Multi-Store Model of memory

Sensory store

Several stores for each one of our senses (as it is modality-specific)

rehearsal

how information moves from LTM to STM

encoding

the format in which information is stored in the various memory stores

Bahrick

Proved that the LTM store has a potential lifetime duration. He asked participants to look back on their school yearbooks and found that identification of names and faces was 90% accurate within 15 years after leaving school and between 70-80% accurate 48 years after leaving school.

Glanzer and Cunitz

They were interested in memory and what parts of a sequence would be most and least remembered. They verbally presented participants with 20 words. Participants listened to the words being read out and then were given time to recall the words in any order. They were interested in the order of the words.

Semantic memory

memory connected to meaning

trigram

is a meaningless combination of 3 consonants used in memory and cognitive experiments eg CHG or KBF. They are used because they have no prior meaning (so they can’t make long-term associations with them), have no vowels (stops people pronouncing them and stops verbal shortcuts and they have an equal difficulty (each one has the same difficulty)

short-term store

the limited-capacity memory store. Encoding is mainly acoustic, capacity is between 5 and 9 items, duration 18-30s

capacity

the amount of information that can be held in a memory store

decay

a theory that suggests memories fade and dissappear over time simply because time passes

Miller

found that the STM store can hold 7 ±2 items on average but that the capacity could be considerably increased by combining/organising separate ‘bits’ of information. Chunking involves making the info more meaningful through organising it in line with existing knowledge from your LTM

HM

A famous case of a person with memory disorders. HM’s specific case of amnesia (clinical memory loss) was explained by the MSM. His LTM was tested many times but never improved with practice. But he performed well on tests of immediate memory span, a measure of STM. The fact that one of HM’s memory stores was damaged but the other was relatively intact suggests that his STM and LTM were independent of each other. This was the organisation of memory proposed by the MSM.

Peterson and Peterson

Investigated the duration of short-termm memory by showing that verbal information decays rapidly within 18 to 30s when rehearsal is prevented. They used trigrams

Laboratory experiment

study with independent and dependent variables conducted in a very controlled environment. Participants go to experimenter.

Long-term store

the permanent memory store. Coding is mainly semantic, it has unlimited capactity and can store memories for up to a life-time.

storage

the process of holding information in memory

modality-specific

a cognitive process that handles information tied to a single specific sensory channel rather than combining or abstracting it across multiple senses.

retrieval

the process of transferring information from LTM to STM, recalling information

Clive Wearing

He is a former musicologist and conductor and contracted a rare disease which led to extensive damage to his frontal lobes, hippocamous and side lobes. He suffers from one of the most extreme and severe cases of amnesia ever recorded.

hippocampus

a structure in the subcortical area of each hemisphere of the forebrain, associated with memory. It is part of the limbic system, and is therefore also involved in motivation, emotion and learning.

Serial position effect