Multistore model of memory

MSM process

* stimuli from environment (using senses) pass into the sensory register
* if attention is paid to the information, it is passed into the short term memory
* if maintenance rehearsal (repeating information to ourselves) occurs for long enough, it passes into long term memory
* when we want to recall information from long term memory, it is passed back to short term memory through retrieval

sensory register

* coding- modality specific, depending on the sense e.g iconic, echoic
* duration- less than half a second
* capacity- very high

short term memory

* coding- acoustic
* duration- 18 seconds (without rehearsal)
* capacity- 7+/-2 chunks

long term memory

* coding- semantic
* duration- potentially up to a lifetime
* capacity- potentially unlimited

MSM strength

* Baddeley coding study- when using STM participants mixed up acoustically similar words, and when using LTM participants mixed up semantically similar words
* = supports that STM and LTM are 2 separate memory stores
* counter- study uses artificial stimuli= little application to memory involving meaningful information

MSM limitation- more than one store

* Shallice and Warrington- KF had amnesia, his sum recall for digits was poor when he heard them, but much better when he read them
* = more than one STM store

MSM limitation- rehearsal

* Craig and Watkins argued there are 2 types of rehearsal: maintenance and elaborative
* elaborative rehearsal= linking information to existing knowledge or think about its meaning
* = MSM doesn’t fully explain how long term storage is achieved