hey everyone welcome back to buried in mind this is the start of a series on the topic of memory where we're going to explore two models of memory different types of long-term memory consider explanations for why you and I forget and explore factors that affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and then look at ways of improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony through the cognitive interview the topic of memory explores an area of psychology known as cognitive psychology this focuses on our internal mental processes if you are unfamiliar with cognitive psychology check out this video on the cognitive approach that will give you some key background information that will help you understand the topic of memory in this video we're going to explore the multi-star model of memory we're going to explore the structure of the model and the processes involved in how memories go from one store to the next and then we're going to explore the first store in terms of its coding capacity and duration one of the key aspects of cognitive psychology is the use of theoretical models to help represent the way that mental processes work the multi-star model was proposed by two Richards Richard Atkinson and Richard schifrin in 1968 to try to explain how information we receive from the environment can make it into our long-term memory as the name suggests the multi-star model proposes that there are multiple or separate stores for three types of memory sensory short-term and long-term short-term memory and long-term memory are thought to be unitary stores in other words they form a single unit or store an important point we'll come back to when evaluating the multi-store model this model suggests that information from the environment is received by the sensory register as the name suggests we receive this information via our senses this information is then passed to our short-term memory but this only happens when you pay tension then if information is rehearsed we can temporarily keep it in our memory for a short period of time this is known as maintenance rehearsal and according to the multi-star model for it to go to long-term memory the information needs prolonged rehearsal if we got asked about that information we would then retrieve that information from long-term memory too short to memory to be temporarily used notice how this model states that memory flows in a particular direction for memories to make it to long-term memory they must go from the sensory register through to short-term memory then through rehearsal go to long-term memory this order of direction is why the multi-star model is an example of a linear model with the processing of the memory happening sequentially in a series of stages going from one store to the next having theoretical models like the multi-star model allows psychologists to provide testable theories about mental processes and which can can then be studied scientifically lots of research has been done to test the accuracy of the multi-star model to find out how well it explains memory but more about that in the next video let's now consider the specific features of the different stores starting with the sensory register for this you need to understand the following terms coding or you might see the word encoding encoding refers to transforming incoming information into a form that can be stored in memory encoding can be done visually as an image acoustically as a sound and semantically its meaning duration well this is the length of time the memory lasts for or how long it is kept in the store before it's forgotten capacity this is the amount of information that the store can hold for the sensory register information is coded according to the sense or mode in which it is received whether that is visual referred to as iconic or auditory referred to as echoing or any of the other senses for this reason the way information is encoded in the sensory register is modality specific it is specific to the mode or sense that receives the information the length of time that sensory memories last for varies slightly depending on the format in which it is coded with iconic memories thought to last around 250 milliseconds or a quarter of a second in other words sensory memories have a very short duration and fade away very quickly capacity of the sensory register your brain needs to be able to detect all of the information that you receive that is a lot of information when you think about it all the light that is being received through your eyes all the sounds that you can hear what smells your nose is absorbing and the flavors that are stimulating your taste buds as you sip your coffee of choice if we consider your eye further there are millions of rods and cones at the back of the eye that are receiving light so the capacity of the century register is potentially unlimited now you might be thinking that some fascinating information about memory but what has that got to do with my life well one key lesson for you to bear in mind is the significance of how the multi-star model suggests information goes from the sensory register to short-term memory it's through attention Mr Zuckerberg do I have your full attention no for example you're probably not aware of how your bum feels on your chair but now you are because you're paying attention to it your body was always receiving that sensory information but until you focused on it it hadn't made it to your short-term memory there is so much information coming our way VIA our senses that we cannot possibly focus our attention on it all so what you don't pay attention to you completely Miss magicians know this often they know the limits of our memory and attention and will direct your attention in One Direction while something else is happening right before your eyes my job to take that most precious of gifts you give me your attention and use it against you well let's consider being a student if you do not pay attention to what your teacher is explaining because you have decided to give your attention to a conversation with your friend or focus on a notification that's appeared on your phone according to this model you've completely missed that information gone and you'll be that student in class that teachers love who say things like what we're doing when the teachers just explain the instructions and you may be aware that there's a lot of thought and reflection being given to how easily distracted we are today and particularly how this impacts our ability to focus for a very interesting read on this topic do check out the book stolen Focus which I've Linked In the description below we now need to explore the short term our long-term memory stores in terms of their coding capacity and duration so to watch that video click on the screen now I hope you enjoyed this video we'll see you in the next one