Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory. (12 marks)
7th September 2013 Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory. (12 marks) The multi-store model of memory consists of three different stores: sensory store, short-term memory and long-term memory. This model was created by Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) and describes the process of memory in terms of information being passed through a system. Information from the environment is detected by sense organs and enters the sensory store. If this information is acknowledged or paid attention to, it enters the short-term memory. This information should stay in the short-term memory, if rehearsed for maintenance, for zero to eighteen seconds. If the rehearsal is elaborative, the information transfers to the long-term memory in which the capacity and duration is unlimited. However, if rehearsal does not occur in any moment of the stores, the information is either forgotten or lost from the short-term memory through decay or displacement. A particular strength of this model is that it is supported by evidence, and as this is based on real people, it is more valid and therefore can be applied to everyday life. For instance, the case of H.M.: he underwent brain surgery in which his hippocampus was removed to cure severe epilepsy but this led to the incapability to transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory so he was not able to create long-term memories. This
