Memory: A recap of the multi-store model

1. Cognitive Psychology Memory: A recap of the multi-store model Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

2. Multi-store model of memory – a recap (marks out of 16) • Who proposed the multi-store model of memory and in what year? • Name the three memory stores in the multi-store model of memory. • Name the three ways in which these memory stores differ (Hint: C, D and E). • Name two processes involved in the multi-store model of memory. • Which researcher proposed that STM can hold 7+/-2 items of information (and the year)? • Which researcher carried out the ‘yearbook study’ to investigate the duration of LTM (and the year)? • How does STM encode information? • How does LTM encode information?

3. Quiz answers • Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). (2 marks) • Sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. (3 marks) • Capacity, duration and encoding. (3 marks) • Attention, maintenance rehearsal, or elaborative rehearsal. (2 marks) • Miller (1956). (2 marks) • Bahrick et al. (1975). (2 marks) • STM – acoustically (1 mark). • LTM – semantically (1 mark).

4. Cognitive Psychology The Working Memory Model Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

5. AQA Specification

6. Learning Objectives • To understand what is meant by the concept of working memory. • To outline the working memory model and the features of the four components. • To correctly identify the AO1 component of a question and apply knowledge of the features of the working memory components.

7. Example 12 + 7 + 11 12 + 7 = 19 19 + 11 = 30 You would add 12 and 7and keep the answer of 19 in your STM. You would then add 19 and 11 and produce the correct answer of 30.

8. Baddeley and Hitch (1974)Dual task study • Felt that STM consisted of a number of different components. • Procedure: Participants were given digit strings to rehearse aloud while, simultaneously, carrying out a verbal reasoning task. • Findings: Participants in the study were able to recall six-digit strings and perform accurately on the reasoning task. • These findings suggest that the two tasks did not interfere with each other because they made use of different components within STM.

9. Dual task study: Verbal reasoning task Read the following list of 10 short statements and decide for each one, as quickly and as accurately as you can, whether it is true or false. Example: 1. A is preceded by B BA (True or False?) • B is followed by A BA • A does not follow B BA • A is not preceded by B BA • A is not followed by B BA • B follows A AB • B is preceded by A BA • A does not precede B BA • B is not preceded by A BA • B is followed by A AB • A follows B AB

10. Working memory: a definition • A‘multi-component, flexible system of STM’ called the Working Memory which involves both active processing and STM in combination.

11. Components of the working memory model Central Executive Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad Phonological Loop Articulatory Control System Inner Scribe Visual Cache Phonological Store

12. The Central Executive • Key component – attentional control system. • Controls the other ‘slave’ systems by determining how these resources will be allocated. • Directs attention to particular tasks. • Involved in problem-solving and decision-making. • Modality-free. • Limited capacity.

13. The Phonological Loop • Limited capacity. • Deals with auditory information and verbal information in a speech-based form. • Consists of two components: - 1. Phonological store (inner ear) –holds the information in words that you hear for a brief period. 2. Articulatory control process (inner voice) – an active rehearsal system. Words get maintained by subvocal repetition (repeating it in your head). • Articulatory suppression.

14. The Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad‘The inner eye’ • Limited capacity. • Temporary store for visual information (what things look like) and spatial information (arrangement of things in 3D space). • Responsible for setting up and manipulating mental images. • Logie (1995) subdivided the visuo-spatial sketchpad into the visual cache and the inner scribe.

15. The two ‘slave’ systems • Both systems have limited capacity but the limits of these systems are independent. • For example, it is possible to rehearse a set of digits in the phonological loop whilst simultaneously making decisions about the spatial layout of a set of letters in the visuo-spatial sketchpad. • This is because the two tasks do not interfere with each other as they are using separate components of working memory.

16. Role of the Episodic BufferBaddeley (2000) • To account for things that use both visual and auditory information. • General storage system. • Responsible for integrating information from all working memory components and from LTMinto chunks or ‘episodes.’ • Limited capacity.

17. Components of the working memory model: Baddeley (2000) Central Executive Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad Phonological Loop Episodic Buffer Inner Scribe Articulatory Control System LTM Visual Cache Phonological Store

18. Working Memory Task Try to work out how many windows there are in your home. When you have completed this task, make a note of how you did it. Discuss with your partner. Did you use similar strategies?

19. WMM vs. MSM • It is important to highlight here that the working memory model is a functional model: it focuses on the processes involved in STM. • However the multi-store model of memory is a structural model: it focuses on the different memory stores.