Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory. [8 marks]

According to Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi-store model (MSM), information from the environment enters the sensory register through the senses. This comprises separate modality-specific stores, including the iconic store for visual information and the echoic store for auditory information. The sensory register has a very large capacity but a brief duration. Information that receives attention passes to short-term memory (STM), whereas unattended information is quickly lost.

STM primarily encodes information acoustically and has a limited capacity of approximately 7 ± 2 items, although chunking can increase this capacity. Its duration is approximately 18–30 seconds. Maintenance rehearsal retains information in STM and, if prolonged, transfers it to long-term memory (LTM). LTM mainly codes information semantically and has a potentially unlimited capacity and lifetime duration. Through retrieval, information passes from LTM to STM, where it can be consciously used.

One strength of the MSM comes from case studies such as Clive Wearing. After contracting herpesviral encephalitis, Wearing suffered damage to his hippocampus. Although he could recall information from before his illness, he could retain new information for only 20–30 seconds and could not form new memories. This supports the MSM’s distinction between STM and LTM because Wearing’s STM remained relatively intact while his ability to transfer new information into LTM was severely impaired.

However, the MSM may exaggerate the importance of rehearsal. It proposes that prolonged rehearsal is necessary for information to transfer from STM to LTM, yet people sometimes form lasting memories without rehearsal. Brown and Kulik described emotionally significant events that produce vivid “flashbulb memories”. For example, many people remember where they were when they heard about the death of Princess Diana or the 9/11 attacks, despite not rehearsing this information beforehand. Therefore, factors such as emotional significance may transfer information into LTM without prolonged rehearsal, challenging the MSM’s linear explanation of memory.