One of the strengths of the MSM is that it is supported by neurological case studies. The MSM claims that STM and LTM are two separate store, which is supported by the case study of Clive Wearing. He had his hippocampus removed due to a viral infection which meant that he could not move information from STM into LTM. However, due to being a case study we must be cautious as it is concerned with a particular individual and therefore cannot be generalised to a whole population.
Further evidence for two separate store is provided by the medical technology such as PET and MRI scans which show different brain patterns when patients were carrying out tasks associated with STM and LTM.
Similarly lab experiments such as the research on the primacy and recency effect also provide evidence for two separate stores. Glanzer and Cunitz found that the participants who were asked to remember a list of words could remember the first and last few words, while the middle one were more difficult to remember. This supports that idea that there are two separate stores as the first words were in the LTM, whereas the last words were still in the STM. However most of the studies which support the MSM lack validity due to being lab experiments. The material given to the participants to remember is unlike the information we have to remember every day, therefore the result can not necessarily be applied to everyday life.
One of the main criticism of the MSM is that it over simplifies memory structure and processes. According to the MSM the STM and LTM are unitary store however there is evidence that there are different kinds of STM and LTM. For example the case study of KF suggests that the STM is not a single store. Due to brain damage KF was unable to process verbal information in STM but had a normal ability to process visual information, this implies that the STM is more complex. Similarly, evidence from patients with amnesia indicates that there are different kinds of LTM rather than the LTM being a single store. Schachter suggested there are 4 kinds of long- term stores which are; semantic memory, episodic memory, procedural memory and perceptual- representation system memory.
Another criticism of the MSM is that it overemphasises the role of rehearsal in form LTM. According to the MSM, elaborative rehearsal is the only way that information can pass from the STM to LTM. Lockhart and Craik’s study into levels of processing showed that information is more likely to be transferred into LTM if it is process at a semantic rather than acoustic and shallow level.
by
syaqoob16 (student)
