2.1.4 Multi-Store Model of Memory

Atkinson and Shiffrin devised a model of memory in 1968 to explain how the sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory link together, processing information.

What is the multi-store model of memory?

• It is a cognitive model of memory written in very much in the same way information processing models in computing are designed
• It involves the forward flow of information from sensory input, through to sensory memory (SM), then to short-term memory (STM), to long-term memory (LTM) and finally as an output
• The output could be a person recalling the information to use

How does information pass through the multi-store model of memory?

• The model also incorporates how information is passed across the types of memory
• Sensory data/information passes from SM to STM via attention
• The information/data then passes from STM to LTM via rehearsal
• Information can be passed back from LTM to STM via retrieval
• For example; to learn a phone number you may chunk it into smaller components and use your LTM to make sure the chunks have meaning
• So the number 215318 may be chunked into 21, your house number, 53, the bus you catch to college and 18, your age
• You need LTM to help guide STM to do this, hence information passing back from LTM to STM to give the numbers or chunks meaning

What does the multi-store model of memory look like?

What evidence exists for the multi-store model of memory (AO3)?

• The fact that SM, STM and LTM all have different durations, capacities and means of encoding indicates that they are three separate stores
• Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) researched the Primacy/Recency effect. If you give participants a list of words to learn and allow them to recall them in any order (free recall) you will find that the first few words and the last few words on the list are most commonly recalled
• This is because the first few words are rehearsed and so enter LTM
• The last few words in the list are still in your STM as the duration is less than 18 seconds so they would still be available
• This again indicates two separate stores
• Squire et al (1992) found that when you conducted a brain scan on a participant then STM and LTM are located in different parts of the brain
• This shows that they must be two separate stores if they are in two distinct parts of the brain
• Patients with severe amnesia are also evident as they may have lost all LTM but retain STM
• This again indicates they are two separate stores as one can still exist without the other
• Shallice and Warrington (1970) reported the case of a man named KF who had been in a motorcycle accident
• KF had severe damage to his STM whilst his LTM remained intact
• This again indicates that there are two separate store

How can I evaluate the multi-store model of memory (AO3)?

• It has been very influential and over 50 years later is still being used
• There is a lot of evidence for its existence from research, brain scans and case studies of amnesia
• It provides a good understanding of the structure and processes of memory, meaning we can expand on this model
• However, the model is seen as oversimplified in how it approaches STM in particular
• We now know, from Working Memory, that STM is a lot more complex than MSM allows for
• We also know there are different types of LTM (episodic, procedural and semantic) that the model does not account for
• The use of the term rehearsal is problematic as there are different types of rehearsal, such as elaborative and maintenance
• The more elaborately we try to remember something, the more likely it will be stored in LTM and easily recalled
• The model also ignores factors like motivation and ability to learn