Memory - Multi-store model Flashcards
Coding & encoding
The format the information is stored as & conversion to the format to be recalled from short term to long term memory (visual, acoustic & semantic)
Encoding study
Baddeley 1966 - list of words given to 4 groups that were acoustically similar/dissimilar & semantically similar/dissimilar
Capacity
How much information short term memory can hold
Capacity studies
- Miller 1956 - 7+/-2 items can be stored at once
- Jacobs - participants recall set of numbers & one is added each time (mean = 9.3 [numbers] & 7.3 [letters])
Duration
How long information is stored for
Duration studies
STM - Peterson & Peterson: 18s
LTM - Bahrick: up to a lifetime
Who came up with the multi-store model (MSM)?
Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)
First store of MSM
Sensory register
- Coding: iconic/echoic
- Capacity: high
- Duration: <0.5s
Second store of MSM
Short term memory
- Coding: acoustic
- Capacity: limited (7+/-2)
- Duration: 18s
Third store of MSM
Long term memory
- Coding: semantic
- Capacity: unlimited
- Duration: lifetime
Strengths of coding, capacity & duration
Reliable (Jacobs research results proven in later studies)
Valid (Bahrick’s study used real life memories that were meaningful compared to meaningless pictures)
Limitations of coding, capacity & duration
Mundane realism (Baddeley - artificial stimuli over meaningful material
Temporal validity (1887 Jacob study - lacked adequate control [confounding variables impact])
Overestimation (Cowan - 4 chunks of capacity in STM -> lower end of Miller’s estimation is more appropriate)
Strengths of MSM
Validity (Supported by research studies - Baddeley [STM is acoustic, LTM is semantic] which shows they are separate stores)
Practical application (KF study - amnesia & poor memory when listening but better when reading [different stores])
Limitations of MSM
Not holistic model (LTM is not a unitary store)
Lacks mundane realism (studies don’t use materials such as names, facts or places)
