Memory - B1

The five stages include: input, encoding, storage, retrieval and output.

Input is information that enters the memory process using all five senses.

Encoding is the way in which information is represented in the memory store e.g by sound, meaning or image.

Storage is holding information in memory until it is needed.

Retrieval is locating information in memory and recovering it from when it is needed.

Short term memory is for immediate events. STM is measured in seconds and minutes rather than hours and days i.e a short duration. They disappear util they're rehearsed. STM also has a limited capacity of 5-9 and tends to be encoded acoustically.

Your long term memory is for events that have happened in the past. The duration of it can last from 2 minutes to 100 years and is viewed as lasting a lifetime. The capacity is also unmilited. It tends to encoded semantically.

Capacity is the measure of how muchcan be held in memory. It is represented in terms of bits of information. 

The way in which information is held in the memory store e.g acoustically, semantically and visulally. 

A measure of how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available. 

The cognitive process of seletively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things. 

Atkinson and Shriffin formed the multi-store-model. Its purpose was to show that there are diffrent memory stores that are unitary. Previously it was believed that all memory was stored in one place. 

Stimulus input enters the sensory regsister. The sensory register has a brief duration and a very large capacity and encoding is multi-modal.

Attention takes place and then information enters the STM store. Information is encoded  acoustically. The capacity is 5-9 and the duration is short and memories last for 18-20 seconds. Maintenance rehearsal also takes place here, it is where material is rehearsed. If it is rehearsed enough it will pass and go to long term memory. 

Once going through the process of rehaersal memories eneter the long term memory strore and they're encoded semantically. Long term memory is believed to an unlimited capacity that has a duration of a lifetime. 

The MSM states that if we want to retrieve a memory, information from LTM has to transfer back through STM.

The serial position effects supports the MSM

A. They were testing STM. P. Participants were given a list of words they had to remember over a short duration of time. Once the time was up they had to recall the words in any order. F. The words at the beginning  and at the end of the list were remembered. Whilst words in the middle of the of the list were mostly forgotten. It displayed the recency and primacy effect. The recency effect links in your STM. The words at the end of the list would be in your STM, meaning you can reacll them without rehearsal. The primacy effect links in with your LTM. The words in the beginning of the list would've been reherased so they are stored in your LTM where you can retrieve and recall them. C. It supports the MSM as it displays the stores are separate due to the primacy and recency effect. C. Strengths: it was carried out in a controlled environment meaning no extranieous variables could effect the experiment meaning we can establish cause and effect. Weaknesses: Due to it being a lab experiement it lacks ecological validity and this experiment may not apply to everyone. 

Clive Wearing, and HM are both brain damaged patients that damaged their LTM whilst their STM remained intact and for KF its vice versa; he damaged his STM whilst his LTM remained to fine. 

They display that the stores are separate as one store is damaged and the other is intact so the can recall information from that store only. Displaying that there are clear distinctions between them. 

The MSM has been crisicised due to being over simplified, KF, flashbulb memory and lab experiments. 

The MSM is viwed as being over simplified as it is a linear model and there were't other real alternatives as to how memories can be formed. Its been criricised for being basic and having no depth. Additionally it doesn't take individual diffreneces into account. 

KF supports the MSM by displaying that the stores are separate however he also criticises it as not all of his STM was damaged disproving that the stores are unitary. His verbal processing was damaged but not his visual processing. He shows that the stores have subdivisions. 

Flashbulb memory is the concept that traumatic events have formed into LTM without being rehearsed (people don't want to remember traumatic experiences). Contradicts the model because the model shows the memories can only form in long term memory through rehearsal. Showing the model is over simplified. 

Lab experiments have been carried out to support the MSM however, they can also be criticised as it doesn't reflect real life leading it to lack ecological validity.

The WMM consists a central executive, epidsodic buffer, phonological loop and the visuo spatial sketchpad. 

The central executive  drives the system and decides how attention is directed as well as allocating resources.It then leads to the episodic buffer which is a general store that uses both visual and acoustic info, it also has a limited capacity. It intergartes info from all the components part of the model. The episodic buffer can ether go to the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad. The phonological loop controls auditory info and is further subdidivided into the auditory store and the articulatory contorlprocess. The auditory store holds info in speech based form for 1-2 (s). Spoken words enter directly. The articulatory  process has words entering in indirectly that are converted sub-vocally. Rehearsal takes place here. The visuo-spatial sketch pad processs visual and spatial info and holds info for a short time. You use it when you are planning a spatial task. 

KF damaged his STM whilst his LTM remianed intact. However, he didn't damage all of his short term memory. After the damage he had poor STM ability for verbal information but could process visula informioation normally presented visually. He had difficulties with sounds but could recall numbers and digits. This suggests that his phonological loop had been damaged leaving other areas of memory intact. BUT the evidence may not be reliable as it invloves individuals that have suffered with traumatic experiences. 

Studies of dual task performance espcially into the serparate exsistence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad support the WMM. Baddeley showed that participants struggled to perform two visual tasks (tracking a light and describing the letter F) more than doing a visual and verbal task at the same time. Its harder to perform two visual tasks as the tasks compete for the same slave system. Whereas when you do visual and verbal task simultaneously there is no competition. Showing there are separate systems. 

There is also a lack of clarity over the central executive. Its viewed as being unsatisfactory and that it doesn't explain anything. Baddeley commented saying that it is the most important  component in the WMM yet it is the least undierstood and that it need to be clearly specified rather than just being 'attention'. Other psychologists think its further subdivided. Showing more research is needed.

The model doesnt take muical memory into account. It is the idea that you are able to process muiscal information (instrumental) and audial information at the same time. This contradicts model as it states that you can't do both tasks at the same time because they both occupy the phonological loop. 

Semantic LTM is responsible for storing information about the world e.g. Lonodn is the capital of England. It does involve concious thought. (explicit)

Episodic LTM is responsible for storing information about events we have experienced e.g a memory from the first day at school. It does involve concious thought. (explicit)

Procedural LTM is responsible for knowing how to do things e.g knowledge of how to ride a bike. It does not involve concious thought. (implicit)

The distinction between different types of LTM is supported by research using brain scans. Participants were asked questions about their past. They found that different memories came  from different parts of the brain. Episodic LTM is witht the hippocampus. Semantic LTM  is associated with the temporal lobe. Procedural LTM is associated with the cerebellum. This means that LTM does have sub-sections too, as it clearly distinguishes the diffrences between the three as they're from different parts of the brain.

The case study of HM and Clive Wearing can be used to support the distinction between types of LTM. They found that the semantic and procedural memory was intact in both men. However, the hippocampus (episodic LTM) was damaged in both men. This therefore distinguishes between the types. 

There is a lack of eveidence to distinguish between episodic and semantic LTM. Some research struggles to distinguish the diffrence between them as there is a small overlap in epsisodic and semantic. For example, if you haven't been to London you wouldn't know the street names. You need to experience it to create a semantic memory. The hippocampus is located in the frontal lobe. There is not sufficient evnidence to distinguish clearly between these two types as contradictory evidence from researchers have shown.