Multistore Model of Memory

• The sensory register recives information from the outside world
• Sensory Register:

  • Capacity: large to unlimited
  • Coding: Modality specific (Iconic, echoic, haptic, gustatory, olfactory)
  • Duration: 250 milliseconds
• Information moves from the the sensory register to the STM through paying attention to the information
• Short Term:

  • Capacity: 7+-2, can be made larger by chonking
  • Coding: acoustically
  • Duration: 18-30 seconds, extended by verbal rehearsal
• Information passes to the LTM from the STM through rehearsal
• Long Term:

  • Capacity: unlimited
  • Coding: semantically
  • Duration: potentially unlimited
• Information can go from the LTM to the STM through retrieval
• A memory becomes stronger the more retrieval and rehearsal it goes through
• Evaluation of the MSM:

  • lack of external validity
  • low ecological validity
  • lack mundane realism