msm short information for essay

Multi-store model (MSM)

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) proposed that memory consists of three separate stores: sensory register, STM and LTM.

MSM information flow

Information flows linearly from the sensory register to STM to LTM; retrieval allows information to pass from LTM back to STM.

Sensory register: capacity, duration and coding

Has a very large capacity and very short duration; coding depends on the sense, e.g. iconic (visual), echoic (auditory) and haptic (touch).

Sensory register: attention

Attention transfers selected information from the sensory register into STM; unattended information is lost.

Short-term memory (STM): capacity, duration and coding

Has limited capacity of about 7 ± 2 chunks, lasts around 18 seconds without rehearsal, and codes mainly acoustically.

STM: rehearsal and forgetting

Rehearsal maintains information in STM; prolonged rehearsal can transfer information into LTM. Information may be lost through displacement or decay.

Long-term memory (LTM): capacity, duration and coding

Has potentially unlimited capacity and duration; information is coded mainly semantically.

LTM: transfer and retrieval

Information enters LTM through prolonged rehearsal and can be retrieved back into STM when needed.

MSM evaluation: research support

Baddeley (1966) found STM errors were greater for acoustically similar words, while LTM errors were greater for semantically similar words, supporting separate stores with different coding.

MSM evaluation: real-life evidence

Everyday memory research, such as remembering classmates, supports the idea that LTM can retain information for many years.

MSM evaluation: more than one STM store

Shallice and Warrington's case study of KF found impaired verbal STM but relatively preserved visual memory, suggesting STM may contain separate components rather than being one store.

MSM evaluation: elaborative rehearsal

Craik and Watkins (1973) found that the type of rehearsal matters: deeper processing and linking information to meaning may be more important for LTM than simply repeating it.

HM: background

HM experienced severe epilepsy and underwent brain surgery in 1953, in which parts of his hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe were removed.

HM: findings and conclusion

HM developed severe anterograde amnesia and could not form new long-term episodic memories, but his STM and some procedural learning remained intact, suggesting memory is not one single system.

HM: contribution to the MSM

HM's preserved STM alongside impaired formation of new LTM supports the distinction between STM and LTM.

MSM evaluation: limitations of HM

HM's surgery affected several brain areas, so his case cannot prove that the hippocampus alone is responsible for transferring memories into LTM.

MSM evaluation: oversimplification

The MSM may oversimplify memory by treating STM and LTM as single, uniform stores, despite evidence for different types of STM and LTM.