Discuss the Multi-Store of Memory

The multi-store model was first described by Atkinson and Shiffrin, in 1968, and is an explanation of how memory process works. The memory is linear and we have three stores of memory; these are sensory register, short-term memory and long term memory. Sensory register includes iconic, echoic and other sensory register. Information enters sensory register and, if you pay attention to it, it is stored in short-term memory. If there has been prolonged rehearsal applied it can be stored in long-term memory or it could be a rehearsal loop. If long-term memory is not retrieved information may decay.

Supporting evidence for this theory comes from the study of HM. Skovil carried out a study on HM who suffered from epileptic seizures. The aim of the research was to get rid of HM's epileptic seizures however they found that after they had remove his hippocampus from his brain through partial lobotomy he had very little recall of information and to remember he had to repeat information to himself. He could remember a number for fifteen by repeating but he forgot the initial question after 5 minutes. HM could still form short-term memories but was unable to form long-term ones, accordingly proving that there was distinction between STM and LTM thus proving Atkinson and Shiffrin's theory that we have unitary memory stores.

A weakness of this study is that it is very difficult - or impossible - to replicate. The fact that a partial lobotomy was carried out on HM is evidence for this as due to ethical issues, lobotomies are outlawed and consequently cannot be carried out. This reduces support for MSM as we cannot check the reliability of results. A strength of this study however is that, because it is a case study, it has ecological validity and was highly detailed.

The MSM claim that there is only one type of short-term memory has been proved wrong. The opposing case study of KF showed that studies of KF and other people with amnesia showed that there could even be another short term store for non-verbal sounds such as noises. Shallots and Warrington (1970) studies KF and King that his short term memory for digits was vet poor when read aloud to him, however, his recall was much better when he was able to read the digits himself thus showing that, at the very least, there must be one short term memory store to process visual information and mother to process auditory information and this proves that the memory stores are not unitary.