Multi-Store Model (Atkinson and Shiffrin)

• What does the model suggest about memory?

  It is made up of a series of different stores and memory moves through them
• What is the first store?

  The sensory Store
• How does information get into the sensory store?

  through environmental stimuli
• What is the capacity of the sensory store?

  a large capacity that records information from the senses
• What is the duration of the sensory store?

  2-3 seconds
• What is the second store called?

  The short term memory
• how does information transfer from the sensory store to the short term memory?

  Through attention
• What is the capacity of the short term memory?

  small, usually 7 (+/-2) items or chunks of infomation
• What is Miller’s magic number?

  7. He concluded that on average people can hold up to 7 pieces of information +/- 2
• What is the duration of the short term memory?

  15-30 seconds
• What can increase the duration of the short term memory?

  Rehearsal- it keeps the information in the short term memory and is responsible for transferring it to the long term memory
• How is the short term memory encoded?

  Acoustically
• How is information retrieved in the short term memory?

  Retrieval
• What is the third store?

  Long term memory
• How is information transferred from the short term memory to the long term memory?

  Rehearsal
• What is the capacity of the long term memory?

  large, potentially infinite
• What is the duration of the long term memory?

  Unlimited
• How is information in the long term memory encoded?

  semantically
• Give 2 strengths of the MSM

  1.Real life evidence- Case of HM- provides strong evidence that there are different stores for STM and LTM as he remembered little personal details or public events that happened over 45 years (LTM) but could remember small pieces of information (STM)

  2.Evidence- many studies that provide evidence for the distinction between STM and LTM- Glanzer and Cunitz: primacy and recency effect
• Give 2 weaknesses of the MSM

  1.Too simplistic: has been criticised for not differentiating enough between procedural, semantic, or declarative memories- STM and LTM are much more complex

  2.Research methods: experiments to test is use word lists and digits which are not a realistic use of memory- low in mundane realism