An experiment to support the assumption that there are two distinct memory stores in the multi store model of memory as propos

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An experiment to support the assumption that there are two distinct memory stores in the multi store model of memory as proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968).

Candidate's Name: Samantha Aloysius

Candidate's Number:

Instructor's Name: Sarah Carter

School: United World College of South East Asia

Subject: Psychology, Standard Level

Date of Submission: 23.03.07

Word Count: 1422

Abstract

This experiment was conducted in order to gather evidence to support the assumption made by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) that there are two distinct memory stores in the multi store model. Two groups of students from an international school in Singapore took part in this experiment. The aim was to see how well participants were able to recall the words in a list and if the position of the words affected their ability to recall the words. The obtained results show that most participants tend to recall the first and last words in the list better than the words in the middle of the list and this is similar to the results obtained from Glanzer and Cunitz (1968) in the free recall experiment that they conducted.

Contents

Abstract...................................................................i

Contents..................................................................1

Introduction...............................................................2

Method....................................................................3

Design............................................................3

Participants......................................................3

Apparatus.........................................................3

Procedure..........................................................4

Results.....................................................................4

Discussion..................................................................6

References..................................................................7

Appendices.................................................................8

Appendix i.........................................................8

Appendix ii........................................................8

Appendix iii.......................................................9

Appendix iv.......................................................10

Appendix v........................................................11

Appendix vi.......................................................12

Appendix vii......................................................12

Introduction

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) proposed the two process model of memory, which suggested that information flows through two stores of short term and long term memory; it is also termed the multi store model of memory. Much research has been done to support the theory that there are indeed two separate memory stores in the multi store model of memory by many psychologists like Atkinson and Shriffin (1968), Glanzer and Cunitz (1966), Bruce and Papay (1970) and Craik (1970) to name a few. There are mainly two pieces of evidence hat support the multi store model's assumptions about the way information flows through two distinct stores, and that is through free recall experiments and studies of brain damaged patients with anterograde amnesia.
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In the free recall experiments conducted by Glanzer and Cunitz (1968), participants were given a list of words and were asked to remember them and then recall the words in any order. The results fell into a pattern known as the serial position curve. Participants tend to recall the first words on the list well, however the words in the middle portion of the list was not as well recalled. The words at the ending of the list were also better recalled. This is due to the primacy and recency effect.

In the primary effect, participants ...

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