Memory - The Multi-Store Model of Memory

Question 1

What is the multi-store model?

Answer 1

An explanation of memory based on three separate memory stores, and how information is transferred between these stores.

Question 2

Who first described the multi-store model?

Answer 2

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Question 3

What is the full process of the multi-store model?

Answer 3

Sensory register:
-where information is held at each of the senses.
Attention:
-if a persons attention is focused on one of the sensory stores, then the data is transferred to short-term memory. Attention is the first step in remembering something.
STM:
-information is held here for use in immediate tasks. It has limited duration, and information stored here will disappear (decay) relatively quickly if not rehearsed.
Maintenance rehearsal:
-repetition keeps information in the STM but will eventually create a long-term memory. The more information is rehearsed, the better it is remembered.
LTM:
-potentially unlimited in duration and capacity.
Retrieval:
-the process of getting information from LTM involved the information passing back through the STM.

Question 4

Strengths of the multi-store model

Answer 4

STM/LTM difference supported by:

• lab studies - Jacobs, Miller, Peterson and Peterson, Bahrick, Baddeley.
• brain scans - Beardsley - linked STM to prefrontal cortex - Squire et al. - linked LTM to hippocampus
• case study of HM - linked formation for new LTMs to hippocampus (Scoville and Milner)

Question 5

Limitations of the multi-store model

Answer 5

• too simple - STM and LTM are not unitary stores.
• LTM involves more than maintenance rehearsal - levels of processing
• STM not independent of LTM - Ruchkin et al. - more activity when real words were processed indicating the involvement of other areas of the brain. Concluded that the STM is just a part of the LTM