The “modal model” of primary and secondary memory, developed in the 1950s and 1960s, suggests that 	active information is held in a short term, limited capacity store of short-term memory, and that processing this information results in development of long-term memory. Most evidence at the time suggested short-term and long-term information being stored in different parts of the brain.

The Modal Model

Proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974, this model serves as an alternative to the more linear Atkinson-Shiffrin model. It conceptualizes short-term memory as a dynamic, multi-component working memory system. A key distinction is its inclusion of a feedback loop, suggesting a more interactive relationship between short-term and long-term memory. The model features a central executive that manages several specialized short-term systems: the visuospatial sketchpad for visual data, the phonological loop for auditory and written material, and the episodic buffer, which integrates information. This structure facilitates the active processing and manipulation of information before its potential transfer to long-term memory.

Baddeley and Hitch's Working Memory Model

- The Modal Model
- Baddeley & Hitch's Working Memory Model

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- Memory models
- Forgetting
- The stages of memory
- Levels of analysis
- Levels of Processing 
- Interference
- Chunking
- Recall
- Constructive nature of memory
- Primary vs. Secondary memories
- Types of information supporting memory
- Memory errors and impairment
- Source monitoring
- Eyewitness testimony
- Experience-dependent plasticity
- Desirable difficulties
- Prospective vs. Retrospective Memory

Focuses of Research on Memory

Forgetting is defined as the loss of information from long-term memory. This is a universal human experience, manifesting in everyday situations like forgetting a name, a birthday, or the location of personal items like car keys. Such memory failures, while common, can be a source of frustration and embarrassment, underscoring the fragile nature of human memory.

Forgetting

- 1) Chemical processes
- 2) Neurons activated
- 3) Brain storage
- 4) Storage activated
- 5) Memory
- 6) Output

Levels of output for memory

A central question within the realm of memory research is whether retaining information over short periods of time versus longer periods of time (whether minutes or weeks) is different. In 1890, William James distinguished “primary memory,” composed of past experiences that are active within consciousness, from “secondary memory,” composed of experiences that are not stored at the conscious level but can be recalled. James believed there to be limits to how much information is available in primary memory. Research has generally demonstrated that 7 ± 2 items can be stored at once in a person’s mind, but also that “recoding” items using past knowledge (for example, breaking longer strings into smaller recognizable pieces) can increase memory capacity.

Primary vs. Secondary Memories

While the implicit/explicit, semantic/episodic, and familiarity/recollection distinctions are founded partly on subjective experience, other researchers have instead explored what types of information promote learning retention.

Distinction Between Types of Information Supporting Memory

After being exposed to a stimuli, subjects are asked to report back what they observed.

Recall

Small units (i.e. words, actions) can be grouped together based on associations to form larger units that are easy to remember.

Chunking

Memory depends on the depth of processing information (how much meaning) that occurs. 

Levels of Processing theory

Memory models

Among many theories, there is consensus surrounding the understanding that medial temporal lobe damage only harms certain types of memory and learning, leaving repetition priming, classical conditioning, and reinforcement-learning largely untouched. Many models also agree about organization of the medial temporal lobe.

Consensus About the Medial Temporal Lobe Among Memory Theories

The process of trying to find the origins of a memory, belief, or knowledge. For example you may be trying to determine whether it was from a friend, a book, or news story.

Source monitoring

It is the mechanism through which the structure of the brain is "shaped" by environments to better perceive environments.

Experience-dependent plasticity 

- Brain damage
- Evolution (errors seen in the general population)

Causes of memory errors and impairment

A learning task that requires a considerable but desirable amount of effort, thereby improving long-term performance.

Examples:

- Interleaving Materials
- Spacing Studying
- Generation Effect
- Retrieval practice (testing)
- Varying Study Conditions

Desirable Difficulties

In neutral emotional circumstances, confidence in the memory and accuracy have a positive relationship. However, in an angry emotional state, the confidence-accuracy relationship becomes negative (as people become more confident, it is predicted that their accuracy will decrease).

The Confidence-accuracy relationship

Prospective memory is the term for the type of memory associated with forward-thinking, initiation of planned events, & retention. Retrospective memory is attributed to one's ability to recall experiences and their contexts (i.e. episodic) in hindsight. It most critically plays a role in remembering events or ideas from the past.

Prospective vs. Retrospective Memory

Memories are a reconstructive process, meaning they are not some recordings of past experiences, but a recreation influenced by the present. They comprised of what happened in events and prior knowledge, expectations, and experiences. This contrasts with what some may think about memories being solely representations of events.

Constructive Nature of Memory

- Proactive interference
- Retroactive interference

Types of Memory Interference

Despite the known fragility of human memory, the legal system, including police, prosecutors, and courts, often depends heavily on eyewitness testimony for criminal prosecutions. This reliance is problematic because memory is a reconstructive process, making eyewitness accounts susceptible to errors that can lead to faulty identifications and, ultimately, wrongful convictions.

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