Multi-Store Model of Memory
Lara Wainwright AS Psychology
Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory (12 marks)
There are three parts of the multi-store model of memory; sensory memory, short-term store and long-term store. The model was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968. The proposed that information enters the system from the environment and first registers on the sensory memory store where it stays for a brief period of time before either decaying or passing onto the short term memory store. Sperling (1960) did a sensory store experiment, which involved showing the participants three rows of letters (12 on the chart) for a split second which they then had to recall. The findings showed that only a fraction of the letters were passed on to the short-term memory. This experiment had no ethical issues, was it a lab experiment so it had high levels of control and it was also reliable and based on evidence. Although it did lack validity as it was artificial and is not how we use everyday memory. The short-term memory store has a very small capacity (Miller’s Magic 7), where information can be lost within seconds if they are not rehearsed. If the material is sufficiently rehearsed, it passes on to the long-term memory, if not, that information is lost. Long-term memory refers to relatively permanent storage, which has unlimited capacity and uses a semantic code. Psychologists Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) tried to show the existence of separate long-term memory and short-term memory, and their results were able to show this. This experiment was in a highly controlled laboratory experiment that has been successfully repeated many times. As well as this, evidence from other studies provides further support for separate short-term memory and long-term memory stores. Also, studies of brain damaged patients supports separate
Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory (12 marks)
There are three parts of the multi-store model of memory; sensory memory, short-term store and long-term store. The model was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968. The proposed that information enters the system from the environment and first registers on the sensory memory store where it stays for a brief period of time before either decaying or passing onto the short term memory store. Sperling (1960) did a sensory store experiment, which involved showing the participants three rows of letters (12 on the chart) for a split second which they then had to recall. The findings showed that only a fraction of the letters were passed on to the short-term memory. This experiment had no ethical issues, was it a lab experiment so it had high levels of control and it was also reliable and based on evidence. Although it did lack validity as it was artificial and is not how we use everyday memory. The short-term memory store has a very small capacity (Miller’s Magic 7), where information can be lost within seconds if they are not rehearsed. If the material is sufficiently rehearsed, it passes on to the long-term memory, if not, that information is lost. Long-term memory refers to relatively permanent storage, which has unlimited capacity and uses a semantic code. Psychologists Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) tried to show the existence of separate long-term memory and short-term memory, and their results were able to show this. This experiment was in a highly controlled laboratory experiment that has been successfully repeated many times. As well as this, evidence from other studies provides further support for separate short-term memory and long-term memory stores. Also, studies of brain damaged patients supports separate