Outline and Evaluate the Multi Store Model of Memory and One Alternative Model

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28/11/2008

Outline and Evaluate the Multi Store Model of Memory and One Alternative Model

        Models of memory are theoretical, and sometimes diagrammatic, representations of how the human memory works.  Many models have been suggested by various psychologists in attempts to explain how information passes between the known stores of the memory (such as long-term memory and short-term memory) however they also take into account ideas of encoding, duration and capacity, as well as the idea of loss from memory through different mechanisms (such as displacement or decay).

        One such proposed model is that of Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), known as the Multi Store Model of Memory.  The name of this model comes from its main assumption; that the memory is made up of multiple stores- believed to be three.  These three stores suggested in the Multi Store Model are sensory memory (a store holding an exact copy of a sensory stimulus in the same modality for a fraction of a second), short-term memory (where information may be stored for brief periods of time, but longer than that of sensory memory) and long-term memory (a store containing information that has been held for long periods of time).

Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model shows how data travels through the three stores in a sequence- from sensory memory to short-term memory and eventually to long-term memory.  Data in sensory memory may only enter short-term memory if it goes through the process of selective attention.  Rehearsal of the information now held in short-term memory may permit it to remain here for longer than it would otherwise be expected, and it may pass through into long-term memory if repeated enough.  The mechanisms of forgetting from each store is also suggested in this model- sensory memory may lose information through decay (forgetting due to the passage of time), whilst in short-term memory both decay and displacement (old information being replaced by newer information entering the memory store may occur.  Finally, in long-term memory it is put forward that decay and interference (old information interrupting the new- proactive interference, or new information superseding the old- retroactive) are the causes of forgetting.

There is various support for Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi Store Model of memory, including research into encoding, duration and capacity of STM.  Their claims are also substantiated from examples of people with severe memory impairment, such as those who have gone through major brain surgery, or simply have suffered an accident that resulted in one form of memory loss.

        The main assumption of this model is that there are three separate stores; but most importantly that the short-term memory and long-term memory are entirely separate.  Evidence supporting this comes in the form of real life examples, such as H.M., a young man who after undergoing brain surgery (a lobotomy) lost the ability to retain new information.  He was able to remember and recall events previous to the surgery, he could still perform ordinary tasks such as talking, and his immediate digit span was within the expected range.  However his short-term memory did not seem to function properly; when told new information he would forget it within a very short space of time, leaving him with a poor quality of life, and unable to do many of the tasks that were customary to him before.  If long-term memory and short-term memory were the same store, this scenario couldn’t have happened.  H.M. would have forgotten either everything or nothing.  This example agrees with the idea put forward through the Multi Store Model of the two stores being separate.

Similar cases have occurred with amnesiacs, who have forgotten much or all of their long-term memory, yet when participating in short-term memory experiments with control participants they perform equally as well, suggesting no impairment to short-term memory, yet obvious restrictions when trying to access their long-term memory.

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        Atkinson and Shiffrin suggested that whilst encoding in short-term memory was acoustic, for long-term memory encoding was semantic.  Baddeley’s (1966) study into encoding in STM and LTM provides evidence for this idea.  His aim was to explore the effects of both acoustic and semantic coding in short-term memory and long-term memory.  Participants were asked to recall a list of five words in serial order immediately after presentation; the five words came from one of four separate categories- acoustically similar words, acoustically dissimilar words, semantically similar words, semantically dissimilar words.  For the long-term memory study the participants were required to see ...

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