multi-store memory model

• Multi-store model (MSM)

  A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). 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 (MSM)

  A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another, what makes some memories last and what makes some memories disappear.
• Sensory register

  The memory stores for each of our five senses, such as vision (iconic store) and hearing (echoic store)
• Atkinson and Shiffrin's (1968, 1971) multi-store model (MSM)
• Coding in the iconic sensory register is visual and in the echoic sensory register it is acoustic (sounds)
• The capacity of sensory registers is huge (millions of receptors)
• Duration of sensory register's information lasts for a very short time (less than half a second)
• Short-term memory

  Information in short-term memory (STM) is coded mainly acoustically and lasts about 18 seconds unless it is rehearsed, so STM is more of a temporary store.
• STM is a limited-capacity store, because it can only contain a certain number of 'things' before forgetting occurs
• capacity of STM is between five and nine items of information
• Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat (rehearse) material to ourselves over and over again. We can keep the information in our STMs as long as we rehearse it. If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into long-term memory (LTM).
• Long-term memory

  This is the potentially permanent memory store for information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time.
• LTMs are coded mostly semantically (i.e. in terms of meaning)
• LTM duration may be up to a lifetime
• For example, Bahrick et al. (1975) found that many of their participants were able to recognise the names and faces of their school classmates almost 50 years after graduating. The capacity of LTM is thought to be practically unlimited.
• According to the MSM, when we want to recall information from LTM, it has to be transferred back into STM by a process called retrieval.
• STM

  • coding is mainly acoustic
  • duration is 18-30 secs
  • capacity is 7 +/- 2 (5-9 items)