The Differences Between Different Memory Models

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The Differences Between Different Memory Models

Brief Outlines:

Memory is a system, which is a vital to our survival. For

psychologists, memory cares processes called:

« Encoding, whereby incoming information is changed into a form that

the system can cope with.

« Storage, for a particular length of time in a particular form, in a

store with a certain capacity.

« Retrieval, i.e. getting information out of a memory store.

Atkinson + Shifrins idea was theMultistore model.

Atkinson + Shifrin suggest that memory is made up of a series of

stores as shown above, the stores differ in their encoding, storage +

retrieval characteristics.

Short term sensory store.

« Information help as a sensation

« Lasts 1-4 seconds

« Capacity 5-9 items

« Information lost as sensory image fades.

Sperling (1960) believed that information in the short term sensory

store is held as a sensation, e.g. a visual stimulus is held as a

visual image. To demonstrate this he showed participants three rows of

four mixed numbers and consonants for a brief time, and then played

them a tone (high, medium or low) to prompt them to recall the top

middle or bottom line. Participants could do this easily if they

recalled immediately but the image faded rapidly, lasting no more that

one-quarter of a second. In the way, Sperling was also able to show

that the short-term sensory store hold 5-9 items.

Short term memory.

« Lasts up to 30 seconds

« Capacity 7+2 items

« Information lost through interference or decay.

« Holds information as images, sounds or meanings.

Information selected for further processing passes fr...

... middle of paper ...

...e material to be

remembered. If we learn something in a particular context we are more

likely to recall it in that context than in a different one regardless

of how deeply we processed it.

« Personal Relevance - Rogers et al (1977) found that participants

whop processed words in terms of whether they applied to them in some

way (e.g. Do you own one of these? PARROT) remembered them even more

than semantically processed words

All of the different memory models have had some kind of proof to back

them up, however in most of them it does not completely explain it,

e.g. working memory model. Most of the models and theories have been

created to try and find and answer and minimise the problems with the

other theories however none of them have managed to do this and all

have their own problems and questionable ideas.

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