Outline and Evaluate the Multi-Store Memory

1181 Words5 Pages
Outline and evaluate the multi-store model This essay will outline and evaluate the multi-store model. What is the multi-store model of memory? According to Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), the multi-store model can be explained in terms of three stores; the sensory store, the short term store and the long term store and also two processes; attention and rehearsal. The model proposes that information first enters the sensory memory store, from the environment, where is stays for a short period of time before either decaying or passing on to the short-term memory store. The short-term memory store has a very limited capacity, i.e. it can only hold, according to Miller (Miller’s magic number), a capacity of 7 +/- 2 bits of information. This information can then last up to 18 seconds, according to Peterson and Peterson (1959). Items in the short term memory store are usually held as sounds although other kinds of encoding are possible. If the material is sufficiently rehearsed, it is then passed on to the long-term memory. Once there it can stay there for a lifetime although it can be lost through damage to the brain and/or through the process of decay or interference. The long-term memory has unlimited capacity and information is moved from the short-term memory to the long-term memory by rehearsal. In terms of the multi-store model, rehearsal has an important part to play. It increases the time information can be held in STM and it is vital for transferring information to LTM. Atkinson and Shiffrin suggest that the longer information is held in the STM, the more likely it is to be transferred to the LTM. Many research studies related to the memory have been conducted and they provide evidence to support the differences between STM and LTM, in terms of duration, capacity and encoding. One of the experiments that provide evidence to prove this is a study done by

More about Outline and Evaluate the Multi-Store Memory

Open Document