multistore model of memory

• Multistore model of memory was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971)
• Memory consists of 3 stores: sensory register, STM, LTM
• Stimulus from environment passes into the sensory register, this contains stores for all senses, mainly ionic memory (coded visually) and echoic memory (coded acoustically). Has short duration but high capacity, if you pay attention it will pass into STM
• STM has limited capacity (around 7), coded acoustically and lasts about 30 seconds. Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material until if passes into LTM
• LTM has unlimited capacity and coded semantically. Transferred back into STM by retrival when wanting to recall
• Whats a strength of the MSM

  • supporting evidence from Baddeley shows there must be two independent stores
• • A strength of the MSM is it is supported by research studies which show the STM and LTM are different, e.g. Baddeley (1966)
  • A limitation is that Shallice and Warrington (1970) studied patient KF with amnesia. They found his STM was weak when digits were read aloud to him but better when he read them himself, showing there must be another short term store to process visual information