Cognitive Psychology - The Multistore Model of Memory, Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968

8 important questions on Cognitive Psychology - The Multistore Model of Memory, Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968

What kind of model is the multistore model of memory?

Linear, information processing model that describes memory like a computer; memory stores are the computer hardware and the control processes are the computer software.

How does sensory memory encode information according to the multistore model of memory?

Through one of five sensory registers for each of the senses

How does short term memory encode information according to the multistore model of memory?

Largely acoustically and verbally
Shown through the phonological similarity effect: the phenomenon that letters and words of a similar sound are more difficult to recall than those that sound different. Atkinson and Schiffrin attribute this to short term memory encoding acoustically which is why it confuses words that sound similar.
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How much duration does sensory memory have according to the multistore model of memory?

50 milliseconds to a few seconds
Shown through the research of Sperling where a visual array was presented via a tachistoscope for a brief moment and the results were that the sensory register can only hold information for less than one second before it is lost.

How much duration does short term memory have according to the multistore model of memory?

15 to 30 seconds
Shown through the research of Peterson and Peterson where participants had to remember a trigram which was read out whilst completing the interference task of counting backwards in threes, stopping participants from being able to rehearse the information and transfer it to long term memory. Results showed that correct recall decreased rapidly after 15 to 18 seconds.

How does sensory memory retrieve information according to the multistore model of memory?

Scanning surroundings

How does long term memory forget information according to the multistore model of memory?

Decay and interference during retrieval

How much duration does long term memory have according to the multistore model of memory?

Potentially a lifetime
Shown through the research of Brady et al where participants were shown 2,500 objects in pairs over 5.5 hours and were asked to identify the objects they had seen. Results showed that similar objects had an 88% identification rate, whereas dissimilar objects had a 92% identification rate, demonstrating that thousands of images can be maintained successfully over long periods of time.

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