the multi-store model of memory

• the multi-store model

  Atkinson and Shiffrin's multi-store model (1968) describes how information flows through the memory system, suggests that memory is made up of three stores linked by processing: sensory register, short term memory and long term memory
• the sensory register

  all stimuli from the environment pass into the sensory register, into several registers (one for each of the senses) where coding for each store is modality specific as the echoic store is acoustic and iconic store is visual

  the duration for the store is 0.5 seconds and has a high capacity

  information only passes into the STM if you pay attention to it
• Short term memory

  information in the STM is mainly coded acoustically and lasts about 18 seconds unless it is rehearsed so the STM is more of a temporary store, it has limited capacity supported by Jacobs (1887) and Miller (1956)

  maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves, if we rehearse it long enough it will pass into our long term memory
• long term memory

  this is potentially a permanent store information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time, LTM is mostly coded semantically, as supported by Bahrick (1975) the duration could be lifetime

  if we want to recall information from the LTM it has to be transferred back into the STM by the process of retrieval
• the multi-store model evaluation strengths

  the study shows that there is a differnce between the STM and LTM, as supported by Baddeley the STM is coded acoustically and the LTM is coded semantically and has a much longer duration showing they are separate

  
  

  case study: Scoville and Milner (1957) - HM had hippocampus removed to treat epilepsy, unabling to form long term memories but could form short term memories suggesting that they are separate stores
• the multi-store model evaluation limitations

  the multi-store model does not show that there are different types of long term memory as it is shown as a single unitary store as proposed by Tulving (1985) - procedural, semantic and episodic

  
  

  prolonged rehearsal is not needed for transfer to LTM as Craik and Watkins (1973) shows how long term storage is achieved fully