✏️The multi-store model of memory
The multi-store model of memory was created by Atkinson and Shiffrin. It describes how information
flows into the memory system. The memory system is made from 3 main stores all linked through
processing.
The first store is the sensory register. All the information from the environment goes through the
sensory register. There are five different stores within the sensory register, one for each sense. The
coding of the information depends on the sense that is entering the sensory register. For example, it
is visual in the iconic store and acoustic in the echoic store. The duration is less than half a second,
and the capacity is very high.
For information to pass on to short-term memory, attention must be paid to the information. The
coding in short-term memory is acoustic, meaning it is based on sound. The duration is only about 18
seconds and the capacity is between 5 and 9 items (7 ± 2) before people forget things.
For information to move to the long-term memory it must be rehearsed. Maintenance rehearsal
means that it will stay in the short-term memory, and enough rehearsal moves it to the long-term
memory.
The long term memory is a permanent memory store. The coding is mostly semantic, which means it
is stored in terms of meaning. The duration and capacity are both potentially unlimited. For
information to be recalled from long-term memory it has to be transferred back to short-term
memory using retrieval.
A strength is that there is research support showing that short-term memory and long-term memory
are different. Baddeley found that people mix up words that sound similar when using short-term
memory, so therefore the short-term memory coding must be acoustic. However, we mix up words
with similar meanings when we use our long-term memory which means that the long-term memory
coding must be semantic. This means that the multi-store model must have different stores for long
and short-term memory.
However, a counterpoint to this is that the studies that find this information often use numbers and
letters, or meaningless syllables. In our everyday lives, we have to remember names and faces,
which aren't applied in the studies. This means that the multi-store model might not be accurate in
saying how memory works.
A limitation is that there is evidence suggesting there is more than one short-term memory store.
One participant who had amnesia called KF found it much easier to recall digits when he read them
but struggled to recall the digits when he heard them. Other studies have also suggested there might
be different short-term memory stores for different types of information. Therefore the multistore
model might be wrong to say that there is just one short-term memory store.
Another limitation is that there is prolonged rehearsal isn't needed for the transfer between short-
term and long-term memory. Two researchers said that there are different types of rehearsal, one
called maintenance rehearsal and one called elaborative rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal is
described in the multi-store model, and it's when we rehearse information enough so it will be
transferred to the long-term memory. However elaborative rehearsal is when we link information to
our existing knowledge, or if we think about its meaning. This suggests that the multi-store model
doesn't fully explain how long-term storage is achieved.
The multi-store model of memory was created by Atkinson and Shiffrin. It describes how information
flows into the memory system. The memory system is made from 3 main stores all linked through
processing.
The first store is the sensory register. All the information from the environment goes through the
sensory register. There are five different stores within the sensory register, one for each sense. The
coding of the information depends on the sense that is entering the sensory register. For example, it
is visual in the iconic store and acoustic in the echoic store. The duration is less than half a second,
and the capacity is very high.
For information to pass on to short-term memory, attention must be paid to the information. The
coding in short-term memory is acoustic, meaning it is based on sound. The duration is only about 18
seconds and the capacity is between 5 and 9 items (7 ± 2) before people forget things.
For information to move to the long-term memory it must be rehearsed. Maintenance rehearsal
means that it will stay in the short-term memory, and enough rehearsal moves it to the long-term
memory.
The long term memory is a permanent memory store. The coding is mostly semantic, which means it
is stored in terms of meaning. The duration and capacity are both potentially unlimited. For
information to be recalled from long-term memory it has to be transferred back to short-term
memory using retrieval.
A strength is that there is research support showing that short-term memory and long-term memory
are different. Baddeley found that people mix up words that sound similar when using short-term
memory, so therefore the short-term memory coding must be acoustic. However, we mix up words
with similar meanings when we use our long-term memory which means that the long-term memory
coding must be semantic. This means that the multi-store model must have different stores for long
and short-term memory.
However, a counterpoint to this is that the studies that find this information often use numbers and
letters, or meaningless syllables. In our everyday lives, we have to remember names and faces,
which aren't applied in the studies. This means that the multi-store model might not be accurate in
saying how memory works.
A limitation is that there is evidence suggesting there is more than one short-term memory store.
One participant who had amnesia called KF found it much easier to recall digits when he read them
but struggled to recall the digits when he heard them. Other studies have also suggested there might
be different short-term memory stores for different types of information. Therefore the multistore
model might be wrong to say that there is just one short-term memory store.
Another limitation is that there is prolonged rehearsal isn't needed for the transfer between short-
term and long-term memory. Two researchers said that there are different types of rehearsal, one
called maintenance rehearsal and one called elaborative rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal is
described in the multi-store model, and it's when we rehearse information enough so it will be
transferred to the long-term memory. However elaborative rehearsal is when we link information to
our existing knowledge, or if we think about its meaning. This suggests that the multi-store model
doesn't fully explain how long-term storage is achieved.
