The multi-store model of memory was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in1968. The model consists of three separate stores – the sensory store, the short term memory and the long term memory. Information enters via our senses (sight, smell, sounds, taste and touch) into the sensory store. We pay attention to some of the things that enter our sensory store, these things them move on into our short term memory. Whatever is stored in the short term memory is only temporary; it can hold 7 items, give or take two.
Things only last up 30 seconds in the short term memory and are normally encoded acoustically. After the short term memory things are either forgotten or memorised through the rehearsal loop which will then pass through to the long term memory. According to Atkinson and Shiffrin the rehearsal of information plays a big part in the model, because without it we wouldn’t be able to make any new long term memories. When information enters the long term memory it is usually semantically encoded. It has an unlimited capacity and normally stays in the store up to a life time.
A study that found evidence to help support Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model of memory was H. M. H. M had a perfectly intact short term and long term memory before an accident he had, but after the accident he could no longer make any new long term memories. This would give evidence because to make new long term memories the information has to pass through the short term memory and rehearsal loop first, but in his case they were not working correctly. Murdock (1962) also gives evidence for the two separate stores.
The Essay on Short Term And Long Term Memory
Short Term and Long Term Memory It is impossible to imagine any kind of mental activity without brains ability to store information. This ability is commonly referred to as memory. As our knowledge about mental properties of human mind progressed, scientists learned to distinguish two specific types of memory short and long term. Short term memory enables the brain to operate with the flow of ...
He gave participants a list of 20 words one at a time, they remembered the words at the start of the list which is known as the primacy effect and the words at the end which is known as the recency effect better than those in the middle. This supports the model because the words at the start would have been rehearsed and entered the long term memory but the words at the end of the list would still be in the short term memory when they recall the list. However there are some limitations to the multi-store model of memory. One being that there is more than one type of long term memory.
Procedural, episodic and declarative are all different types. Procedural is skills that we learn, like riding a bike, you can never forget how to ride a bike. Episodic is events that take place that we don’t memorise but somehow remember for a long time, in some detail and finally declarative is facts that we don’t put any effort into rehearsing to remember but we still do remember them. Another limitation is a study Hyde and Jenkins (1973) did. According to them we can remember things with no rehearsal at all. Things like the smell of petrol or what’s in a magazine can stick with us for a long time without any rehearsal.
