Describe and Evaluate the Multistore Model of Memory

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Describe and Evaluate the Multistore Model of Memory

The multi- store model of memory is an explanation to how memory processes work, we hear, see and feel many things but only a small number are remembered, the model was first introduced by Atkinson and Shiffrin in (1968). They explained that the multi-store model of memory has 3 stages which is sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory, this information processing approach to Cognitive Psychology, it is based upon the model of the mind as a computer.

Unprocessed data enters the sensory memory from environmental stimuli through the sense organs and is encoded into a ‘mind-friendly’ format, Sperling (1960) showed that the sensory information store has limited capacity, so our attention processes are important in determining what passes onto the short-term memory.

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In addition, information selected for further processing passes from the sensory memory store into the short-term memory, it is thought that the short-term memory holds information in the form of images, sounds or meanings, information in the short-term memory is kept alive by continual rehearsal of it, an example study for the life-span of the short-term memory was conducted by Peterson and Peterson (1959) in which they gave participants a constant trigram to remember and then a large number. To prevent rehearsal, they counted backwards in threes from the number and then recalled the trigram. Participants were unable to ...

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