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Memory
Nature of memory
3 main processes in memory:
Registration- process by which sense organs detect info & enter that info
into the memory system.
Storage- process by which the info is kept in the memory.
Retrieval- process by which the info is recovered.
The multi-store model, Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968, 1971)
Sensory
input
Sensory
memory
STM
Attention
Rehearsal
LTM
Retrieval
Rehearsal
Response
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Response
Describes memory in terms of info flowing through a system.
Info is detected by sense organs as it enters the sensory memory.
If we attend to info in sensory memory it enters the STM.
If rehearsal occurs info is transferred from the STM to the LTM.
If no rehearsal occurs the info is forgotten.
Rehearsal- Craik & Watkins 1973
Maintenance- word repeated out loud number of times. Enough to keep info
in STM
Elaborative- information is processed in terms of meaning- necessary to
transfer info from STM-LTM.
Supporting Research
Glanzer & Cuntiz- serial position effect.
Procedure- presented participants with a list of words and asked them to
learn them. Later in a free call test the participants were asked to recall the
words.
Results- words which appeared at the start of the list and words at the end
of the list were much more likely to be recalled than words from the middle
of the list. This was due to words at the start of the list being transferred
into the LTM, and words at the end of the list were still in the STM. Proves
existence of two separate memory stores.
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Individual differences of participants.
Some participants may have used techniques to remember words.
Ethically the results may upset participants- damage self-esteem.
Lacks EV
Milner- case study of HM
HM had had brain surgery to cure his epilepsy. After the surgery he could
remember events that occurred before the surgery but info after the
operation was not being stored in his long term memory. He had to be reintroduced to people he had just met and re-read the newspaper. Therefore
the STM had been damaged and stopped info being processed into the LTM.
Can’t generalise to others as a case study
Brown & Peterson technique. Peterson & Peterson 1959
Asked participants to remember trigrams, but to prevent rehearsal they
were asked to count backwards aloud in 3s form a number. They found info
was rapidly forgotten within 6-12seconds. This shows rehearsal is necessary
to enable info to be transferred to the LTM.
Ebbinghaus 1885- used nonsense syllables and found that words near
beginning and end of a list were better recalled than those in the middle.
Evaluation
o Very simplistic model of memory
o Takes no account of the nature of info being processed and recalled,
only quantity.
o Shallice & Warrington reported a case study of KF, who suffered
brain damage as a result of a motorcycle accident. His STM was
seriously impaired, but his LTM was relatively intact, including memory
for information after the accident. Suggesting that info does not
have to flow through the STM to reach the LTM.
o Flashbulb memories seem to go to straight into the LTM without the
rehearsal which the multi-store model suggests is necessary.
o Lack of detail about the LTM doesn’t go beyond defining capacity,
coding involved and duration of storage.
o There is evidence that neither the STM nor LTM is a unitary store,
possibly made up of different subsystems.
Sensory Memory
Capacity- small
Duration- 0.25-2seconds
Encoding- modality-specific.
Iconic storage- store associated with visual info.
Echoic storage- associated with auditory info.
STM
Capacity-7±2 items
Duration- up to 30 seconds
Encoding- mainly acoustic.
Miller 1956- Millers’ magic number 7. Can use chucking to increase amount
stored in the STM.
LTM
Capacity- unlimited
Duration Indefinite
Encoding- mainly semantic but also visual or acoustic.