Multi-Store Model of Memory

• Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

  • suggested the memory is made of three unitary stores - sensory register, short term memory and long term memory
  • each memory store differs in terms of capacity, encoding and duration
  • information passes from store to store in a linear way and is like an information processing model with an input, process and output
• sensory register

  • information is detected by the sense organs and enters the sensory memory, which stores a fleeting impression of sensory stimuli
  • duration is less than half a second
  • stores information for all 5 senses but they are coded differently - iconic store (visual information) and ecohic store (sound/acoustic information)
  • very little of what goes in passes further into the memory system
• case study of HM

  • had been struggling with seizures and could no longer work so had surgery to try and help
  • the hippocampus was removed
  • they found that his personality and intellect remained, but he could not form new LTMs, despite being able to remember them from before the surgery
  • he still also still had STM for up to 15 minutes with verbal rehearsal
  • this supports that LTM and STM are different stores because one was damaged and the other wasn't and if they weren't separate, they would both be damaged
  • shows LTM would involve separate steps