Essay about Mulit-Store Model of Memory vs. Working Memory...

Compare and contrast the multi-store model of memory with the working memory model. This essay will firstly briefly describe the theories and important facts about the original multi-store model of memory (MSM) and the working memory model (WMM). This essay will then evaluate the key studies within these two models and explain the strengths and weaknesses of the main theories. The final part of this essay will be to examine the similarities and differences between the two models. The first issue that needs to be addressed however is what exactly is memory? â€Å" Without memory we would be servants of the moment, with nothing but our innate reflexes to help us deal with the world. There would be no language, no art, no science, no†¦show more content†¦The existence of sensory memory was proven by Sperling (1960), in this experiment Sperling discovered that after showing the participants a series of letters for less than a second they where then asked to recall as many letters as possible but on average they only could recall about 36%. According to Lloyd et al (1984) about 5% of all of a persons memories that are stored in their sensory memory are transferred to their short-term memory. The short-term memory allows a person to store the information for long enough for it to be used, the short-term memory can also be called the working memory however this term later came to have a different meaning. The short-term memory however only has a limited capacity to store information; Miller (1956) claims that in order to save space in a person’s short-term memory they chunk information together but despite this space saving the short-term memory can only hold seven plus or minus two of these chunks of information. According to Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971) this information can be stored unaided for about 15-30 seconds, this time frame can be extended by rehearsal. It is commonly accepted that a person’s long-term memory has an unlimited capacity to store information; this information can effectively be stored for the persons entire life if needed. Bower (1975) claims that among other information that is stored within a person’s long-term memory are five key pieces of information. â€Å" A spatial model of the world