week 8 - models of memory - multistore model Flashcards
short term vs long term
capacity
few items in ST vs essential unlimited capacity in LT
short term vs long term
time
ST - few seconds
LT- several decades
short term vs long term
what is distinction essential to?
multistore models
(some theorists propse unitary store models where the distinction is much less clear)
multistore model
proposed by?
atkinson and shiffrin 1968
extremely influential
multistore model
diagram
sensory stores –attention–> ST store –rehersal–> LT store
multistore model
sensory store
each modality-specific and holds info very briefly
vulnerable to decay
multistore model
ST store
of very limited capacity
vulnerable to displacement
multistore model
LT store
of essentially limited capacity holding info for long periods of time
vulnerable to inference
multistore model
what does the sensory store process
initally the sensory store processes environmental stimuli
info in then briefly held here
multistore model
what happenes to the info in the Sensory store
some of the info is attended to and processed further within the ST store
multistore model
sensory store
visual store
iconic memory
- holds onto info briefly
- 100ms
multistore model
sensory store
visual store
- relies on attention?
many theorists have assumed it is pre attentive
BUT
Mack (2016) obtained findings that strongly suggests it does
- participants had to report the letters in the centre of a visual array or whether four circles presented close to the fixation point where the same colour
–> much less attention to letters
multistore model
sensory store
echoic memory
auditory equivilent of iconic memory
hold auditory information for a few seconds
multistore model
sensory store
haptic memory
touch
multistore model
sensory store
olfactory memory
smell
multistore model
sensory store
gustatory memory
taste
multistore model
sensory store
evidence on capacity and duration
sperling 1960
brief presentation (50ms) is letters in 3x4 matrix
full report: name as many letters as possible
- results in about 4 letters being named
is this capacity limit?
partial report: one of 3 tones sounded to indicate which row you start with
- the tone acts as a spatial attention cue (attention –> STM)
multistore model
sensory store
evidence on capacity and duration
two main conclusions?
1) capacity
large amounts of info held in iconic memory
2) duration
after about 250-500ms performace approached full report conditions
info in iconic memory rapidly decays (+- 0.5s)
anything left was transferred to STM before it was lost
multistore model
short term memory
function?
conscious processing of information
attention is key –> limits of what info comes under the spotlight of STM at all times
multistore model
short term memory
capacity?
has very limited capacity
miller 1956 -> digit span (letter and word also) max items ~ 7 (+1-2)
cowan 2001-> probs closer to 4
multistore model
short term memory
chunking
grouping familiar stimuli for storage as a single unit
- what you can chunck depends on knowledge from LTM / expertise uou have and ability to find patterns
chunk: meaningful unit of info
“information bottle neck”
multistore model
short term memory
duration?
has limited duration
- if not rehearsed info lost within 15-20 secs
- the longer the delay the more was forgotten (forgetting curve)
DECAY
DISPLACEMENT
multistore model
short term memory
rehearsal =
the process of repetitively verbalising or thinking about the information
multistore model
short term memory
duration
forgetting only due to time decay?
no interference plays a role
