The multi store model of memory

• Sensory register (SR)


  • 5 stores, one for each sense
  • Stimuli from the environment pass into the SR
• Transfer from sensory register to short term memory


  Information passes to STM only if attention is paid to it
• atkinson and shriffin 


  Multi store model (1968)
• Coding in the sensory register (SR)

  Modality specific - visual in iconic, acoustic in echoic
• duration in sensory register (SR)

  less than half a second
• Capacity in the sensory register (SR)


  Very large
• Short term memory

  A limited capacity store of temporary duration
• coding in STM

  acoustic - Baddeley (1966)
• duration of STM

  18 seconds unless the information is rehearsed - Peterson and Peterson (1959)
• capacity of STM


  7+/- 2 items - Miller (1956)
• Transfer from STM to LTM

  Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves. We can keep information in the STM as long as we rehearse it. If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into LTM
• maintenance rehearsal 


  rehearsal loop
• Long term memory


  a permanent memory store
• coding in the LTM

  Semantic - Baddeley (1966)
• duration of LTM

  up to a lifetime - Bahrick (1975)
• capacity of LTM


  unlimited
• retrieval


  when recalling information stored in the LTM it has to be transferred back to STM
• Multi store model of memory

  Multi store model

  
• One strength is support showing that the STM and LTM are different

  Baddeley (1966) found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when using STM (so STM coding is acoustic). but we mix up words that have similar meanings when we use our LTM (so LTM coding is semantic). This supports the MSM’s view that these two memory stores are separate and independent.
• one strength is research support showing STM and LTM are different: counterpoint

  despite such apparent support, the studies tend not to use everyday information e.g. faces, names. they use digits/letters (Jacob’s) or meaningless nonsense trigrams (peterson and peterson). therefore the MSM may not be a valid model of how memory works in everyday life where memory tends to involve meaningful information
• One limitation is evidence suggesting there is more than 1 STM store

  KF had amnesia (shallice and Warrington 1970), STM recall for digits was poor when he heard them, but much better when he read them. other studies confirm there may also be a separate STM store for non-verbal sounds e.g. noises. Therefore the MSM is wrong to claim there is just one STM store processing different types of information
• another limitation is prolonged rehearsal is not needed for STM-LTM transfer


  Craik and Watkins (1973) argued there are 2 types of rehearsal called maintenance and elaborative. maintenance (amount of rehearsal) is described in the MSM. but elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage. this occurs e.g. when you link information to your existing knowledge, or think about its meaning. this suggests that the MSM doesnt fully explain how long term storage is achieved