MODELS OF MEMORY Psychology Sensory memory acts as

MODELS OF MEMORY Psychology

Sensory memory acts as a filter with each sense having its own brief ‘storage system Throughout the day we are constantly bombarded with information There will be other visual stimuli around you, there will also be noises, smells etc. Few if any of these will be remembered. SENSORY MEMORY

If we decide that the information is not important it disappears and will not be recalled later. Only if it is important (particularly if it is threatening), unusual or meaningful will we pay attention to it and transfer it to STM. Sensory memory filters out useless stuff It is suggested that we are capable of storing SENSORY MEMORY CONT

We are supposed to have separate sensory stores for all the senses But it is the visual sensory store (Iconic memory) that has attracted most research For example look at an object in the room. Close your eyes and visualise that object The image you see in your mind is your iconic memory SENSORY MEMORY

The capacity is limited (Remember Miller’s Magic Number 7) What about Chunking? SHORT TERM MEMORY

Rehearsal Encoding: Encoding refers to the format or code in which a memory is stored as a memory trace. Encoding can be by sound (acoustic) or by meaning (semantic) FACTORS AFFECTING DURATION OF STM

Capacity Is vast Researchers have suggested that LTM is divided into a number of memory systems This would explain why Clive Wearing can remember some things but not others LONG TERM MEMORY

Duration can last almost a lifetime Factors that can effect duration: Childhood amnesia Thorough learning LONG TERM MEMORY

Murdock (1962) gave 103 psychology students lists of words to free recall (in any order) in 90 seconds. Typically words at the start of the list and especially those at the end tended to be recalled most often. This was explained by words at the start being rehearsed from STM into LTM creating a stronger trace and those at the end still being present in STM when recall begins. Evidence for two separate stores. PRIMACY AND RECENCY EFFECT

Multi-store Model of Memory: Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) This model builds on the idea of three memory stores and tries to explain how they work together. THE MODELS OF MEMORY

MULTI STORE

The model has simplistic appeal and has been influential in stimulating research. Other models such as the ‘working memory model’ take the multistore model as starting point and then add to it. Amnesiac studies provide evidence for a distinction between two different stores, since usually amnesiacs have one aspect of memory such as STM intact whilst other aspects show impairment. EVALUATION

The model is too simplistic Fails to take into account strategies to remember The role of rehearsal is probably over stated. We often remember facts without conscious rehearsal. CRITICISMS

The original model comprised three components The central executive: is the control centre responsible for coordinating the other slave units It is able to process information from any of the senses and appears to have a minimal storage capacity. We use the central executive when we are concentrating on a task and it is sometimes likened to ‘attention. ’ WORKING MEMORY MODEL: BADDELEY & HITCH (1974)

Slave systems: Articulatory (phonological) loop: sometimes called the inner voice. It holds sounds for a few moments (one to two seconds), storing the sounds temporally, i. e. sounds we hear first are stored first. WORKING MEMORY MODEL

You are sat reading and not switched on to events around you. Someone asks a question and you realise that it is being directed at you. You ask the person to repeat what they’ve just said with a polite ‘AYE? ’ However, before the word is out you realise that you do know the question. The words are stored in your loop and you area able to play them back as you would when rewinding and replaying a tape. Baddeley et al (1975) found that the loop can hold about 2 seconds worth of sounds, so it can hold more short words than it can long ones. EXAMPLE

This also has a limited capacity and stores visual information in its component form, e. g. as shape, colour, size etc. It also considers spatial arrangement of shapes etc. Evidence suggests that we use the scratch pad (sometimes called the sketchpad) to manipulate images in our head. For example if you counted the number of windows in your house you would visualise the layout by recalling the image to your sketchpad VISUO-SPATIAL SCRATCH PAD: OR INNER EYE.

The central executive has no storage of its own and the other two stores hold either visual or auditory data. Baddeley realised that there needed to be a store that could hold and coordinate information from all three other stores as well as from LTM. EPISODIC BUFFER (ADDED IN 2000)

It sees memory as an active process and not merely a passive store. This is in keeping with more modern views of memory that don’t see it as a ‘thing’ but a function or process. PET scans (Positron Emission Tomography), show that different parts of the brain are active when different parts of the system are in use. This provides further evidence for distinct components. The central executive seems to reside in the frontal cortex and the scratch pad in the right side of the occipital lobe, known to be associated with vision. EVALUATION

Very little is known about the central executive, the main component, the central executive. For example we have no idea of its capacity. Some see it almost as an umbrella store doing all the functions that can’t be explained by the slave units so in fact it not be a unitary component at all but rather a collection of independent but interacting entities Baddeley (2001) added the episodic buffer making the model more complex. This suggests again that the model is not complete and may need still further revision as more evidence is uncovered. CRITICISMS

This is different to the other two theories as it does not consider different stores or physical components. Basically it believes 1. Depth of processing carried out on incoming information has a substantial effect on how well we remember it. 2. Deeper levels of analysis produce longer lasting and stronger memory traces than shallow levels of analysis. LEVELS OF PROCESSING

Shallow levels of processing include simply noticing the physical characteristics of the material to be memorised, e. g. the shape of the letters such as upper or lower case. Learning by rote (or parrot fashion) is called maintenance rehearsal and is also seen as shallow. Medium levels of processing include noticing the sound of the material to be learned, referred to as phonetic processing (e. g. does the word rhyme with…? ). Deep levels of processing are semantic since they consider the meaning of the material to be learned LEVELS OF PROCESSING

Influential at the time Descriptive rather than explanatory Other researchers have stated that depth of processing alone can not just be responsible for retention EVALUATION