evaluation of the multi-store model (msm)

case study of KF

evidence from KF who suffered brain damage in a motorcycle accident. his STM was damaged for verbal short term memory (e.g. he only had a digit span of 2 digits) but mostly unaffected for visual short term memory whilst his LTM remained completely intact

why does the case study of KF support the msm?

it shows that ST and LT are separate stores

weakness of what the case of KF suggests about the STM store

this evidence also suggests the STM store is not unitary, meaning that the msm argue there is only 1 stm store that’s unitary

how can the case of KF be used as evidence to go against the idea of unitary stores?

his ST verbal memory was damaged but his ST visual memory was mostly unaffected, thus going against msm’s theory that STM is 1 unitary store

murdock (1962)

murdock’s serial position research found that no matter how many words a person is shown and then asked to recall, items at the beginning of the list have a greater recall than those in the middle (called the primary effect) and words at the end have a greater recall than those in the middle too (called the recency effect)

cohen and squire

brain scanning techniques have also been used to investigate memory and these scans have also suggested that STM and LTM are not unitary. cohen and squire proposed that there are different types of LTM which are located in different areas of the brain

what were the different types of LTM proposed by cohen and squire?

procedural, episodic and semantic

procedural

memory for skills. such memories are usually automatic as the result of repeated practice e.g. how to ride a bike

episodic

personal memory of events or experiences (episodes) associated with a context (i.e. time and place) and emotion

semantic

shared memory for specific facts and knowledge (e.g. london is the capital of england)

case of clive wearing

clive wearing was a highly talented musician who contracted a viral infection causing extensive brain damage. he lost his episodic memory (e.g. he has no memory of his wedding) but still has use of his procedural memory (e.g. he can still play piano)

why is the case of clive wearing a problem for the msm?

the case shows that the LTM store isn’t a unitary store. otherwise, damage would’ve been more equal

evidence to support the sensory register: sperling (1960)

it was found that, when participants were shown a letter chart for 50 milliseconds and asked to recall as many letters as possible, they could only remember 3 letter on average. however, when a high, medium or low tone was played immediately after the chart to indicate the top, middle or bottom row of letters, participants could report 3 letters from any row. this is positive as it supports the idea that the sensory register has a large capacity and short duration as participants clearly had no problem holding a memory of the entire image (large capacity) which fades in the time it takes to report back the items (duration of milliseconds)