Outline and Evaluate the multi-store model of memory (16)
The multi-store model is a widely accepted and linear framework for understanding the
human memory system; it helps to describe how information is transferred from 1 store to
another as well as how it is remembered and forgotten. It's comprised of 3 distinct stores:
the sensory register, the short-term memory (STM), and the long-term memory (LTM). The
sensory register is the memory store for each of our 5 senses and a stimulus will pass
through the sensory register. The two main stores are the iconic memory (visual information
coded visually) and the echoic memory (sound/auditory information coded acoustically). The
sensory register has a duration of less than ½ a second and a very high capacity.
Information can only pass further into the memory system if you only pay attention to it. If
information does receive attention in one of the sensory stores it is then transferred to the
Short Term memory (STM): aka the limited capacity store codes information acoustically and
lasts about 30 seconds in the STM unless rehearsed. Maintenance rehearsal occurs when
we rehearse material to ourselves repeatedly. Information is kept in STM’s as long as we
rehearse it - and if rehearsed enough then it can pass to the long term memory. Research
suggests that the capacity of the STM is 7 ± 2 items. Long term memory (LTM) is is our
permanent memory store, responsible for storing memories with sufficient rehearsal. If
information is rehearsed enough (prolonged rehearsal) then information will transfer to LTM.
It's believed that its capacity and duration is unlimited and the data is mainly semantically
encoded, meaning the meaning and context of the information are stored rather than just the
sound or visual representation. However in order to recall material it has to be transferred
back to the STM by ‘retrieval’ - according to MSM no memories are recalled directly from
LTM.
A limitation is that research evidence to support the MSM is based on lab experiments,
which is an artificial setting, so it may lack mundane realism. Some of the memory tasks
used artificial materials, like the use of nonsense trigrams by the Peterson study. These
methods don’t reflect how we use our memory in our day-to-day real life. The participants
may have found this activity meaningless and may not have performed as well as they might
have if the experiment was something they could relate to. In everyday life, we form
memories related to useful things: people's faces, their names etc. Research findings may
reflect how memory works with meaningless material in lab testing but may not reflect how
memory works in everyday life. Therefore, although there is evidence for the MSM, it mainly
comes from artificial environments and may not stand true in the real world.
One strength lies in the experimental evidence that supports its assumptions. For instance,
Bahrick conducted a study on 400 participants aged 17-74 to investigate their memory of
former classmates. The participants were asked to identify names/faces, and the results
showed that those who left school in the last 15 years recalled 90% of names/ faces, while
those who left school in the last 48 years recalled 70% of names/faces. This finding provides
empirical support for the MSM’s claim that LTM has the potential to store unlimited amounts
of information over a significant period. Thus, the study highlights the model's ability to
explain and predict real-life memory phenomena and contributes to the model's validity.
The multi-store model is a widely accepted and linear framework for understanding the
human memory system; it helps to describe how information is transferred from 1 store to
another as well as how it is remembered and forgotten. It's comprised of 3 distinct stores:
the sensory register, the short-term memory (STM), and the long-term memory (LTM). The
sensory register is the memory store for each of our 5 senses and a stimulus will pass
through the sensory register. The two main stores are the iconic memory (visual information
coded visually) and the echoic memory (sound/auditory information coded acoustically). The
sensory register has a duration of less than ½ a second and a very high capacity.
Information can only pass further into the memory system if you only pay attention to it. If
information does receive attention in one of the sensory stores it is then transferred to the
Short Term memory (STM): aka the limited capacity store codes information acoustically and
lasts about 30 seconds in the STM unless rehearsed. Maintenance rehearsal occurs when
we rehearse material to ourselves repeatedly. Information is kept in STM’s as long as we
rehearse it - and if rehearsed enough then it can pass to the long term memory. Research
suggests that the capacity of the STM is 7 ± 2 items. Long term memory (LTM) is is our
permanent memory store, responsible for storing memories with sufficient rehearsal. If
information is rehearsed enough (prolonged rehearsal) then information will transfer to LTM.
It's believed that its capacity and duration is unlimited and the data is mainly semantically
encoded, meaning the meaning and context of the information are stored rather than just the
sound or visual representation. However in order to recall material it has to be transferred
back to the STM by ‘retrieval’ - according to MSM no memories are recalled directly from
LTM.
A limitation is that research evidence to support the MSM is based on lab experiments,
which is an artificial setting, so it may lack mundane realism. Some of the memory tasks
used artificial materials, like the use of nonsense trigrams by the Peterson study. These
methods don’t reflect how we use our memory in our day-to-day real life. The participants
may have found this activity meaningless and may not have performed as well as they might
have if the experiment was something they could relate to. In everyday life, we form
memories related to useful things: people's faces, their names etc. Research findings may
reflect how memory works with meaningless material in lab testing but may not reflect how
memory works in everyday life. Therefore, although there is evidence for the MSM, it mainly
comes from artificial environments and may not stand true in the real world.
One strength lies in the experimental evidence that supports its assumptions. For instance,
Bahrick conducted a study on 400 participants aged 17-74 to investigate their memory of
former classmates. The participants were asked to identify names/faces, and the results
showed that those who left school in the last 15 years recalled 90% of names/ faces, while
those who left school in the last 48 years recalled 70% of names/faces. This finding provides
empirical support for the MSM’s claim that LTM has the potential to store unlimited amounts
of information over a significant period. Thus, the study highlights the model's ability to
explain and predict real-life memory phenomena and contributes to the model's validity.
