Sperling's Study on Sensory Memory

Sperling's research provides crucial evidence for the existence of sensory memory, supporting the multi-store model of memory (MSM) by demonstrating the characteristics of the sensory store.

Procedure:

• Participants viewed a screen where rows of letters were flashed very briefly (1/20th of a second).
• After the screen went blank, participants were asked to recall as many letters as possible.

Key Findings:

• Information in the sensory store decays very rapidly, typically within less than half a second.

Evaluation:

• This study supports the MSM by providing evidence for a distinct sensory store.
• The rapid decay of information in the sensory store distinguishes it from short-term memory (STM).
• If the information were held in STM, participants would likely have been able to remember the presented stimuli for a longer duration.

Highlight: Sperling's study is crucial in establishing the existence and characteristics of sensory memory, which is the first stage in the multi-store model.

Example: If you close your eyes immediately after looking at a bright light, you may still "see" an afterimage for a brief moment. This is an example of sensory memory in action.

This research contributes to our understanding of how information is initially processed before entering short-term memory, supporting the multi-store model's conceptualization of memory as a series of distinct stores.

Multi-Store Model of Memory: Glanzer and Cunitz Study (1966)

The Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) study provides significant support for the multi-store model of memory. This research demonstrates the serial position effect, which aligns with the model's assumptions about short-term and long-term memory stores.

Procedure:

• Participants listened to a list of words and were asked to recall them in any order.
• Researchers observed a pattern in recall known as the serial position effect.

Definition: The serial position effect refers to the tendency to remember words at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list better than those in the middle.

Evaluation:

• The study supports the multi-store model by showing evidence for separate short-term and long-term memory stores.
• The primacy effect suggests that words at the beginning of the list are rehearsed and transferred to long-term memory.
• The recency effect indicates that words at the end of the list are still in short-term memory.
• Words in the middle of the list are less likely to be remembered due to lack of rehearsal or displacement from short-term memory.

Highlight: This research provides empirical evidence for the distinct nature of short-term and long-term memory stores, a key assumption of the multi-store model.