MSM

Atkinson + Shifrin (1968,1971)

the MSM is a memory model that describes how information gets into the memory system through the sensory register then with attention to the STM and with prolonged maintenance rehearsal to the LTM

- all stimuli from the environment pass into the sensory register
- multi-sensory store
- duration is less than half a second
- high capacity, for example over one hundred million cells in one eye, each storing data
- very little of what goes into the sensory passes into the memory system - but it will if you pay attention to it

- info we pay attention to passes into the STM
- limited capacity of 7 (+/-2)
- encoded acoustically
- duration of 18-30 seconds
- duration can be extended by maintenance rehearsal

- potentially permanent memory store for material that's been rehearsed for a prolonged time
- capacity + duration is unlimited
- encoding is semantic
- when you want to recall info it has to be transferred back into STM

- the information processing approach suggests that info flows through the human cognitive system in a sequence of stages including input, storage and retrieval
- computer model -> central processing unit (the brain), encoding (turning info into a usable format) and stores (to hold info)

- case studies of people with memory disorders have given us useful evidence about the MSM. One of them has become especially well-known - the case of a man referred to as HM
- HM had epilepsy as the result of a bicycle accident
- he had a prefrontal lobotomy
- his epilepsy got better but, he had an inability to form new long-term memories (retrograde amnesia)

- provides evidence for separate memory stores
- as short term memory matched control ppts + procedural memory was intact

- Baddeley (1966b)
- we mix up words that sound similar when we are using our STM but we mix up words with similar meanings when use our LTM so encoding is acoustic in STM and semantic In STM

- this shows that STM and LTM are different in terms of encoding therefore supporting the MSM view that these two memory stores are separate and independent

- not all Psychologists accept that STM and LTM are separate stores
- in baddeleys 1966b study he separates functioning of the STM and LTM which lacks ecological validity as it does not match functioning of memory stores in real life situations and therefore it may have exaggerated results of separate stores when the STM and LTM are integrated
- for example Campitelli (2015) argues that STM is the part of LTM that we are currently focusing our attention on

- MSM states that there is only one type of STM store
- evidence from shallice and Warrington (1970) shows that this cannot be true (KF)
- short term memory for digits was poor when they were read aloud to him but much better when he was able to read the digits himself
- this shows that MSM is not a complete explanation of memory because there must be separate stores for visual and auditory information.

- the MSM has been applied to ways of improving memory
- for instance organising information into bigger 'chunks' to fit with the STM's capacity of 7 (+/- 2)
- this shows how knowledge of the memory system as represented in the MSM can therefore be applied to practical ways of improving memory

brief outline
SR / supporting study HM
STM / different theory
LTM / supporting study (baddeley 1966b) / CA (Campitelli 2015)
info processing / applications