The Multi-Store Model of Memory - Atkinson and Shiffrin

Question 1

The Multi-Store Model of Memory - Atkinson and Shiffrin

Answer 1

The multi-store model of memory is an information processing model of memory. It is a linear model meaning that information is shown to flow through the system in one direction and the stores are passive meaning that they hold onto information before being passed on or lost.

It demonstrates that memories are formed sequentially and information is passed from one component to the next in a linear fashion.

Question 2

Process of the Multi-Store Model of Memory

Answer 2

1. The sensory register is an automatic response to the reception of sensory information by the sense organs. This information is stored in the sensory register for a duration of approximately 250 ms (very limited) before it is forgotten. Its capacity is unknown but assumed to be large. It is not under any cognitive control unlike the STM and LTM.
2. The sensory register is modality-specific, meaning that whichever sense is registered will match the way it is consequently held. It absorbs raw and unprocessed information from all the 5 senses which are then coded independently:
   a) echoic store - auditory info
   b) iconic store - visual info
   c) haptic store - tactile info
   d) gustatory store - taste info
   e) factory store - smell info
3. If information has been paid attention to, sensory information is transferred into the STM for temporary storage, which is mainly encoded acoustically.
4. STM has a duration of approximately 18-30 seconds. STM is thought to have a capacity of 7+/-2 chunks and it is suggested that this capacity can be increased through a method called ‘chunking’ which is the process of converting a string of items, such as letters or numbers, into a larger number of ‘chunks’.
5. Rehearsing information via the rehearsal loop helps to retain information in the STM, and consolidate it to the LTM. This rehearsal is either maintenance rehearsal (repeating the information) or elaborative rehearsal (linking to information already in the LTM). Information is passed back from the LTM with retrieval, and information can be lost via displacement (new info) or decay (lost over time).
6. LTM is predominantly encoded semantically.
7. The LTM is claimed to have an unlimited capacity. Information can be lost but may not entirely be forgotten but simply inaccessible. Information in the LTM can also be stored and retrieved for up to any duration but at the least 48 years.

Question 3

Strength

Answer 3

point: there is research supporting the multi-store model of memory.

evidence: glanzer and cunitz asked participants to free recall word lists in any order. It was found that recall was much stronger for words at the start and at the end of the list.

justification: these results suggest that there are separate short and long term memory stores, with the words first heard entering LTM and being recalled (primary effect) and the words recently heard entering STM and being recalled (recency effect). The words in-between were stored in the STM but were displaced by later words.

implication: this research evidence helps to strengthen the theory of the multi-store model of memory henceforth increasing its validity.

Question 4

Strength

Answer 4

• Refer to Baddeley - coding - STM is encoded acoustically and LTM is encoded semantically.
• Refer to Jacobs - capacity - capacity of STM is very limited and can be improved by chunking.
• Refer to Peterson and Peterson - duration - unless it is maintained, information is held in STM for only a few seconds (18-30 seconds) before it disappears.
• Refer to Bahrick - duration - the duration of the LTM is very large, potentially limitless.

Question 5

Weakness

Answer 5

point: a limitation of research into the multi-store model of memory is that a lot of them conduct cognitive experiments which are highly artificial.

evidence: evidence supporting this comes from baddeley’s study, whereby a sample of 72 participants were split into 4 conditions: acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar and semantically dissimilar. Participants were then asked to either recall the words straight away (testing STM recall) or 20 minutes later (testing LTM recall).

justification: this is an issue as although people do tend to memorise words from a list, the order is never really a factor, like it is in Baddeley’s study.

implication: this lowers the ecological validity of this study as well as many other studies supporting the notion of the multi-store model of memory as they cannot be generalisable to naturalistic, everyday situations.

(talk about mundane realism if possible)

Question 6

Weakness

Answer 6

point: the multi-store model of memory has been criticised for its over-simplified nature.

evidence: baddeley and hitch, who proposed the working memory model, suggested that the STM is comprised of three main components: the central executive, the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad. furthermore, tulving found that the LTM can be split into episodic, semantic and procedural memories.

justification: this suggests that the STM and LTM components can be explained in further detail which the MSM fails to take into account.

implication: as a result the multi-store model of memory can be considered reductionist as it depreciates the value of something so intricate, such as memory, into a set of three basic components without explaining them in further detail.