multi-store model and sensory memory Flashcards
(15 cards)
What are the three memory systems in Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model?
Sensory registers – Temporary, sensory-based input storage.
Short-Term Memory (STM) – Conscious, temporary store for attended information.
Long-Term Memory (LTM) – Consolidated memory stored in neural networks
What are the three memory processes in the multi-store model?
Encoding – Attending to and acquiring information.
Storage – Consolidation into memory traces.
Retrieval – Recalling or using stored information.
What are characteristics of encoding?
Attention to experience, integration with prior knowledge, and activation in sensory brain regions.
How does retrieval work?
It’s reconstructive, cue-dependent, and can change the memory trace through reconsolidation.
How do the memory stores differ?
By capacity and duration—sensory memory has large capacity but brief duration; STM is limited in both; LTM has large capacity and long duration.
What is the function of sensory memory?
Acts as a brief buffer between sensation and cognition.
What are the types of sensory memory?
Iconic (visual)
Echoic (auditory)
How does sensory memory behave?
Large capacity
Brief duration (fractions of a second)
What did Sperling’s full-report method show?
People recalled ~4 letters from a 12-letter display, suggesting limited reporting—not perception.
What did the partial-report method reveal?
Participants could recall all items from any row, indicating all 12 letters were briefly available.
What is the duration of iconic memory?
~500 milliseconds (0.5 seconds); rapid decay after stimulus disappears.
What was Sperling’s full-report procedure?
50ms letter array → recall as many as possible → average recall = 4 items.
What was the partial-report procedure?
Same array + tone cue for a specific row → near-perfect recall of cued row.
How was duration tested?
By delaying the cue tone → recall declined rapidly after 500ms.
What was the significance of Sperling’s work?
Behavioral methods provided evidence of internal processes → a challenge to radical behaviorism. His experiment showed mental processes (like memory) we can’t directly see — which went against radical behaviorists who said psychology should only study behavior, not the mind.
