MEMORY THE MULTI-STORE MODEL OF MEMORY

• ATKINSON AND SHIFFRIN (1968)


  Separate memory stores. The MSM describes how information flows through the memory system. Memory is made of 3 stores linked by processing. 
• Sensory register (SR) 


  All stimuli from the environment (e.g the sound of someone talking) pass into the SR. this part of memory is not one store ut 5, one for each sense. 

  • Coding = modality-specific, depends on the sense (visual in iconic, acoustic in echoic etc). 
  • Duration = very brief, less than half a second.
  • Capacity = very high, e.g over 100 million cells in one eye, each storing data. 
• Transfer from SR to STM

  Information passes further into memory only if attention is paid to it (attention is the key process).
• Short term memory (STM)

  A limited capacity story of temporary duration. 

  • Coding = acoustic (based on sound)
  • Duration = about 18-30 seconds unless the information is rehearsed. 
  • Capacity = between 5 and 9 (7 +/- 2) items before some forgetting occurs. 
• Transfer from STM to LTM

  Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat (rehearse) material to ourselves. We can keep information in STM as long as we rehearse it. 

  If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into LTM.
• Long term memory (LTM) 


  A permanent memory store.

  • Coding - mostly semantic (i.e in terms of meaning) 
  • Duration - potential up to a lifetime.
  • Capacity - potentially unlimited.
• Retrieval from LTM 


  When we want to recall information stored in LTM it has to be transferred back to STM by a process called retrieval.