Pranav Gopal Week 13: The Multi-Store Model and Memory Fallibility
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| Kavanaugh // Unsplash |
Looking into possible subjects for my blog this week led me down a rabbit hole of memory studies, eventually until I stumbled upon the multi-store memory model, developed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968. This structural model offered a pretty substantial beginning for the rest of my understandings in memory and its processes this week, and would then transition interestingly into different other offshoots as I found potentially and somewhat related other studies.
To start, the multi-store model establishes that memory is divided into three stores, those being a sensory register, short term memory, and long term memory. Atkinson and Shiffrin would go on to develop each section's own specific and characteristic details revolving around the conceptualization of three main factors. One such factor is encoding, indicated as the way information is changed such that memory stores it, having the potential to be encoded as a visual, picture, or semantic. Capacity is yet another factor, instead indicating the amount of information stored. Lastly, duration indicates the length of the memory lasting in any of the memory stores.
Sensory memory has the shortest duration, being capable of storing all sensory information and encoding based on the primary sense developed. The sensory memory section is constantly being developed as we go through everyday life and receive thousands of input signals from our environment. However, most of the storage and memory is not maintained in the attention and remains only for a short and transient period. This short period can be considered as the time inputs are remembered or attended to such that a person can facilitate an adequate response. A key determining factor in maintaining sensory memory is attention, as if a person is attentive to specific senses or experiences, the memory data is shifted from sensory memory to short term memory.
Moving on to the short term memory, its duration is significantly longer, having a duration nearing thirty seconds and the capacity of recalling between 5-9 chunks of data. Short term memory typically encodes information based on acoustics or sound, and information in the short term memory is likely at the mercy of displacement or decay. However, short term memory can be maintained through maintenance rehearsal, where a person can repeat information and thus extend the duration to beyond thirty seconds. Continually recalling or rehearsing information can strengthen the memory itself, potentially shifting it to long term memory. Likewise, a lack of memory rehearsal can lead to the decay and loss of the memory.
Lastly and possibly most importantly is long term memory, with unlimited durations and capacity, but mainly semantic encoding. Long term memory is typically differentiated as a result of this encoding, since semantic encoding revolves around the relative "meaning" or importance of a memory. Through elaborative rehearsal, a process linking new information meaningfully to already-stored long-term memory, information can be processed into the long term memory more effectively and efficiently.
Alongside this study revolving around the multi-store model, I also found two other studies and effects that interested me in the way that they indicated the shortcomings and failures of memory. One such instance is the facilitation of false memories, as studied by Elizabeth Loftus extensively in her reflections on the reliability of memory. In one such experiment in her studies, Loftus would show participants a video of a car passing through an intersection with a stop sign, followed by a leading question suggesting that it was a yield sign instead. This simple leading question led a significant amount of people to recall a yield sign instead, and thus create memories that did not actually happen. Another such experiment was again revolving around leading information, as Loftus would discuss memory with participants and bring up a memory supposedly from the participant's family, revolving around the presentation of three real memories that were actually gathered and one fake made up situation. In the study, about a quarter of participants would genuinely recall or supposedly remember the made up event, proving Loftus' indication of the presence of rich false memories.
The last effect I'll include for this week will be the weapon effect, another effect indicated by Johnson and Scott to be framed around the fallibility of memory. This study was based on the premise that the memory of the event depends completely on the attention during and revolving around it as an event happens. In this study, it was indicated that the presence of a weapon leads to an almost linear decrease in accurate memory. As a result of high stress engagement, surprise, fear, and other emotions, the accuracy of the memory decreases substantially, leading to the comparison of participants seeing a man walk out of a room angrily with a pen with those seeing the same context with a man walking out with a bloody knife. Those who had been in the situation with the knife recalled the event with much less accuracy, indicating some sort of correlation between the memory and event.
Overall, looking into this basis of memory and some of the interesting and nuanced interactions it has led me to understand my brain and memory a bit better, and interests me as to what I'll find in the next few weeks.
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ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! The multi-store memory model is the one thing I remember from psychology, and reading everyone else's psych related blogs made me think about this subject but I forgot the name of it until I read yours and had an "aha!" moment. The false memories remind me of the Spotify ad for some podcast and it went like "[insert name] remembers that when he was 3 he fell and broke his arm, but everyone in his family swore he never broke his arm. Now, [insert name] doesn't know what to believe. Find out on [insert podcast name]!" I did not know that the presence of weapons had a positive correlation with the decrease of accuracy in memory, although it makes sense since people are too busy feeling scared or stressed out.
ReplyDeleteI, not having taken any psychology class (too scared of the teachers), had literally no understanding of how memory was stored or divided into different types. I feel like my long-term memory has some major issues: it stores some of the most random stuff in my life (spells and their damage from "Pathfinder") but not the equations I need to remember to check if a summation is converging or diverging. I also feel like my short-term memory is far too short: I often forget where I leave my phone or wallet just seconds after I throw it onto my couch. It is time to do my own research, but I thank you for introducing me to this world of memories.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, your blog was really educational, and I think it gave us some much needed background information about memory storage as we continue to explore the concept of memory this quarter. I truly learned a lot about this blog, and I really appreciate the three store model that deals with three distinct characteristics, because it kind of simplifies how memory works and makes it much easier to understand. One question I have is how long a person typically remembers short term memories? I also found the two studies discussed very interesting. I think the first study on false memories also reveals how trusting human beings are, and how easily we can be manipulated into changing our perceptions and beliefs. I especially thought it was interesting that violent weapons can have a significant impact on memory, but I guess that makes sense since the presence of weapons would induce fear and heighten emotions, which could cloud our ability to properly remember stuff from that time.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, I really didn't have any understanding of how memory was stored up until I read your blog (and the other blog posts I read). I was really interested by the experiment you mentioned which revolved around the car and the yield sign. It's crazy that the brain works that way. It reminded me of this show that I used to watch called "Brain Games." My mom and I used to watch it all the time, and it basically explored all these different intricacies of the human brain. One thing I really loved about the show is that it would enact experiments similar to the one that you mentioned on random people, and observe their reactions. Anyways, thank you for this very educational blog post, and I look forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! This is the very first time I’m hearing of the multi-store memory model that gives an understanding of what memory has been initialized. The three stages you mentioned seem intriguing to think about since being able to manipulate the way certain sections of our brain work is considerably fascinating for the indications each of them show. For example, if we consider the factor of encoding a picture or semantic like you said, the long duration of the memory showcases the amount of information stored within that parameter of your brain cell, which indirectly gives a sign to scientists a clue to improving your primary senses. There is a lot of sensory memory that is stored within a person’s attention span that unknowingly goes unheard of which I think this model does a great job identifying because of the signals that it transfers. The retention of this information is at a higher rate when maintained after rehearing multiple times. Thank you so much for your blog as I learned a lot about this model that extended by existing knowledge on the brain’s functionality.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! Before reading your blog, I didn't really know much about how our memories worked or about the models that scientists proposed to explain memory. This blog was certainly well researched, especially for the descriptions of how certain memory models work. The information that really caught my attention was the explanation of the various experiments that scientists conducted to question how accurate our memories really are. It's definitely a strange motivation for a study, although the concept and results are still fascinating. I really liked the information about memory correlating to high stress situations, as it explains how our perceptions of situations change based on how invested we are.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, I never knew that memory in the brain is divided into three sections, and that each section is taken up for a specific task. Your blog post shows how the human brain is so capable yet somehow so limited at the same time. There are literally sections for different types of memory, but each section manages to come up with its own limitations.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! We learned about the multi-store memory model in AP Psychology. I found it very interesting, and your blog brought up a lot of interesting studies and the names of effects I knew very little about. I remember seeing a video where those who were in elementary school in New York during the events of 9/11 falsely recall seeing the Twin Tower going down from their classroom windows. This would have been impossible as the researchers went back and checked their elementary classes to see that there were no windows or that the windows were open to a direction turned away from the Twin Towers. This effect is why police stations don’t rely solely on witness recounts as evidence due to their unreliability in crimes as you pointed out. Memory is fascinating and I hope to study it in closer depth in the future..
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