Cognitive Psychology - The Multi-Store Model of Memory

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) suggested that memory is made up of a series of stores:

• Describes memory in terms of information flowing through a system.
• Information is detected by the sense organs and enters the sensory memory.
• If attended to this information enters the short term memory.
• The information is transferred to the long term memory if it is rehearsed.
• If information is not rehearsed, then the information is forgotten - lost from short term memory by displacement or decay.

Sensory Memory

• Duration: 0.24-0.50 seconds.
• Capacity: All sensory experience (very large)
• Encoding: Sense specific (different for each sense)

Short-Term Memory

• Duration: 15-30 seconds.
• Capacity: 5-9 items.
• Encoding: Mainly acoustic.

Long-Term Memory

• Duration: Unlimited
• Capacity: Unlimited
• Encoding: Mainly semantic.

Evaluation of the Multi-Store 

Strengths

• Many memory studies provide evidence to support the distinction between STM and LTM (in terms of duration, capacity and encoding).
• The model can…