Multi Store Model of Memory - Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968

Yo,

Cognitive assumptions:

1. Cognitive psychology focuses on information processing: such as vision, perception, hearing, memory, reasoning, problem solving, making judgements etc.
2. The idea that the brain might process information like a computer

We will be doing some experiments to test some of these features, and they will form part of the evaluation, along with some supporting evidence.

This is the first model of memory that we will look at. Atkinson and Shiffrin focused on the structural features of memory and the control processes involved in forming memories. The thought the structural features were like the hardware of a computer - 'installed' in the brain and the control processes were like computer programs. The control processes are involved in encoding, rehearsing, and retrieving memories.

According to the model, information passes into the sensory memory (a.k.a, sensory register), if the information is attended to then it passes into the short-term memory. Rehearsal is a control process that keeps information in the short-term memory store. From short-term memory, information can be transferred to long-term memory for permanent storage.

Identify what parts of the diagram are structural features, and what parts are control processes.

Details about each store (key terms for this theory will be at the bottom of the post, use the online textbook for definitions):

Sensory memory -
We experience our world through a number of senses, and it is believed we have a sensory memory for each sense. For example, we have a different memory store for visual sensations and auditory sensations. Information in this store decays very rapidly and can only be held for a few hundred milliseconds (i.e. 500ms = half a second).

Short-term memory -
Duration: when information is attended to then it enters this store. Information in this store is thought to remain there for 15 to 30 seconds, and is thought to decay unless it is maintained via rehearsal.
Capacity: Atkinson and Shiffrin assumed the capacity was for 5 to 8 items. However, Miller (1956) refined this to 'the magical number 7 plus or mins 2'. So the short term store as a series of 5 to 9 slots that can hold information.
Encoding: short-term memory holds information in auditory (sound) form. For example, you may see a car but in short-term memory it is held as the word 'car'.
Retrieval: information is retrieved from the short-term memory using a quick scan of the information in the store. Rehearsal keeps information in the short-term store, if there is too much to rehearse then information with the least rehearsal will decay. For example, if you are asked to remember a list of words, the words that you say to yourself the least are less likely to be remembered.

Long-term memory -
Retrieval: long-term memories exist for all sensory information. For example, you can remember the taste of coffee, the sight of a picture, the sound of a friends voice BUT there are multiple copies of each memory. There evidence for this is the 'tip of the tongue' phenomenon - where you know there is a memory for something in there but can't access it; you see a familiar face, where you met that person, what their voice sounds like, but you cannot retrieve their name even though you know it.
Encoding: information can be stored in long-term memory by rehearsal, or linking new information to old information. For example, repeating a phone number over and over again can store it in long-term memory (rehearsal), OR if you know know how to evaluate one study in psychology you can evaluate another because you can relate both to GRAVE.
Duration: potentially the duration is unlimited. Long-term memory can hold certain types of information for the whole of a person's lifetime without deterioration. Other types of information may deteriorate over time.
Capacity: again, potentially infinite, with the potential to hold thousands of images in long-term memory.

Transferring information from short-term to long-term:
The information that enters the sensory register can only be processed in the short-term memory once a verbal label has been applied to it from long-term memory. For example, if you see a monkey (sensory memory), you cannot process it in short-term memory until long-term memory has provided the label 'monkey'. Transfer from short-term memory to long-term memory can occur because of rehearsal, but this may leave a weak memory. A mnemoic (i.e. SCOUT) can provide a stronger trace as the 5 evaluation points are linked by a familiar word or pattern.

Key terms:
control processes, attended information, rehearsal, mnemonic

KOP!