Psychology: Memory: Evaluation of the MSM

a) strengths

• gives us a good understanding > of structure + process of STM > allows researchers to expand on this model - make it more valid and can prove what the stores actually do

• the model is influential > generated a lot of research into memory

• many memory studies provide evidence to support distinction between STM + LTM

• model supports primary + recency effects

• case of HM supports the model > he was unable to encode new LTMs after surgery (hippocampus removal) but STM was unaffected

b) weaknesses

• oversimplified > suggests that both LTM and STM operate in a single and uniform fashion (this is not the case!!)

• both STM + LTM are more complicated than previously thought > Working Memory Model

• rehearsal > too simple to account for the transfer of info from STM to LTM > ignores factors such as motivation, effect, strategy

• has been criticised for being a passive/linear model