Outline and Evaluate the Multi Store Model of Memory
Out line and evaluate the Multi-store Model of Memory
The multi-store model of memory was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in1968. The model consists of three separate stores – the sensory store, the short term memory and the long term memory. Information enters via our senses (sight, smell, sounds, taste and touch) into the sensory store. We pay attention to some of the things that enter our sensory store, these things them move on into our short term memory. Whatever is stored in the short term memory is only temporary; it can hold 7 items, give or take two. Things only last up 30 seconds in the short term memory and are normally encoded acoustically. After the short term memory things are either forgotten or memorised through the rehearsal loop which will then pass through to the long term memory. According to Atkinson and Shiffrin the rehearsal of information plays a big part in the model, because without it we wouldn’t be able to make any new long term memories. When information enters the long term memory it is usually semantically encoded. It has an unlimited capacity and normally stays in the store up to a life time.
A study that found evidence to help support Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model of memory was H.M. H.M had a perfectly intact short term and long term memory before an accident he had, but after the accident he could no longer make any new long term memories. This would give evidence because to make new long term memories the information has to pass through the short term memory and rehearsal loop first, but in his case they were not working correctly. Murdock (1962) also gives evidence for the two separate stores. He gave participants a list of 20 words one at a time, they remembered the words at the start of the list which is known as the primacy effect and the words at the end which is known as the recency effect better than those in the middle. This supports the model because the words at the start would have been rehearsed and entered the
The multi-store model of memory was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in1968. The model consists of three separate stores – the sensory store, the short term memory and the long term memory. Information enters via our senses (sight, smell, sounds, taste and touch) into the sensory store. We pay attention to some of the things that enter our sensory store, these things them move on into our short term memory. Whatever is stored in the short term memory is only temporary; it can hold 7 items, give or take two. Things only last up 30 seconds in the short term memory and are normally encoded acoustically. After the short term memory things are either forgotten or memorised through the rehearsal loop which will then pass through to the long term memory. According to Atkinson and Shiffrin the rehearsal of information plays a big part in the model, because without it we wouldn’t be able to make any new long term memories. When information enters the long term memory it is usually semantically encoded. It has an unlimited capacity and normally stays in the store up to a life time.
A study that found evidence to help support Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model of memory was H.M. H.M had a perfectly intact short term and long term memory before an accident he had, but after the accident he could no longer make any new long term memories. This would give evidence because to make new long term memories the information has to pass through the short term memory and rehearsal loop first, but in his case they were not working correctly. Murdock (1962) also gives evidence for the two separate stores. He gave participants a list of 20 words one at a time, they remembered the words at the start of the list which is known as the primacy effect and the words at the end which is known as the recency effect better than those in the middle. This supports the model because the words at the start would have been rehearsed and entered the