Multi-Store Model of Memory

• Sensory memory – iconic memory

  • Stores visual sensory information

  • Capacity: unlimited

  • Duration: 1/3 of a second

• Short Term Memory

  • Capacity: 5-9 pieces

  • Duration: 20 seconds

  • Chunking can help increase the capacity

  • Move stuff from short term memory to long term memory through rehearsal

  • Maintenance rehearsal involves repeating information again and again

  • Elaborative rehearsal involves elaborating on the information in a meaningful way

  • Takes more effort, but it is more effective as it ensures that information is encoded into long term memory

• Long Term Memory

  • Whenever we remember something we are retrieving it from what is stored in long term memory

  • Capacity: unlimited

  • Duration: unlimited

  • Procedural memory: “knowing how”, memory of how to do things (skills)

  • Declarative memory: “knowing that”, memory of information about the world (semantic memory) and personal experiences (episodic memory)

  • Episodic memory: stores events (episodes) involving personal experiences. Stores information about context (when and where), state (physical and psychological condition)

  • Semantic memory: LTM declarative memory that stores info about the world. E.g. facts (sun is a star), definitions, rules, concepts, everyday knowledge (a bus is a form of transport) and specialized knowledge (chess piece moves)

Working Memory Model

• Central Executive

  • Replaces the sensory memory buffer

  • Responsible for monitoring an coordinating the operation of ‘slave systems’

  • The central executive directs attention to tasks

  • Allocates information based on modality

• Phonological loop

  • Limited capacity (like STM in MSM of memory)

  • Deals with auditory info and language - both written and verbal

  • Baddley (1986) further divided it into the:

  • Phonological store; holds words for a brief period - can be thought as the inner ear

  • Articulatory process; holds words seen/heard and silently repeated like an inner voice

• Episodic Buffer

  • Temporarily holds several sources of auditory, long-term and visual information active at the same time, while consideration of what is needed in present situation takes place

• Visuospatial Sketchpad

  • Limited capacity (like STM in MSM of memory)

  • Visual component of short-term memory/inner eye

  • Temporary store for spatial and visual information about what things look like; form and colour

  • The inner scribe; processes spatial and movement information.

Dual Processing Model

• System 1 Thinking

  • the one that is reliant on past information and schema, makes quick and effortless decisions based on limited information.

  • Tend to use mental short-cuts called heuristics

  • 90% of time we access system 1

  • System 1 thinking and take shortcuts - quick thinking, intuitive

• System 2 Thinking

  • System 2 thinking - much more effortful and requires more conscious reasoning

  • 5% of the time we access system 2 where we slow down.

  • System 2 thinking - rational thinking