Multi-Store Model of Memory (PSY)

Shortest memory where information first comes in through the senses

Where information is stored for a short period of time

Information transferred from STM - providing the lasting retention of information and skills

The format in which information is stored in the memory stores

How much can be stored in the memory stores

How long the information is stored for in the memory stores

Visual memory

Auditory memory

Tactile (touch) memory

Taste memory

Smell memory

Information is stored in the same format as it was received, in the sensory system that received it

Memory breaks down over time and is lost

Focussing on stimuli entering the SR in order to be transferred to the STM

The inability to retrieve memories from LTM

The recall of stored memories

The way of encoding information from short term memory to long term memory. Process of repetition.

The process of keeping information in short-term memory by repeating it

Aim: To explore the sensory register of the MSM

Procedure: Showed a grid of 12 letters very briefly to participants who had to recall the letters.

Findings: Participants remembered 4-9 (average 4.32) pieces of information.
Coding - Modality specific
Capacity - 4-9
Duration - 0.5 seconds

Conclusion: The capacity of the SR is 4-9, and duration of iconic memory is 0.5s.

Aim: To explore the duration of the SR for echoic information.

Procedure: Played identical auditory messages in both ears of participants with a slight delay.

Findings: Participants could only identify if they were the same if there was a less than two second delay between them.

Conclusion: The duration for echoic information in the SR is 2 seconds.

- Lack of supporting evidence (such as research on other types of memory e.g. haptic, olfactory) to substantiate the theory
- Potentially lacks validity and reliability due to individual differences
- Low ecological validity due to lab (controlled) conditions lacking in mundane realism

Aim - To test whether STM and LTM are encoded acoustically or semantically.

Procedure - Participants were split into four groups and given either a) acoustically similar words b) acoustically dissimilar words c) semantically similar words) and d) semantically dissimilar words. They were all tested on their short-term and long-term recall.

Findings - Participants had difficulty remembering words that are acoustically similar in STM and semantically similar words in the LTM.

Conclusions: LTM encoding is semantic due to semantically similar words being confused in the LTM, suggesting it is coded on a semantic basis. STM encoding is acoustic due to acoustically similar words being confused in the STM, suggesting it is coded on an acoustic basis.

Aim - To test the capacity of the STM.

Procedure - Created the Digit Span Test where Person 1 reads out strings of numbers and Person 2 recalls the numbers in the same order straight after. The lengths increase by 1 digit each time (until 10) and stop when Person 2 makes a mistake, and a note is made of what row it was on.

Findings - Found on average participants correctly recalled 5-9 digits after being read out by Person 1.

Conclusion - The capacity of the STM is therefore 7+/-2 (or 5-9 pieces of information).

Aim - To test the duration of short-term memory.

Procedure - Participants were asked to remember trigrams (three consonants e.g. BFV). They prevented subjects from rehearsing by counting backward by threes (interference task). After a red light was shown, the participants had to repeat the trigrams.

Findings - Average accuracy of recall was: after 3 seconds - 90%, 9 seconds - 20%, 18 seconds - 2%.

Conclusion: Without rehearsal, short-term memory lasts approximately 15-30 seconds before forgetting.

- Lab study means there is a lack of ecological validity as participants may not acr the same in real-life situations
- The small difference in recall between semantically similar (64%) and semantically dissimilar (71%) lists suggests there's also semantic coding in STM.

- His findings make 'cognitive sense', for example to remember a shopping list, you would repeat it aloud (acoustic rehearsal) and when recalling a book you remember the plot, not every individual word
- Lab studies can be replicated to check the results making it reliable

Aim - To test the duration of long term memory.

Procedure - Showed participants (ages 17-74) pictures of people with their names, some were ex-school friends, and were asked to identify ex-school friends.

Findings - Those who left school 48 years ago correctly identified 80% of names and 70% of faces of the people they went to school with.

Conclusion - The duration of LTM can be many years.

- Potentially lacks validity and reliability due to individual differences
- Low ecological validity due to lab (controlled) conditions lacking in mundane realism
- Reductionist since it ignores other factors than can influence STM capacity, such as age and practice (Daneman & Carpenter (1980) found capacity varied between 5 and 20 items between those with poor/advanced reading comprehension)
- Although research shows coding in STM is mainly acoustic, other sensory codes are used too. Some stimuli such as faces/smell of food would be difficult to store acoustically

Aim - To test the capacity of long term memory.

Procedure - Had a diary in which he wrote about 2400 events over 6 years and then tested himself on his recall.

Findings - Had excellent recall of the events.

Conclusion - The capacity of LTM is very big (believed to be unlimited) although it's difficult to measure the exact capacity.

Aim - To test the duration of olfactory information in LTM.

Procedure - Asked participants to identify odours of everyday products in the last two years and odours not experienced since childhood.

Findings - Identification by name was better for more recent odours. There was also significant identification of less-recent odours.

Conclusion - Suggests the duration of olfactory information in LTM is very long lasting.

- The capacity is just assumed to be limitless as research has not been able to determine a finite capacity
- Sometimes information appears to be lost when there could instead be a problem with accessing the information rather than it not being there

- Lots of research evidence for the existence of the separate memory stores of SR, STM and LTM (the studies of coding, capacity and duration)
- Model is supported by amnesia cases. Patients either lose STM or LTM but not both, suggesting that STM and LTM are actually separate memory stores
- MSM's idea of there being multiple stores is supported by Murdock's (1962) 'serial position effect'. Words at the beginning of the list (primacy effect) are recalled well because they have been rehearsed and transferred to LTM, and words at the end (recency effect) are recalled due to still being in STM