Memory - MSM/LTM

Question 1

Who created the Multi-Store Model of Memory (MSM)?

Answer 1

Atkinson & Shiffrin in 1968.

Question 2

What type of model is the Multi-Store Model of Memory?

Answer 2

An information processing model of memory.

Question 3

What is the nature of the flow of information in the MSM?

Answer 3

It is a linear model, showing information flowing in one direction.

Question 4

What are the three stores in the Multi-Store Model of Memory?

Answer 4

Sensory Register (SR), Short-Term Memory (STM), Long-Term Memory (LTM).

Question 5

What are the features of each store in the MSM?

Answer 5

Coding, Capacity, and Duration.

Question 6

What is the Sensory Register (SR)?

Answer 6

A store that detects and records sensory information automatically.

Question 7

How is information passed from the Sensory Register to Short-Term Memory?

Answer 7

By paying attention.

Question 8

What is modality-specific coding?

Answer 8

The coding that depends on the sense organ the information comes from.

Question 9

What are the types of coding in the Sensory Register?

Answer 9

Iconic (vision), Echoic (sound), Haptic (touch), Gustatory (taste), Olfactory (smell).

Question 10

What is the capacity of the Sensory Register?

Answer 10

Very large, containing all sense impressions, but only what is attended to is passed to STM.

Question 11

What is the duration of information in the Sensory Register?

Answer 11

Very short, as low as 250 milliseconds.

Question 12

How does Short-Term Memory (STM) receive information?

Answer 12

By paying attention to the Sensory Register.

Question 13

How does STM pass information to Long-Term Memory (LTM)?

Answer 13

Through rehearsal.

Question 14

What are the types of rehearsal in STM?

Answer 14

Maintenance rehearsal (repeating) and Elaborative rehearsal (linking to LTM).

Question 15

What can cause information loss in STM?

Answer 15

Displacement (new info pushes it out) and Decay (lost over time).

Question 16

What is the coding method for information in STM?

Answer 16

Stored acoustically (in the form of sound/spoken words).

Question 17

What is the capacity of Short-Term Memory according to Miller?

Answer 17

About 7 items plus or minus 2 (5–9).

Question 18

How can the capacity of STM be improved?

Answer 18

Via chunking (grouping into small sets).

Question 19

What is the duration of information in STM?

Answer 19

Short, typically 18–30 seconds.

Question 20

How can the duration of STM be extended?

Answer 20

Through verbal rehearsal (rehearsal loop).

Question 21

What is Long-Term Memory (LTM)?

Answer 21

A store where information may last permanently and has unlimited capacity.

Question 22

How does information enter Long-Term Memory?

Answer 22

Via rehearsal from Short-Term Memory.

Question 23

What is the coding method for information in LTM?

Answer 23

Stored semantically (in the form of meaning).

Question 24

What is the capacity of Long-Term Memory?

Answer 24

No limit has been found.

Question 25

What can cause information loss in LTM?

Answer 25

Inaccessibility rather than capacity.

Question 26

What is the duration of information in LTM?

Answer 26

Potentially unlimited.

Question 27

What did Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) do and what did they find?

Answer 27

Participants were asked to free recall word lists in any order. Recall was higher for words at the start (primacy effect, LTM) and end (recency effect, STM), while middle words were displaced. Supports MSM by showing STM and LTM are separate stores.

Question 28

What did Sperling (1960) investigate and what were the findings?

Answer 28

Participants saw a 3×4 letter grid for 1/20th of a second and recalled one row. Recall was over 75%, suggesting large capacity of the iconic store. When asked to recall all letters, only 4–5 were recalled, suggesting duration is less than 1 second.

Question 29

What was Baddeley’s (1966) coding study and what did it show?

Answer 29

Participants learned acoustically or semantically similar/dissimilar word lists. Immediate recall was worst for acoustically similar words, showing STM is coded acoustically.

Question 30

What did Jacobs (1887) find about STM capacity?

Answer 30

Participants recalled digit and letter lists. Found STM capacity was about 7 letters and 9 numbers. Supports limited STM capacity, which can be improved by chunking.

Question 31

What did Peterson & Peterson (1959) find about STM duration?

Answer 31

Participants saw 3-letter trigrams, then counted backwards (preventing rehearsal). After 18 secs, recall was below 10%. Suggests STM lasts only 18–30 seconds without rehearsal.

Question 32

What did Wagenaar (1986) show about LTM capacity?

Answer 32

Wrote a diary of 2,400 events over 6 years. Found 75% recall after 1 year, 45% after 5 years, 80% retention for key events. Suggests LTM has a very large, possibly limitless capacity.

Question 33

What did Bahrick et al. (1975) find about LTM duration?

Answer 33

Tested memory for names/faces of old classmates. Recall was 90% after 15 years, 80% after 48 years. Suggests LTM duration is potentially lifelong.

Question 34

What is a limitation of cognitive experiments testing aspects of the Multi-Store Model (MSM)?

Answer 34

They often lack ecological validity and mundane realism, as tasks like word lists do not reflect real-life scenarios.

Question 35

Why might lab experiments be necessary for studying memory?

Answer 35

They may be the only method for clearly measuring memory by isolating variables in controlled conditions.

Question 36

What is a key limitation of the MSM regarding memory observation?

Answer 36

Memory cannot be observed directly; models are based on inferences from behavior, which may be incorrect.

Question 37

What evolutionary explanation supports the sensory register in the MSM?

Answer 37

The sensory register's large capacity and short duration allow us to gather environmental input while filtering out unimportant information.

Question 38

What does research indicate about Short-Term Memory (STM) and Long-Term Memory (LTM) in relation to the MSM?

Answer 38

STM and LTM are not unitary stores; for example, the Working Memory Model suggests multiple STM components and LTM includes different types.

Question 39

What does face validity in the MSM refer to?

Answer 39

It refers to the observation that individuals have different types of LTM and experience varying STM capacities throughout their lives.

Question 40

What is episodic memory?

Answer 40

A type of long-term memory that is declarative, time stamped, and autobiographical. It is recalled consciously and is influenced by emotion. ## Footnote Easiest type to forget; first coding in the prefrontal cortex, stored across the brain, connected via hippocampus.

Question 41

What is semantic memory?

Answer 41

A type of long-term memory that is declarative, not time stamped, and not autobiographical. It is recalled consciously and is resistant to forgetting. ## Footnote Strength depends on how deeply processed; associated with the parahippocampal cortex.

Question 42

What is procedural memory?

Answer 42

A type of long-term memory that is non-declarative, not time stamped, and not recalled consciously. It is not autobiographical and is very resistant to forgetting. ## Footnote Strength depends on how many times it’s been practiced; associated with the motor cortex and cerebellum.

Question 43

What did Vargha-Khadem et al. (1997) investigate?

Answer 43

They studied three young patients with hippocampus damage but intact parahippocampal cortices. ## Footnote Found that all had severe episodic amnesia but could still learn and recall semantic information.

Question 44

What does the case study of Clive Wearing illustrate?

Answer 44

Clive Wearing has retrograde amnesia and cannot remember musical education but remembers facts and can play the piano. ## Footnote Suggests that semantic, episodic, and procedural memory are separate processes.

Question 45

What are the limitations of idiographic case studies?

Answer 45

They allow detailed memory research but are hard to generalize due to involving only one or a few people. ## Footnote Individual factors may influence behavior.

Question 46

What do brain scan studies (e.g. Tulving) show?

Answer 46

FMRI studies indicate that different types of memory use different brain areas. ## Footnote Supports the idea that memory is not unitary and combines idiographic and nomothetic methods.

Question 47

Are the types of memory fully distinct?

Answer 47

Episodic and semantic memories are both declarative, and episodic can become semantic. ## Footnote There may be overlap; for example, automatic language use links semantic and procedural memory.