Multi-store Model of Memory

• Sensory register - Short term memory - Long term memory
• 3 assumptions:

  • 3 separate unitary stores of memory
  • 3 stores
  • works in serial fashion - move through each store
• Capacity - How much info it holds

  Duration - how long it will store that info

  Coding - in what format
• Sensory register capacity - unlimited

  however , unless attended to the information is lost
• Sensory register duration - up to 2 seconds
• sein sort register coding -

  iconic coding - storage of images

  echoic coding - storage of sounds
• STM capacity - Jacobs

  7 +/- 2 ( between 5 and 9 items)

  ’Millers magic number’
• STM duration - Peterson + Peterson

  • recall trigrams after different time periods + completed distraction task to prevent rehearsal
  • DURATION - 15-30 seconds
• STM coding - Baddeley

  CODED - acoustically - sound same
• LTM coding - Baddeley

  CODED - semantically
• LTM capacity + duration - Bahrick

  Duration - lifetime

  Capacity - unlimited
• A03 of MSM:

  + support that stores are separate

  E: serial position curve shows words at the start are remembered well as they are rehearsed whilst words at the end are remembered well as they are in the STM - recency effect disappears when there is delay in testing

  C: supports that there are separate unitary stores of LTM and STM
• A03 of MSM;

  I: separate STM and LTM stores

  E: H.M. - removal of hippocampus - unable to form new LTM

  • could store information for up to 30 seconds but he couldn’t place these into LTM
  • suggests each store is independent

  C: supports the idea there are seprerate unitary stores
• A03 of MSM:

  I: STM is more complex

  E: K.F. found memory was damaged after motorcycle accident + only remembers 3-4 digits at a time

  • Suggests there are separate stores for visual and verbal STM
  • Damaged visual STM

  C: explanation of STM is overly simple + needs expanding to include separate visual + verbal stores
• A03 of MSM:

  I: Support that stores are seperate

  E: Baddeley - when tested immediately the acoustically similar words get muddled

  • when tested after a delay the semantically similar words get muddled suggesting LTM is coded semantically

  C: suggests STM is overly simple + needs expanding