COGNITIVE APPROACH

The multi-store memory model

Memory is a cognitive process used to encode, store and retrieve information. The multi-store
memory model was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968.

In this model, human memory is said to consist of three separate components:

1. sensory memory

2. short-term memory store

3. long-term memory store.

Each of these components is characterized by a specific duration (for how long the store is able to
hold information) and capacity (how many units of information it can hold). In order for information
to move to the next memory store, certain conditions have to be met.

The sensory memory store (or the sensory register) does not process information. Its function is to
detect information and hold it until it is either transferred further into the short-term memory store
or lost. Sensory memory actually consists of several sub-components, one for each modality: visual
information, auditory, olfactory, and so on. Most of the research, however, has focused on iconic
memory (for visual inputs) and echoic memory (for auditory inputs).

The capacity of sensory memory is only limited by our perception, for example, iconic memory can
keep everything that enters our visual field and echoic memory can hold everything that we
acoustically perceive at any moment.

However, the duration of sensory memory is short. Traces in iconic memory decay after 1 second of
inattention, while traces in echoic memory can decay after 2–5 seconds.

The condition that has to be met for information to transfer from sensory memory to short-term
memory is attention. If a unit of information is attended to, it does not decay, but moves to the next
memory store. Conversely, if it does not catch our attention, it fades away. So potentially sensory
memory has unlimited capacity, but it is only transient, and we can only attend to a small subset of
information stored in sensory memory.

As information enters the short-term memory (STM) store, it can undergo some primitive
transformations. For example, if you see a word (visually), you can subvocally pronounce it and it will
enter the short-term memory store acoustically. So the differences between modalities in short-
term memory, to some extent, are erased.

The capacity of short-term memory has been extensively studied, and it has been established to be
7±2 chunks of information. This number was empirically justified in GA Miller’s article “The Magical
Number Seven” in 1956. The trick is that a chunk is not only an individual unit, it can be a meaningful
combination of individual units.

For example, the sequence of symbols PCBMXBMWXBOXPS4 makes 15 units of information, which
falls outside the capacity of short-term memory. If, however, you perform some grouping: PC – BMX
– BMW – XBOX – PS4, it now becomes five chunks!

The duration of short-term memory is somewhat dependent on the modality, but is generally no
longer than 30 seconds. If the information is left unattended, the trace fades away in this period of
time.

The condition for increasing the duration of short-term memory and transferring information into
the third store (long-term memory) is rehearsal. If we rehearse information (for example, repeat
words over and over again or keep coming back to a mental image), it stays in the STM longer, and
eventually the trace gets consolidated and the information enters the long-term memory store.

Long-term memory (LTM) is described as a place for storing large amounts of information for
indefinite periods of time (Galotti, 2008)

The current estimate of the capacity of LTM is that it is potentially virtually unlimited. Psychologists
have failed to quantify the capacity of LTM or at least provide an approximate estimate. You can
probably remember times when you saw or heard something and never thought of it again, but then
suddenly one day some contextual cue triggers those distant memories, and you suddenly
remember something that you thought had been long forgotten. There are also well-known case
studies of “memory champions”. In some cases memory champions can recollect long strings of
digits that they had memorized many years before, although they never rehearsed the digits since
that time.

Although the capacity of LTM is potentially unlimited, not all information that is stored in LTM is
easily retrievable. It is not storing but retrieving information from memory that may be problematic.
Similarly, the limit for the duration of long-term memory has not been established, and potentially it
is longer than a lifetime. As mentioned above, the condition for information to enter LTM is
rehearsal. According to the classical multi-store memory model, rehearsal gradually consolidates the
memory trace and so increases the probability of information permanently entering the LTM store.