Describe and evaluate the Multistore Model of Memory.

The MSM supports many observations about memory. There is plenty of evidence for separate STM and LTM stores, such as Glanzer & Cunitz’s serial position effect, and the effects of brain damage (e.g. HM and Clive Wearing) also shows evidence for separate stores. People with Korsakoff ’s syndrome provide support for the model as they can recall the last items in a list (unimpaired recency effect), suggesting an unaffected STM. However, their LTM is very poor.

The model has been criticised for being too simplistic as it assumes there is only one long term and one short term store, which has been disproved by evidence from brain damage patients, suggesting several different short term and long term stores. It does not explain some observations, for example the fact that memory does not just pass in one direction – LTM also affects the chunking of information in the STM; Miller & Selfridge found that sentences could be recalled better the closer they were to real english, and Bower & Springston showed that anagrams like FBI or BBC could increase recall and chunking in STM. Attention to stimuli may also be directed from the LTM, e.g. hearing one’s name attracts the attention. Simple rehearsal of information may not be the predominant process for acquiring information and other factors may affect memory formation, e.g. emotional (flashbulb memory), motivational levels, learnt methods for memorisation. Conversely, information is not always rehearsed in real life yet they still transfer it into the LTM, and some memories like smells can’t be rehearsed so rehearsal is not always needed for information to be stored. Other models suggest more complex memory functions which cannot be explained by the MSM such as the Working Memory Model (Baddeley & Hitch) and the Levels of Processing Model (Craik & Lockhart). The MSM may not reveal the full extent of memory function, or the complexity of memory. Finally, many studies supporting the MSM used laboratory experiments and therefore have low ecological validity and demand characteristics.