Multistore model of memory
describes how info flows through
the memory system
SENSORY REGISTER: a
stimulus from the
environment (eg
someone talking) passes
into eth SR along with
lots of other
sounds/sights. there are
5 SR for each sense. the
duration is less than half
a second but has a high
capacity with strong
storing data. the coding
depends on which sense
its coding. only some
memory from the SR gets
passed - requires attntion
SHORT TERM MEMORYis
a limited capacity and
duration store. duration
lasts about 18-30 seconds
unless the info is
rehearsed with a capacity
of 5-9 items before some
forgetting occurs. it is
coded ACOUSTICALLY.
MATENANCE REHEARSAL
occurs when we repeat
materials to ourselves.
we can keep info in the
STM if we rehearse it. if
we rehease it long
enough it will go into our
LTM
E: the MSM is supported by
research showing STM/LTM
are different as Baddely
found that we tend to mix
up words that sound
similiar when using the STM
but we mix up words with
similiar meaning when
using LTM. this shows that
coding is different
LTM=semantic
STM=acoustic. suppoets
MSM as proves that these 2
memory stores are
separate
E: There is evidence to sugeest
more than one type of STM 2
researchers studied KF a patient
with amnesia. his STM for digits
was porr when numbers were read
to him but but the recall was much
better when he read the digits
himself. The MSM tates that there is
only one STM but KF suggests that
there must be 2. one to process
visual and the other to process
auditory. the WMM is a better exp
for this as it includes separate
stores
E: the MSM only explains one type rehearsal as
2 researchers argued that there were 2 types
of rehaersal MAINTENANCE rehearsal and
ELABORATIVE which is needed for LTM storage.
this occurs when you link info to your existing
knowledge, or process it. this is a serious
limitation of the MSM because it is another
research finding that the MSM can't explain
E: the MSM
oversimplifies
the LTM. there
is a lot of
evidence to
suggest LTM
isn't unitary as
we can have
one for general
knowledge
(semantic) and
one for
personal
memories
(episodic)
LONG TERM MEMORY is a
permeanant memory
store! when we want to
recall info from the LTM it
has to be tranferred back
by retrieval. teh suration is
upto a lifetime with a
potentially unlimited
capacity. the info is coded
semantically in terms of
meaning
Types
of LTM
EPISODIC MEMORY stores
events from our lives such as
our 5th bday party, the
psychology class you had this
morning etc. EM are complex
and time stamped so you
remember when they
happened. ppl, places, objects
and behaviours are woven into
one memory and you must
make a conscious effort to
remember them
SEMANTIC MEMORY stores our
knowledge of the world (like a
combo of a dictionairy and
encyclopeadia) eg knowledge
of how to apply to uni, the
taste of an orange. SM are NOT
time stamped and are less
personal and more about the
knowledge evceryone shares
eg you know is JB but not
where you first heard about
him
PROCEDURAL MEMORY
stores memories for actions
and skills . these are our
memories of how to do
things eg how to drive a car,
cook etc. the recall occurs
without effort and we may
evcen find it hard to explain
to someone else because we
recall these memories
without conscious effort
easier to show them
E: EM is supported by case study evidence. Clinical studeies (HM/Clive
Wearing) showed both had difficulty recalling events that happened to
them in the past. but their SM was unaffected (eg HM didn't remeber
stroking adog but knoew what a dog was) this supports the view that
there are diff memory stores because on estore may be damgaed but the
others will be unaffected
E: brain scan studies how that there are diff LTM stores. Tulving had pps
preform various memory test whilst have PET brain scans. EM/SM were in
the PREFRONTAL CORTEX (SM left and EM right) this shows a physical
reliality to the diff types of LTM confirmed in many research studies
(increases validity)
E: Identifying different LTM stores has real life applications as
psychologists can target certain kinds of memory in order to
improve ppls lives. one researcher found that EMs can be improved
in older ppl with mild cognitive impairments. training led to
improvements compared to a cont group. the shows the benefits of
distinguishing between different types of LTM - allows specifc
treatments to be worked out
E: there are problems with the clinical evidence.
evidence is often based on clinical evidence
(HM/clive wearing) about what happens when
memory is damaged. there is a serious lack of
control of diff variables (eg cannot find the precise
location of brain damage) so its difficult to
generalise from these cases to determine the exact
nature of LTM
The WMM is a model of the STM that explains how STM is organised and functions eg WMM is
concerned with the part of the mind that is active when working on an arithmetic problem or
playing chess or comprehending language etc
CENTRAL
EXECUTIVE is
essentially a
attentional process
which monitors
incoming data and
allocates slave
systems to tasks.
very limted storage
capacity
PHONOLOGICAL LOOP
consists of the phonological
store and articulatory store.
PL deals with auditory
information & preserves the
order in which info arrives.
the ----phonological store=
stores words you
hear--------the articulatory
store=allows matenance
reharsal
VISUO SPATIAL
SKETCHPAD stores
visual/spatial info when
required (eg recalling how
many windows your house
has when your not there)
2 sections: visual
cache=stores visual
data-----innerscribe=
records arrangement of
objects in physical field
EPISODIC BUFFER is
used for temp storage.
it was added in 2000
and integrates visual,
spatial & verbal info
from other stores. it
maintains a sense of
time sequencing-
recording records
events that are
happening. links to LTM
E: the case of KF supports the theory of separate STM stores
(WMM). 2 researchers carried out the study of KF who had
brain damage and a poor STM ability for verbal info but
could process visual info normally. so his PL was damged but
the rest was fine which suggest that there are separate
visual/acoustic stores. however may be unreliable because
each brain damage case are unique with diff traumatic
experiences.
E: a limitation of WMM is a lack of clarity over the central
exec because the cognitive psychologists suggest that the
CE is unsatisfactory and doesn't explain much. the CE
should be more clearly specified than just "attention" and
some psy believe it may contain separate
components.this means that the WMM is fully explained
E: one posiive is that dual task
performance supports the VSS. for
instance baddely found that pps
had more difficulty doing 2 visual
tasks than doing a verbal and
visual tasks at the same time. this
shows that the greater difficulty is
because both visual tasks
compete for the same finite
resource but the verbal and visual
task don't have to compete.
therefore DTP activity provides
evidence of the VSS. the MSM
cannot explain this
E: the word length supports the
phonological loop. this was shown
by baddely who found that ppl
have more difficulty
remembering a list of long words(
eg association) than short words.
this is the word length effect. an
explanation of this is that there is
limited space for rehearsal in the
articulatory process.
consequently word length effect
disappears if a person is given a
repetitive task.
Exp 4 forgetting: interference
KEY STUDY: MCGOETH & MCDONALD asked pps to
learn a list of words to a 100% accuracy then when
they learnt them, they were given a new list to learn
GROUP ! : SYNONYMS, GROUP2: ATONYMS,
GROUP3:UNRELATED WORDS, GROUP4: NONSENSE
SYLLABLES, GROUP 5: 3DIGIT numbers, GROUP 6: NO
NEW LIST (cont) findings: performance depended on
the nature of the second list so the most similiar
material (synonyms) produced worst recall. when
the pps got really different material, ave recall was
much better. this shows that interference is stronger
when memory is similiar. eg group 1 leading to
pro/retroactive memory blocking the other piece of
info
Interference theory: interference is when two
pieces of info are in conflict. forgetting occurs
in the LTM as we can't get across to the
memories even though they are available
PROACTIVE memory:
when old info interferes
with new info ----- eg
teachers remembers her
old classes names not
new one
RETROACTIVE
memory is when
new interferes
with old eg a child
can't remember
kids names from
her other school
as they are
interfered by this
year children's
names
Interference is worst
when memories are
similiar because either PI
preciously stored info
makes new info more
difficult to store. OR RI as
new info overwrites
previous memory that is
similia
E: There is evidence that
demonstrates interference in
memory many lab exp have been
carried out into interference (eg
mcgoeth/mcdonald study) most of
these studies show that both types
of interference are very likely
causes of forgetting from LTM. Lab
exps control extrenous variables
and so give us confidence that
interference is a valid explanation
E: A limitation of the research is that it
uses artificial materials. the stimulus
materials used are word lists. this is
more realistic than consonant syllables
but is still quite different from things
we remember in everyday life. eg in real
life we remember ppls faces, birthdays,
ingredients of our fave food etc the use
of artificial materials makes
interference much more likely in a lab it
may not be a likely cause of 'everyday'
forgetting
E: a strength is that real life studies have
supported the interference explanation as baddely
and hitch asked rugby players to recall the names
of teams thatthat they has played against so
farin that season week by week. accurate recall
didnt depend on how long ago the match took
place but but the number of games in the
meantime. this study shows that interference
explanations can apply to at least some everyday
situations
E: Another limhiation of the research is
the time allowed between learning.. for
example a pp might learn 2 lists within
20 minutes. research reduces the whole
experience of learning into a short time
period which does not reflect how we
learn and remember most info in real
life. so conclusions generated from
research into forgetting in LTM may not
generalise outside the lab. the role of
inerference may be exaggerated
Explanations
4 forgetting:
Retrieval
Failure
lack of cues can cause retrieval failure
because when info is initially stored, the
associated cues are stored at the same
timeIf these cues are not available at
the time of recall,you might not be able
to access memories that are actually
there
ENCODING SPECIFICITY
PRINCIPLE (ESP) Tulving
suggested that cues help
retrieval failure if they were
there at the time of codingand
at retrieval (MSM). The closer
the retrieval cue to the original
cue, the better the cue works
Some cues are linked
to the material so they
are remembered in a
meaningful way. eg.
the cue STM may lead
to recalling all sorts of
info about STM
GODDON & BADDELY - CONTEXT DEPENDANT
FORGETTING procedure: cues were the
contexts where learning and recall took place -
on land or underwater. he got some deep sea
divers to learn word lists and were later asked
to recall them
When the
environmental
contexts of learning
and recall did not
match (eg2 and 3)
recall was 40% lower
than with 1 and 4.
when the external
cues available at
learning were
different from the
ones at recall, this led
to retrieval failure du
to lack of cues
This study
demonstrates
context
dependant
forgetting
because info was
not accessible (i.e.
was forgotten)
when context at
recall didnt match
context at
learning
E: an impressive range of of evidence supports
this explanation of forgetting. eg. Goddon and
baddeleys research. One researcher Eysenck
argues that retrieval failure is the main cause for
forgetting in LTM. supporting evidence increases
the validity of an explanation especially when
conducted in real life situations as well as highly
controlled conditions of the lab
E: a limitation is that context effects are
actually not very strong in real life.
baddeley argued that diff contexts have
to be REALLY diff before an effect is seen.
such as goddon and badelys as
underwater and on land are massively
diff. learning something in one room and
recaaling in another is unlikely to have a
massive effect because the environment
isnt diff enough. so real life applicationof
retrieval failure due to contextual factors
dont actually explain much forgetting
E: A limitation is context effects only occur when
memory is tested in certain ways. Goddon and
baddely replicated their underwater experiment
with a recognition test instead of recall. there was
no context dependant effect. performance was
same in all 4 conditions whether the
environmental contexts for learning and recall
matched or not. the limits of RF is an explanation
for forgetting because the presence/ absence of
cues only occurs during recall not recognition
E: a limitation is that ESP cannot be tested and
leads to circular reasoning. when a cue produces
successful recall of a word, we assume the cue
must have been present at the time of learning.
If a cue doesn't result in successful recall, then
we assume that the cue was not encoded at the
time of learning. but there is no way to
independantly establish whether or not a cue
has been recorded