Explain and evaluate the three models of memory.

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Explain and evaluate the three models of memory

  • What are they, and how they work
  • Comparisons and contrasts between the three
  • Critically describe your own views on the models.

Memory is a cognitive function, which we are all able to process and recall. Some of us better than others, these discrepancies between the variations in the extent to which we can recall information may be genetic, due to lack of semantic incentive or basically due to medical and health reasons, such as temporary amnesia or tumours in the brain. Memory falls into three distinctive categories; these are sensory memory, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). These variations in the type of memory are all combined to form the three main processes in memory; registration is the process by which sense organs detect a stimulus, this stimulus is then entered into the memory system. Storage is also important, because the degree of storage is due to many factors, such as the type of stimulus and the region of the brain where it is to be stored. Finally retrieval, probably the most important factor in the memory system, without the ability to retrieve memory from a store, and then memory is made redundant, even if the chunk of information has semantic value to the person involved. Three models of memory have been suggested, these include the multi-store model, the working memory model and the levels of processing model.

The idea of a multi-store model was put forward by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971). They believed that this model made use of sensory memory, STM and LTM. They believed that the three were linked through procedures, which the individual is conscious of such as attention, retrieval and rehearsal. The model begins with a sensory input; this is basically the stimulus, which falls into the category of one of the five senses. Atkinson and Shiffrin believed that the attention had to be paid to this object so that it could be transferred to short-term memory, which only has a capacity of 7±2 items and information can be held for duration of upto30seconds. Once information is passed onto the STM, it is then passed to the LTM whereby it is stored with regard to its encoding, whether this is acoustic/visual/semantic. This presents us with one key idea, the more attention the individual pays to something, the more semantic meaning or relevance it will have on them, this means that it is processed in the STM for a longer period of time, and has a greater probability of being transferred to LTM. The rehearsal concept is also a key idea, central to the principles of the multi-store model. Without rehearsal, there is no semantic relevance to the associated piece of information rehearsal is a procedure by which the individual can apply meaning or association to this information, if this does not occur then it is not transferred to the LTM and subsequently forgotten. Craik and Watkins (1973) suggested that there were two types of rehearsal; they proposed the idea of maintenance rehearsal (for example repeating a word out aloud) and elaborative rehearsal in which information that is to be transferred is processed in terms of meaning. They suggested that maintenance rehearsal might be enough to keep information in the STM while elaborative rehearsal was used to transfer information to the LTM.

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The next model was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974), they began by criticising the multi-store model by believing that it played a much more complicated part in memory, and was not just a processor by which information was passed onto the LTM. The main theory of this model is that a central executive controls all functions of the memory, but this executive is assisted by a loop and a scratch pad. However, the central executive is much more complex, it is able to distribute information loads to the other loops, also it can process one piece of information, ...

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