The multi-store model is a model of memory that has the advantage of being able to be broken down into sub-models of memory. According to the multi-store model of memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968) memory can be explained in terms of 3 stores (sensory store, short term store and long term store) and 2 processes (attention and rehearsal).
Sensory Memory stores the incoming information from the senses. The model assumes that these are modality specific that is there is a separate store for each of the five senses. The store is very brief and the vast majority of information is lost here. Only information that is relevant or important is attended to and passed on to STM. STM Atkinson & Shiffrin believed the store to be fragile and retains information for about 30 seconds. Compare this to the 18 seconds of the Brown–Peterson technique. Material that is rehearsed is passed on to LTM. LTM can store this information for a lifetime. Forgetting from LTM is by decay or interference.
Attention: needed to transfer information from the senses to STM. Most stimuli that reach the senses are ignored because they aren’t seen as important. Only relevant or interesting information or material that we choose to concentrate on is passed to the STM. 99% is lost at this stage. Rehearsal: needed to transfer information from STM to LTM. We can rehearse information out loud as a child would do or we can rehearse sub-vocally, in our heads. Either way it is seen as crucial and is one of the main criticisms of the theory, as we shall see. Later models distinguished between maintenance rehearsal in which material is repeated in ‘rote’ fashion to maintain it in STM and help with transfer to LTM. Elaborative rehearsal links the information with existing material or elaborates it in some other way, again as an aid to longer term storage.
To evaluate, the model has simplistic