2.1 The Multi-Store Model of Memory; Short-term and long-term memory: AQA Psychology A level Revision

What is encoding in short-term memory?

Encoding is how the information is processed from the senses into the memory itself. This is how the information will be stored and ultimately recalled. Encoding is always in the form of a modality or one of the senses.

What is the evidence for acoustic encoding in short-term memory?

The study of Baddeley (1966) provided the most significant evidence. Baddeley considered encoding in short-term memory and long-term memory, but here we will look at STM only. He gave participants four lists of words to learn: Acoustically similar: words that sounded the same such as cat, bat, rat. Acoustically dissimilar: words that did not sound the same, such as laugh, bear, and pencil. Semantically similar: words that mean the same, such as large, huge, or enormous. Semantically dissimilar: words that do not mean the same, such as police, computer, or chair.

All the words were visually presented on the screen, and the participants were asked to recall the words according to the order shown. They were asked to recall immediately for the short-term part of the experiment. It was found that acoustically similar pictures have the worst memory, while there was no difference for semantically similar and different words. Therefore, Baddeley concluded that STM relies on acoustic coding for information processing.

Long-term memory

There are three types of long-term memory (LTM):

- Episodic;

- Procedural;

- Semantic.

Episodic memory

This part of LTM relates to experiences a person has had or events from their life.

Examples of episodic memory can be a 16th birthday party, the first time someone sees the sea, or someone's first psychology lesson.

Procedural memory

This part of LTM involves knowing how to do certain actions or skills.

Examples of procedural memory can be knowing how to ride a bicycle, knowing how to swim, or knowing how to make a cup of tea.

Semantic memory

This is the part of LTM that involves knowing and recalling facts, concepts and meanings.

Examples of semantic memory can be knowing that Paris is the capital of France, knowing that the number 3 is between the numbers 2 and 4, or knowing that the word 'bank' has two meanings: A place where money is stored or the edge of a river.

Capacity and duration of long-term memory

Long term memory (LTM) is the part of the memory that holds information indefinitely, having a longer duration and larger capacity than short term memory (STM) As far as is known, long-term memory has an unlimited capacity.

People can recall facts from childhood in their later life. The duration of LTM is as long as a person’s lifetime.

Bahrick (1975) evidence for the duration of long-term memory

All the words were presented on the screen, visually, and the participants were asked to recall the words according to the order shown. For the short-term part of the experiment, they were asked to recall immediately. It was found that acoustically similar pictures have the worst memory, while there was no difference for semantically similar and different words. Therefore, Baddeley concluded that STM relies on acoustic coding for information processing.

What is encoding in long-term memory?

Encoding is how the information is processed from the senses into the memory itself. This is how the information will be stored and ultimately recalled. Encoding is always in the form of a modality or one of the senses, and long-term memory encodes semantically or by meaning.

What is the evidence for encoding in long-term memory?

Baddeley considered encoding in short-term and long-term memory, but we will look at LTM only here. He gave participants four lists of words to learn: Acoustically similar: words that sounded the same, such as cat, bat, rat. Acoustically dissimilar: words that did not sound the same, such as laugh, bear, and pencil. Semantically similar: are words that mean the same, such as large, huge, and enormous. Semantically dissimilar: are words that do not mean the same, such as police, computer, and chair.

All words were visually presented on a slide and had to be recalled in the order presented. The results showed that semantically similar words are remembered the worst, while there was no difference in LTM for acoustically similar and different words.

What is the multi-store model of memory?

It is a cognitive model of memory written in very much in the same way information processing models in computing are designed. It involves the forward flow of information from sensory input, through to sensory memory (SM).

How does information pass through the multi-store model of memory?

The model also incorporates how information is passed across the types of memory. Sensory data/information passes from SM to STM via attention. The information/data then passes from STM to LTM via rehearsal. Information can be passed back from LTM to STM via retrieval.

What is some evidence for the multi-store model of memory (AO3)?

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) investigated the primacy/recency effect;

The finding of Squire et al (1992) that when you conduct a brain scan on a participant then STM and LTM are located in different parts of the brain;

Shallice and Warrington (1970) reported the case of a man named KF who had been in a motorcycle accident.

How can I evaluate the multi-store model of memory (AO3)?

This model was influential 50 years later and is still in use. It has a good understanding of memory structures and processes, which enables its expansion.

The model ignores factors such as motivation and ability to learn and needs to be more complex in the way it approaches STM, which is much more complex.