multistore model

• the sensory register is all the stimuli from the environment like the sound of someone talking is passed into the sensory register. The coding is sensory modality, the duration is 0.25 secs, the capacity is unlimited
• STM is a limited capacity store of temporary duration. The coding is acoustic, the duration is 18-30 seconds, and the capacity is 5-9 items.
• LTM is a permanent store. The coding is semantic, the duration is lifetime and the capacity is potentially unlimited
• Information is passed from STM to LTM through maintenance rehearsal. It occurs when we repeat 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
• Information is retrieved from the LTM it has to be transferred back into the STM by a process called retrieval
• Information is transferred from sensory register to STM only if attention is paid to it
• One strength of the multi store model is that there is research support showing STM and LTM are different. Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when using our STMs. But we mix up words that have a similar meaning when we use our LTMs. This supports the multi store model view that these 2 memory stores are separate and independent
• One limitation of the multi store model is there is more than one STM store. KF had amnesia, STM recall for digits was poor when he heard them, but much better when he read them. Other studies confirm there may also be a separate STM store for non-verbal sounds. Therefore the multi store model is wrong to claim there is just one STM store processing different types of information.
• One limitation of the multi store model is that prolonged rehersal is not needed for STM-LTM transfer. Craig and Watkins argued there are 2 types of rehearsal called maintenance and elaborative. Maintenance is the one described in the multi store model but elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage. This occurs when you link information to your existing knowledge or think about its meaning. This suggests that the multi store model doesn't fully explain how long term storage is achieved