The multi-store model of memory

• Coding - The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores
• Capacity - The amount of information that can be held in a memory store
• Duration - The length of time information can be held in memory
• The process of converting information between different forms is called coding
• The multi-store model (MSM) proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) was the first cognitive explanation of memory

  • Previously, memory was mainly explained biologically
• The multi-store model explains how information transfers from one storage system to another;

  • Sensory register (SR)
  • Short-term memory (STM)
  • Long-term memory (LTM)
• Multi-store model - A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, short-term memory and long-term memory

  • It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another, what makes some memories last and what makes some memories disappear
• Multi-store model:

  1. Stimulus from the environment
  2. Sensory register (Iconic, echoic)
  3. Attention
  4. Short-term memory store
  5. Prolonged rehearsal
  6. Long-term memory store
• MSM evaluation:

  STRENGTH:

  • Research support - Baddeley (1966), STM and LTM separate stores

  LIMITATION:

  • STM not a unitary store - Shallice and Warrington, Client KF (amnesia)
  • Oversimplified LTM - different types of LTM, lacks detail so lacks explanatory power
  • Lacks ecological validity - Peterson and Petersons experiment used artificial material (had to learn consonant syllables)