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Multi-Store Model

Multi-Store Model of Memory: An Overview

Multi-store model is a model of memory put forward by Akinson and Shiffin (1968), in which memory Opens in new window is divided into three stores; thus including, sensory register Opens in new window, short-term memory Opens in new window, and long-term memory Opens in new window.

This model has been highly influential but research has shown that memory is much more complex than assumed by the model.

Sensory register Explained

The sensory register Opens in new window consists of various sensory stores. Environmental stimulation is initially processed within these sensory stores with one store for each of the sense modalities (e.g. vision; hearing).

Information presented visually is initially held very briefly (for no more than 500 milliseconds) in iconic memory Opens in new window (the visual sensory store), and auditory information is held for somewhat longer in echoic memory Opens in new window (the designated sensory store for auditory).

Ioannides et al. (2003) found that information could be held for up to 5 seconds in the left hemisphere and 2 seconds in the right hemisphere. This difference probably reflects the dominance of the left hemisphere in language processing. Iconic and echoic memory are both severely limited in capacity—they can store only a few visual or auditory items.

There are sensory stores associated with each of the other senses (e.g. touch; taste). However, they are less important than iconic and echoic memory and have attracted much less research. In sum, the sensory register consists of several stores (one for each sensory modality) in which information is held for a very short period of time.

Short-term and Long-term Memories Explained

Information in short-term memory typically lasts for only a short time (a few seconds). However, if it was very important to remember some information in short-term memory, you could probably maintain it for longer by repeatedly rehearsing Opens in new window it. In contrast, information in long-term memory can theoretically last forever or at least for a very long time.

Trying to remember a telephone number for a few seconds is an example of the use of short-term memory Opens in new window. This example illustrates two key features of short-term memory: very limited capacity and limited duration.

multi-store model of memory
Multi-store model of memory | Credit: Michael Eysenck (Psychology for AS Level)

Long-term memory Opens in new window, on the other hand, has unlimited capacity and lasts (potentially) forever. As an example, you might think of some of your most vivid childhood memories.

This model of memory put forward by Akinson and Shiffin (1968) is the most important theoretical approach based on the notion that there are three kinds of memory stores. This explains why their approach is known as the multi-store model of memory. Following are its crucial assumptions:

  1. Human memory consists of three kinds of memory stores.
  2. Information from the environments is initially received by the sensory stores within the sensory register. There is a sensory store for each sense modality—a store for what we see, one for what we hear, and so on. Information lasts for a very short period of time (fractions of a second, or a second or two) in these sensory stores.
  3. Some information in the sensory stores is attended to (and processed further) within the short-term store. The short-term store has limited capacity—we can only keep about seven items in this store at any one time.
  4. Some information processed in the short-term store is transferred to the long-term store. How does information get into the long-term store? There is a process of rehearsal in which information in the short-term store is repeatedly verbally to oneself to put it into the long-term store. The more something is rehearsed, the stronger the memory trace in long-term memory.
  5. Information in the long-term store can often last for a very long time. As I have already mentioned, in some cases information in the long-term store remains there for our entire lifetime.
  6. There are important differences between short-term and long-term memory in forgetting. When information is forgotten from the short-term store, it simply disappears from the memory system. In contrast, most information from the long-term store is still in the memory system but can’t be accessed (e.g. because of interference from other information).
See also:
  1. M. W. Eysenck (1994) Perspectives on psychology (Hove, UK: Psychology Press).
  2. A. E. Wadeley, A. Birch, and A. Malim (1997) Perspectives in psychology (2nd Edn.) (Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan).
  3. J.C. Berryman, D.J. Hargreaves, C.R. Hollin, and K. Howells (1978) Psychology and you (Leicester, UK: BPS Books).
  4. C. Tavris and C. Wade (1997) Psychology in perspective (New York: Longman).
  5. W.E. Glassman (1995) Approaches to psychology (Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press).
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