AQA A Level Psychology Paper 1
4.1 Introductory topics in Psychology
Topic: Memory
All 16 marker topic essays
1) Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory. Refer to
evidence in your answer (16)
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) proposed the multi-store model (MSM) which
suggests that memory is made up of three components: sensory register (SR),
short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). The model proposes
that memories are formed sequentially and information passes from one
component to the next, in a linear fashion. Information enters the SR via our
senses such as sound or sight. The SR has a very limited duration of less
than one second. Information that is attended to is passed to STM, which has
a limited capacity of 7+/-2 ‘chunks’ of information, and a limited duration of
approximately 20 seconds. Information in our STM is coded in an acoustic
format. Therefore, rehearsed information is transferred to LTM, which has an
unlimited capacity and a lifetime duration. Information is LTM is coded
semantically and can be retrieved from LTM to STM when required.
A strength of the MSM comes from the case of Clive Wearing, who contracted
a virus that caused severe amnesia. Following the virus, he could only
remember information for 20-30 seconds; however he was able to recall
information from his past, for example his wife’s name. Also, Wearing was
unable to transfer information from his STM to his LTM, but he was able to
retrieve some information successfully. This suggests that Wearing’s case
supports the idea that memories are formed by passing information from one
store to the next, in a linear fashion, and that damage to any part of the MSM
can cause memory impairment. However, this study may be unrepresentative
of memory as it’s a case study about one person, so what he experienced
may not be the same as what someone else would experience if a similar
thing happened to them. This suggests that case studies into the MSM have
low ecological validity.
One limitation is that other case studies refute the MSM, such as the case of
patient KF, who was injured in a motorcycle accident. Following his accident,
KF could recall stored information from his LTM, however he had issues with
, his STM. KF was also able to remember visual images, including faces, but
was unable to remember sounds, acoustic information. This suggests that
there are at least two components within STM, one component for visual
information and one for acoustic information, suggesting that the MSM may
provide an oversimplified account of STM. Furthermore, this issue could be
due to the fact that the MSM takes a nomothetic approach, trying to create a
universal model to explain the process of human memory. An idiographic
approach that uses examples of real‐life remembering may result in a more
complex (and arguably more accurate) picture of memory.
Another strength of the MSM is evidence from brain scans that have shown
that different areas of the brain are active when performing STM tasks, such
as the hippocampus, and LTM tasks, such as the motor cortex. This suggests
that different brain regions are responsible for the different components of the
MSM, supporting the idea that our memory is made up of discrete stores.
However, this way of studying memory is an example of experimental
reductionism, as it attempts to explain a complex behaviour by relying on
isolated variables operationalised in laboratory experiments. But, as memory
is complex, it could be said that reducing memory to isolated variables
undermines the complexity of human memory.
