Lesson 3 Multi Store Model of Memory Flashcards
Multi Store Model of Memory
The multi-store model of memory (MSM) was developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). It attempts to explain how information flows from one memory store to another. There are three permanent structures in the memory system: the sensory register (SR), short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). Each of these memory stores differ in terms of their capacity, duration, coding and how information is lost from them.
Sensory Register in the MSM
Environmental stimuli received through the senses enters the SR, which is a short duration store retaining unprocessed impressions of information received through the senses. It has a separate sensory store for each sensory input. There is an iconic store for visual information and the echoic store for auditory information.
The capacity of the SR is unlimited but the duration is only 250 miliseconds.
A small fraction of the information received by the SR is attended to and selected for further processing in STM. If not attended to, sensory information is lost due to decay.
STM in MSM
If information in the SR is attended to it is acoustically coded into STM, so similar sounding material can be confused. STM is a temporary store for information received from the SR before it is transferred to LTM. Information may be recalled at this point and then forgotten before it is transferred to LTM.
STM capacity in MSM
STM has a limited capacity of 7 (+/-2) pieces of information so information can be displaced by new incoming information. STM also has a short duration of 18-30 seconds. This means that without rehearsal information will decay very quickly.
How is information kept in STM
Information can be kept in STM using maintenance rehearsal (repeatedly verbalising or thinking about the information). This is known as a rehearsal loop. If there is sufficient rehearsal, or elaborative rehearsal (where information is organised in a meaningful way) then the information may be transferred to LTM for more permanent storage.
LTM in MSM
If information is sufficiently rehearsed in STM then it is semantically coded into LTM. This is a permanent store holding vast amounts of information for long periods of time.
LTM capacity in MSM
The capacity of LTM is potentially infinite and there is no way of accurately measuring it. The duration of LTM could potentially be a lifetime.
LTM in the retrieval process
When information in LTM is needed it is retrieved by STM and then recalled. Sometimes we cannot access information from LTM because of retrieval failure and so we may need retrieval cues to help us access it.
