Evaluate the usefulness of the three models of memory (multi-store model, working memory model and the levels of processing model) and discuss practical implications of memory research.
Memory- Task 1
Evaluate the usefulness of the three models of memory (multi-store model, working memory model and the levels of processing model) and discuss practical implications of memory research.
Atkinson and Shiffrin 's Multi- store Model of Memory (1968) hypothesises that there are three stores for memory; Sensory memory, short term memory (STM) and long term memory (LTM). The theory states that a memory passes through each of the stores and that the importance of the memory determines which store the memory is kept in and thus how long it is retained.
This relatively simple model is supported by evidence from free recall experiments and from studies performed on patients with brain damage such as 'HM '. An example of a free recall experiment is Murdock (1962) in which participants were shown lists, of differing lengths, of words for a period of one second, they were then asked to recall as many words as possible. Murdock found that the words at the beginning, primary effect, and end, recency effect, were recalled more accurately than those in the middle. This is known as the serial position effect and proves that there are two separate stores from which the memories were recalled, which supports the multi-store memory models short and long memory stores.
Studies on brain damaged patients like HM (Milner et al, 1978), who began to suffer from anterograde amnesia after both of his hippocampi were removed in an operation, also support the working memory models theory that STM and LTM are separate stores. HM was able to recall memories from eleven years before the operation yet wasn 't able to remember who was president of the United States and forgot who he was talking to as soon as he turned away (Jenni Ogden, PhD, 2012).
It is argued however that the multi-store memory model oversimplifies the roles of the STM and LTM. Atkinson and Shiffren also failed to acknowledge the interaction between stores something which Baddeley and Hitch (1974) dealt with
Evaluate the usefulness of the three models of memory (multi-store model, working memory model and the levels of processing model) and discuss practical implications of memory research.
Atkinson and Shiffrin 's Multi- store Model of Memory (1968) hypothesises that there are three stores for memory; Sensory memory, short term memory (STM) and long term memory (LTM). The theory states that a memory passes through each of the stores and that the importance of the memory determines which store the memory is kept in and thus how long it is retained.
This relatively simple model is supported by evidence from free recall experiments and from studies performed on patients with brain damage such as 'HM '. An example of a free recall experiment is Murdock (1962) in which participants were shown lists, of differing lengths, of words for a period of one second, they were then asked to recall as many words as possible. Murdock found that the words at the beginning, primary effect, and end, recency effect, were recalled more accurately than those in the middle. This is known as the serial position effect and proves that there are two separate stores from which the memories were recalled, which supports the multi-store memory models short and long memory stores.
Studies on brain damaged patients like HM (Milner et al, 1978), who began to suffer from anterograde amnesia after both of his hippocampi were removed in an operation, also support the working memory models theory that STM and LTM are separate stores. HM was able to recall memories from eleven years before the operation yet wasn 't able to remember who was president of the United States and forgot who he was talking to as soon as he turned away (Jenni Ogden, PhD, 2012).
It is argued however that the multi-store memory model oversimplifies the roles of the STM and LTM. Atkinson and Shiffren also failed to acknowledge the interaction between stores something which Baddeley and Hitch (1974) dealt with
References: Jenni Ogden, Ph.D. (2012). HM, the Man with No Memory. Available: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/trouble-in-mind/201201/hm-the-man-no-memory. Last accessed 17 Nov 2013. McLeod, S. A. (2008). Serial Position Effect - Simply Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/primacy-recency.html James W. Stigler. (1986). Digit memory in Chinese and English: Evidence for a temporally limited store. Available: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/26140/0000216.pdf?s. Last accessed 11th Dec 2013. Robert H. Logie. (1995). Visuo-spatial Working Memory. Available: http://www.nbu.bg/cogs/events/2002/materials/Markus/Visuo-spatial%20Working%20Memory.pdf. Last accessed 11th Dec 2013. Psychology Resources (2000). Cognitive Psychology- Memory. High Wycombe: Psychology Resources. p15. Saul McLeod. (2007). Levels of Processing. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/levelsofprocessing.html. Last accessed 9th Dec 2013. Philip Hofmeister. (2010). Semantic processing and memory retrieval. Available: http://crl.ucsd.edu/~phofmeister/lsa-2010.pdf. Last accessed 11th Dec 2013.