The Multi-Store Memory Model

Memory – Cognitive Theories

In this course, Dr Davide Bruno (Liverpool John Moores University) explores the cognitive psychology of memory and forgetting. In the first lecture, we think about the multi-store memory model, developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968. In the second lecture, we think about the working memory model, developed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974. In the third lecture, we look at different types of long-term memory, including episodic, semantic and procedural memory. Next, we think about the cognitive processes involved in forgetting, focusing in particular on retrieval failure and interference. In the fifth and final lecture, we conclude the course with an overview of amnesia, a clinical condition associated with significant memory loss.

The Multi-Store Memory Model

In this lecture, we think about the multi-store model of memory as developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968, focusing in particular on: (i) tracing the model’s origins back to Broadbent’s research in the field of attention; (ii) the three components of the multi-store memory model, including the sensory store, short-term memory and long-term memory; (iii) the capacity and function of each store; (iv) Miller’s research on the capacity of short-term memory.