Lesson 2.1.2

2.1.2 Multi-store model of memory Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 2

20 questions

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Lesson 2.1.2, Multi-store model of memory: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 2: Cognitive psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which model of memory proposed sensory, short-term and long-term stores?

    • The working memory model, proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974
    • The multi-store model of memory, proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968
    • The schema model, proposed by Bartlett in 1932 from his work on folk stories
    • The episodic and semantic model, proposed by Tulving in 1972

  2. According to the multi-store model, what process moves information from short-term to long-term memory?

    • Sensory decay, which removes information from the sensory register after a fraction of a second
    • Articulatory suppression, which prevents information from being transferred into the long-term store
    • Rehearsal, which repeats the information and allows it to be transferred to long-term storage
    • Reconstruction, which rebuilds memories from schemas each time they are recalled from the past

  3. What is the approximate capacity of short-term memory proposed by the multi-store model's research base?

    • About a hundred items, since short-term memory is very large in size
    • About seven items, plus or minus two
    • About one item, since only one item can be attended to at a time
    • About twenty items, plus or minus five

  4. What is the approximate duration of short-term memory in the multi-store model's evidence (Peterson and Peterson, 1959)?

    • About 18 to 30 days without rehearsal, showing that memory lasts for a whole month without decay
    • About 18 to 30 seconds without rehearsal
    • About 18 to 30 minutes without rehearsal, showing that memory lasts for the whole of an hour
    • About 18 to 30 years without rehearsal, showing that memory is permanent once it enters the store

  5. Which store in the multi-store model has the largest capacity?

    • Working memory, which holds only the items currently under attention in the central executive
    • Sensory memory, which holds a very large amount of information for a fraction of a second only
    • Short-term memory, which holds about seven items at any one time, according to Miller's research
    • Long-term memory, which is thought to have a very large or almost unlimited capacity

  6. Which description of encoding in the multi-store model is accurate?

    • Both stores encode information only through the motor movements that accompany the speech of the words
    • Both stores encode information only visually, so the sound of words does not matter for either store
    • Short-term memory mainly encodes information acoustically, while long-term memory encodes it semantically
    • Short-term memory mainly encodes information semantically, while long-term memory encodes it acoustically

  7. A participant recalls a list of words best when they are acoustically dissimilar. Which store is most likely involved in the recall of the list?

    • Long-term memory, since semantic similarity affects recall at the long-term store in every case
    • Episodic memory, since acoustic similarity has no effect on any store in the multi-store model at all
    • Sensory memory, since acoustic similarity affects recall in the sensory register for a very short time
    • Short-term memory, since acoustic similarity affects recall at this store

  8. A participant hears a list of words, but has no time to rehearse them before a distractor task. What is the most likely outcome?

    • All information is stored in long-term memory, since the list was heard and therefore encoded permanently
    • All information is transferred to long-term memory, since the distractor task itself acts as rehearsal
    • Most information is lost from short-term memory, since rehearsal did not occur to transfer it
    • All information is retained in sensory memory, which has no capacity limit and never decays at all

  9. What is one key evaluation point about the multi-store model?

    • It is complex, since it describes many interacting components in great detail, which makes it hard to test
    • It is entirely based on case studies of patients with brain damage and has no experimental support at all
    • It is entirely based on questionnaires with no experimental data and no empirical evidence of any kind
    • It is simplistic, since it treats each store as a single unit and does not explain the working memory components

  10. Which statement about the sensory register in the multi-store model is correct?

    • It holds information for about 18 to 30 years, before the information is transferred to the long-term store
    • It holds only verbal information and has no capacity for visual or other sensory inputs in the model
    • It holds a large amount of sensory information for a very brief time, before attention selects some for further processing
    • It holds information permanently, and nothing is ever lost from the sensory store once it has been registered

  11. Which of these shows that the multi-store model is a model of information processing?

    • It describes memory only in terms of the chemical changes in neurons, with no role for information flow
    • It describes information moving through stores, with processes of encoding, storage and retrieval
    • It describes memory only in terms of emotional reactions to events, with no role for encoding or storage
    • It describes memory as a fixed biological structure, with no processing of information at any point

  12. Which evaluation point is most relevant to the multi-store model's use of lab experiments?

    • Lab experiments always reflect everyday memory exactly, so ecological validity is never an issue for this model
    • Lab experiments can only be conducted with animals, so they cannot inform any model of human memory at all
    • Lab experiments give control and support for the model, but may lack ecological validity for everyday memory
    • Lab experiments give no control, so they cannot provide any useful evidence for the stores in the model

  13. A participant's memory for a phone number is lost after 20 seconds of distraction. Which store does the multi-store model say is involved?

    • Sensory memory, since information is lost from it within about 18 to 30 seconds without any attention
    • Short-term memory, since information decays from it within about 18 to 30 seconds without rehearsal
    • Episodic memory, since information is lost from it within about 18 to 30 seconds without any personal link
    • Long-term memory, since information is lost from it within about 18 to 30 seconds without any rehearsal

  14. Which idea is part of the multi-store model's account of retrieval?

    • Information is retrieved from the sensory register directly, bypassing both the short-term and long-term stores
    • Information must be retrieved from the long-term store back into awareness when it is needed
    • Information is retrieved only through emotional arousal, which triggers the release of stored memories
    • Information is retrieved only from the working memory components, which are the only stores that matter

  15. What is the main evidence for the duration of short-term memory in the multi-store model?

    • Peterson and Peterson (1959) found that recall of trigrams fell sharply within about 18 to 30 seconds without rehearsal
    • Bartlett (1932) found that recall of folk stories was complete after a single exposure, with no decay over time
    • Loftus and Palmer (1974) found that recall of car speeds was unchanged by the wording of the question asked
    • Miller (1956) found that recall of pictures lasted for several years after the original exposure to the images

  16. Which process is described by the multi-store model as moving information from the sensory register into short-term memory?

    • Articulatory suppression, which blocks the information from entering short-term memory during the task
    • Reconstruction, which rebuilds the information from schemas once it has already been stored in long-term memory
    • Sensory decay, which removes the information from the sensory register without any further processing at all
    • Attention, which selects some of the information in the sensory register for further processing

  17. Why did Miller (1956) suggest that short-term memory has a limited capacity?

    • Because people could recall about a hundred items from very long lists, which showed a large capacity overall
    • Because people could recall only one item at a time, showing that the store holds just a single unit of information
    • Because people could recall only about seven items, plus or minus two, from short lists in his experiments
    • Because people could recall about twenty items from short lists, which showed the store to be quite large

  18. What does the multi-store model say about the storage of information in long-term memory?

    • Long-term memory has no storage at all, since information passes straight through it into the retrieval process
    • Long-term memory has a capacity of one item at a time and holds information only while it is being attended to
    • Long-term memory has a capacity of about seven items and holds information for only about 18 to 30 seconds
    • Long-term memory has a very large capacity and can hold information for a long duration, possibly permanently

  19. A researcher shows that people remember a list of words better when the words are semantically different rather than similar. Which store and code does this suggest?

    • Sensory memory with a visual code, since visual differences aid recall in the sensory register briefly
    • Working memory with a motor code, since motor differences aid recall in the central executive of the model
    • Long-term memory with a semantic code, since semantic differences aid recall in the long-term store
    • Short-term memory with an acoustic code, since acoustic differences aid recall in the short-term store

  20. Which of these is a limitation of the multi-store model's account of short-term memory?

    • It treats short-term memory as having several interacting components, which is hard to test in any study
    • It treats short-term memory as the same as long-term memory, with no difference in duration in any situation
    • It treats short-term memory as a single unit, which the working memory model later challenged
    • It treats short-term memory as having no capacity limit, which has never been challenged by any research

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