The Multi-Store Model of Memory

Multi-Store Model: Atkinson and Shiffrin’s MSM is a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, STM and LTM. It also described how information is transferred from one store to another, what makes some memories last and what makes some memories disappear.

Sensory Register: The memory stores for each of our sense. There is the iconic store for visual information and the echoic store for acoustic information. The capacity of the sensory register is huge and information is stored for less than a half second. Information is passed to the STM if you pay attention to it.

Maintenance Rehearsal: When we repeat material to ourselves so we can keep the information in our STMs and if it is rehearsed long enough, it passes onto the LTM.

Retrieval: Information has to be transferred back to the STM through retrieval to be recalled.

The Case of HM: HM’s hippocampus was removed from both sides of his brain and when his memory was assessed in 1955, he thought it was 1953 and that he was 27. He could not form new long-term memories such as what he had eaten earlier in the day. However he performed well on tests of immediate memory span, a measure of the STM.

Research Support for the MSM: Baddeley’s research found we tend to mix up words that sound similar in the STM but mix up words that have similar meanings in the LTM which supports ideas of different memory stores.

Evidence for More than one STM Store: Shallice and Warrington (1970) studied a client they called KF who suffered with amnesia. KF had a poor STM when digits were read aloud to him but this wasn;t the case when he could read them. Further studies of KF showed that there could be another short-term store for non-verbal sounds.

Evidence of Elaborative Rehearsal: Craik and Watkins (1973) found type of rehearsal is more important than amount for transferring info from the STM to the LTM. Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long-term storage - this links info in your existing knowledge.

Aged Model: Newer research shows that the LTM and STM are not a single memory store and that we have different types of LTM for different things and so the MSM is an oversimplified model of memory.