multi-store model

• The multi-store model describes how information flows through the memory system. Memory is made of three stores linked by processing.
• Sensory register 


  All stimuli from the environment pass into the sensory register. This part of memory is not one store but five, one for each sense.

  • Coding - modality specific, depends on the sense
  • Duration - very brief, less than half a second
  • Capacity - very high
• Transfer from the sensory register to short term memory 


  Information passed further into memory only if attention is paid to it
• Short term memory

  A limited capacity store of temporary duration

  • Coding - acoustic
  • Duration - 18 seconds unless the information is rehersed
  • Capacity - 7 ± 2
• Transfer from short term memory to long term memory 


  Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves. We can keep information in short term memory as long as we rehearse it. If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into long term memory
• Long term memory

  A permanent memory store

  • Coding - semantic
  • Duration - up to a lifetime
  • Capacity - unlimited
• Retrieval from long term memory 


  When we want to recall information stored in long term memory it has to be transferred back to short term memory by a process called retrieval.
• Evaluation

  One strength is research support showing short term memory and long term memory are different. Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when using our short term memory. But, we mix up words that have similar meanings when we use our long term memories. This supports the multi-store model's view that these two stores are separate and independent. However, studies often used artificial stimuli meaning the multi-store model may not be a valid model of how memory works in everyday life where memory tends to involve meaningful information
• Evaluation

  One limitation is evidence suggesting there is more than one short term memory store. KF had amnesia, short term memory 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 short term memory store for non-verbal sounds. Therefore, the multi-store model is wrong to claim there is just one short term memory store processing different types of information.
• Evaluation

  One limitation is prolonged rehearsal is not needed for short term memory to long term memory transfer. Craik and Watkins argued there are two types of rehearsal called maintenance is the one described in the multi-store model. But elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage. This suggests that the multi-store model does not fully explain how long term storage is achieved.