THE MULTI-STORE MODEL OF MEMORY

THE MULTI-STORE MODEL OF MEMORY

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin's (1968,1971) multi-store model of memory describes how information flows through the memory system. The model suggests that memory is made up of three stores which are linked by processing.

SENSORY REGISTER

A stimulus from the environment, E.G the sound of someone's name will pass into the sensory registers along with lots of other sights, sounds smells. This part of memory isn't one store but is several, one for each of out 5 senses. The two main stores are called echoic memory (sound or auditory information is coded semantically) and iconic memory (visual memory is coded visually). Material in sensory registers last only very briefly as the duration is less than half a second. They have a high capacity, E.G over 100 million cells in 1 eye each storing data. Very little of what goes into your sensory register is further passed into the memory system unless you pay attention to it.

SHORT-TERM MEMORY (STM)

It is known as a limited capacity store because it can only contain a certain amount of things before forgetting takes place. Capacity of STM is somewhere between 7±2 items of information. Information in STM is coded acoustically and lasts about 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed. Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we rehearse material to ourselves over and over again. We can keep the information in our STM'S as long as we rehearse it. If we rehearse it long enough it passes into long-term memory (LTM). 

LONG-TERM MEMORY (LTM)

This is the potentially permanent memory store for information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time. Psychologists believe that it's capacity is unlimited and can last for many years. E.G Bahrick et al (1975) found that many of their pp's were able to recognise the names and faces of their school classmates almost 50 years after graduating. We also know that LTMS tend to be coded semantically i.e in terms of meaning. Although this material is stored in LTM, when we want to recall it, it has to be transferred back…