: Case study KC

  Kent Cocharaine: got into a motorcycle accident and damaged his brain

  
  

  He could not remember anything about himself but could remember facts. He could not form new episodic memories and suffered from authentic consciousness.

  He showed that different areas of the brain are linked to different forms of memory and that semantic/episodic memory is stored separately. He suggests that MSM ignores experiences and emotions relating to memories and generated new research into LTM.