multi store model

• Multi-store model


  An information processor model that is linear, meaning information is moved through in one direction, and the stores are passive, meaning they just hold on to information
• Stores in the multi-store model

  • Sensory register
  • Short-term memory
  • Long-term memory
• Sensory register


  • Directly receives sensory information
  • Coding is modality specific (depends on the sense organ)
  • Capacity is very large, potentially unlimited
  • Duration is very short, around 250 milliseconds
• Short-term memory


  • Coding is acoustic
  • Capacity is 7 items plus or minus 2
  • Duration is 18-30 seconds
• Long-term memory


  • Coding is semantic (stored as part of a set of meaningful connections)
  • Capacity and duration are very large, potentially unlimited
• Information flow through the multi-store model

  1. Sensory register

  2. Attention to move information to short-term memory

  3. Rehearsal to move information to long-term memory
• The multi-store model is a simplistic model that assumes short-term memory and long-term memory are unitary and passive stores
• The multi-store model lacks face validity as it does not account for long-term memories of taste and smell, and the capacity of short-term memory is not fixed but changes over a lifetime and with practice
• Much of the research on the multi-store model uses artificial tasks that lack ecological validity and mundane realism, making it difficult to apply the findings to real-world situations
• Psychologists have to make inferences about the underlying memory processes based on observed behaviour in experiments, which could be wrong
• The large capacity and short duration of the sensory register is supported by evolutionary theory, as quick reactions for survival would require taking in as much information as possible but only processing the important information