Multi-store model of memory

3 parts of the multi-store model of memory

sensory register, short term memory and long term memory

coding

the way information is transformed/converted to be stored in memory.

duration

the length of time that the information remains in the memory store

capacity

how much informations/how many items the memory store can hold

sensory register

receives all sensory information. the information is only transferred to the STM if paid attention to, otherwise, the information is forgotten. coding = modality specific (based in the material)
duration = less than 1/2 a second
capacity = very high (potentially unlimited)

short term memory

receives the important information which can then be retained through maintenance rehearsal. if not, it's eventually forgotten. it's only transferred to the LTM through prolonged rehearsal.
coding = acoustic (sound)
duration = 3-18 seconds
capacity = 7+/-2 chunks of information

research support for STM duration - peterson and peterson 1959

condition 1: shown a trigram of letters for 2 seconds, immediate recall.
condition 2: same trigram for 2 seconds, recall after they count back from 100 in 3s for 3 seconds.
found that participants could remember information for 3-18 seconds

research support for STM capacity - jacobs 1887 and miller 1956

participants read lists of letters/numbers and recited immediately. chunking for miller3

long term memory

receive the information from the STM. remains in there until it needs to be retrieved and is then transferred to the STM again. information can eventually be forgotten.
coding = semantic
duration = up to a lifetime
capacity = limitless (as research is unable to demonstrate a finite amount

research support for LTM duration - bahrick et al 1975

yearbook experiment. 392 participants aged 17-74 were shown 50 photos from high school yearbook. condition 1 - free recall, 60% after 15 years and 30% after 48 years. condition 2 - with photo, 90% after 15 years and 70% after 48 years

research support for MSM - baddeley 1966

gave participants lists of words to remember.
group 1 - acoustically similar
group 2 - acoustically dissimilar
group 3 - semantically similar
group 4 - semantically dissimilar
immediate recall was worse for acoustically similar words (STM)
after the 20 minute interval, they did worse for semantically similar words (LTM)

research support for MSM - henry molaison

brain surgery to relieve epilepsy - hippocampus was removed. he could no longer form long term memories. however, he performed well on tests of immediate memory span (STM)

research support for MSM - clive wearing

had an awful case of amnesia. he can no longer form new long-tee, memories, but can remember things in his short-term memory from 7-30 seconds

contradicting research for MSM - shallice and warrington, KF

KF had amnesia. his immediate recall of digits that were read to him was poor, but in comparison to when he read to himself it was better. this suggests that there is more than one store in the STM and that the STM is more complex, arguing that the MSM is too simplistic.