The multi-store model of memory

• who developed the multi-store model

  Atkinson and shiffrin
• the multi-store model describes how information flows through the memory system. memory is made of three stores linked by processing.
• sensory register

  a stimulus from the environment (e.g. the sound of someone talking) passes into the SR along with lots of other sights, sounds etc. this part of memory is not one store but five, one for each sense.
• duration of the sensory register

  very brief- less than half a second.
• capacity of the sensory register

  high, e.g. over one hundred million cells in one eye, each storing data.
• coding of the sensory register

  depends on the sense- visual, auditory, etc.
• transfer from SR to STM

  little of what goes into the SR passes further into the memory system- needs attention to be paid to it.
• short-term memory (STM)

  STM is a limited capacity and duration store.
• duration of STM

  about 18 to 30 seconds unless the information is rehearsed.
• capacity of STM

  between 5 and 9 items before some forgetting occurs.
• coding of STM

  acoustic.
• 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.

  when we want to recall materials stored in LTM it has to be transferred back to STM by a process called retrieval.
• duration of LTM

  potentially up to a lifetime.
• capacity of LTM

  potentially unlimited.
• coding of LTM

  tends to be in terms of meaning, i.e. semantic.
• retrieval

  when we want to recall materials stored in LTM it has to be transferred back to STM by a process called retrieval.
• strength of MSM: supported by research showing STM and LTM are different

  baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when using our STM. but we mix up words that have similar meaning when we use our LTMs. this clearly shows that coding in STM is acoustic and coding in LTM is semantic. this supports the MSM's view that these two memory stores are separate and independent.
• limitation of MSM: evidence suggests there is more than one types of STM

  shallice and warrington studied KF, a patient with amnesia. his STM for digits was poor when they read them out loud to him. but his recall was much better when he read the digits himself. the MSM state that there is only one type of STM (unitary store). but KF study suggests there must be one short-term store to process visual information and another to process auditory information.
• limitation of the MSM: oversimplifies LTM

  there is a lot of research evidence that LTM is not a unitary store. we have one LTM store for memories of facts about the world (semantic) and a different one for memories of how to do things, e.g. drive a car, ride a bike (procedural). the MSM is limited because it does not reflect these different types of LTM.
• limitation: only explains one type of rehearsal

  craik and Watkins argued there are two types of rehearsal- maintenance and elaborative. maintenance is the one described in the MSM. but elaborative rehearsal is needed for long-term storage. this occurs when you link information to your existing knowledge, or process it. this is a very serious limitation of the MSM because it is another research finding that cannot be explained by the model