Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Model of human memory}}

{{Cognitive}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}

The '''Atkinson–Shiffrin model''' (also known as the '''multi-store model''' or '''modal model''') is a model of [[memory]] proposed in 1968 by [[Richard C. Atkinson|Richard Atkinson]] and [[Richard Shiffrin]].<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1968 /> The model asserts that human memory has three separate components:

# a ''[[#Sensory register|sensory register]]'', where sensory information enters memory,

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# a ''[[#Long-term store|long-term store]]'', where information which has been rehearsed (explained below) in the short-term store is held indefinitely.

Since its first publication, this model has come under much scrutiny and has been criticized for various reasons (described below). However,But it is notable for the significant influence it had in stimulating subsequent memory research.

==Summary==

[[File:Multistore model.png|thumb|327px|right|'''Multi-store model''': Atkinson and Shiffrin's (1968) original model of memory, consisting of the sensory register, short-term store, and long-term store.]]

The model of memories is an explanation of how memory processes work. The three-part, multi-store model was first described by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968,<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1968 /> though the vague idea of distinct memory stores was by no means a new idea at the time. [[William James]] described a distinction between primary and secondary memory in 1890, where primary memory consisted of thoughts held for a short time in consciousness and secondary memory consisted of a permanent, unconscious store.<ref name=James1890 /> However,But at the time the [[Occam's razor|parsimony]] of separate memory stores was a contested notion. A summary of the evidence given for the distinction between long-term and short-term stores is given [[#Evidence for distinct stores|below]]. Additionally, Atkinson and Shiffrin included a sensory register alongside the previously theorized primary and secondary memory, as well as a variety of control processes which regulate the transfer of memory.

Following its first publication, multiple extensions of the model have been put forth such as a precategorical acoustic store,<ref name=CrowderMorton1969 /> the search of associative memory model,<ref name=RaaijmakersShiffrin1981 /><ref name=ShiffrinRaaijmakers1992/> the perturbation model,<ref name=Estes1972 /><ref name=Lee1992 /> and permastore.<ref name=Bahrick1984 /> Additionally, alternative frameworks have been proposed, such as procedural reinstatement,<ref name=HealyEtAl1992 /> a distinctiveness model,<ref name=NeathCrowder1990 /> and [[Baddeley's model of working memory|Baddeley and Hitch's model of working memory]],<ref name=BaddeleyHitch1974 /> among others.

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==Sensory register==

{{Main|Sensory memory}}

When an environmental stimulus is detected by the senses, it is briefly available in what Atkinson and Shiffrin called the ''sensory registers'' (also ''sensory buffers'' or ''[[sensory memory]]''). Though this store is generally referred to as "the sensory register" or "sensory memory", it is actually composed of multiple registers, one for each sense. The sensory registers do not process the information carried by the stimulus, but rather detect and hold information for milliseconds to seconds in order to be used in short-term memory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldstein |first=E. Bruce |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1055681278 |title=Cognitive psychology : connecting mind, research, and everyday experience |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-337-40827-1 |edition=5E |___location=Boston, MA, USA |oclc=1055681278}}</ref> For this reason Atkinson and Shiffrin also called the registers "buffers", as they prevent immense amounts of information from overwhelming higher-level cognitive processes. Information is only transferred to the short-term memory when attention is given to it, otherwise it decays rapidly and is forgotten.<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1968 />

While it is generally agreed that there is a sensory register for each sense, most of the research in the area has focused on the visual and auditory systems.

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===Capacity===

There is a limit to the amount of information that can be held in the short-term store: 75 ±- 29 [[Chunking (psychology)|chunks]].<ref name=Miller1956 /> These chunks, which were noted by Miller in his seminal paper ''The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two'', are defined as independent items of information. It is important to note that some chunks are perceived as one unit though they could be broken down into multiple items, for example "1066" can be either the series of four digits "1, 0, 6, 6" or the semantically grouped item "1066" which is the year the [[Battle of Hastings]] was fought. [[Chunking (psychology)|Chunking]] allows for large amounts of information to be held in memory: 149283141066 is twelve individual items, well outside the limit of the short-term store, but it can be grouped semantically into the 4 chunks "[[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]][1492] ate[8] pie[314→3.14→[[pi|{{pi}}]]] at the [[Battle of Hastings]][1066]". Because short-term memory is limited in capacity, it severely limits the amount of information that can be attended to at any one time.

==Long-term store==

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===Transfer from STS===

Information is postulated to enter the long-term store from the short-term store more or less automatically. According Asto Atkinson and Shiffrin model it, transfer from the short-term store to the long-term store is occurring for as long as the information is being attended to in the short-term store. In this way, varying amounts of attention result in varying amounts of time in short-term memory. Ostensibly, the longer an item is held in short-term memory, the stronger its memory trace will be in long-term memory. Atkinson and Shiffrin cite evidence for this transfer mechanism in studies by Hebb (1961)<ref name=Hebb1961 /> and Melton (1963)<ref name=Melton1963 /> which show that repeated rote repetition enhances long-term memory. One may also think to the original Ebbinghaus memory experiments showing that forgetting increases for items which are studied fewer times.<ref name=Ebbinghaus /> Finally, the authors note that there are stronger encoding processes than simple rote rehearsal, namely relating the new information to information which has already made its way into the long-term store.<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1968 />

===Capacity and duration===

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===Sensory register as a separate store===

One of the early and central criticisms to the Atkinson-ShiffrinAtkinson–Shiffrin model was the inclusion of the sensory registers as part of memory. Specifically, the original model seemed to describe the sensory registers as both a structure and a control process. Parsimony would suggest that if the sensory registers are actually control processes, there is no need for a tri-partite system. Later revisions to the model addressed these claims and incorporated the sensory registers with the short-term store.<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1971 /><ref name=Shiffrin1975 /><ref name=Shiffrin1976 />

===Division and nature of working memory===

Baddeley and Hitch have in turn called tointo question the specific structure of the short-term store, proposing that it is subdivided into multiple components.<ref name=BaddeleyHitch1974 /> While the different components were not specifically addressed in the original Atkinson-Shiffrin model, the authors do note that little research has been done investigating the different ways sensory modalities may be represented in the short-term store.<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1968 /> Thus the model of working memory given by Baddeley and Hitch should be viewed as a refinement of the original model.

:{{further|Baddeley's model of working memory}}

===Rehearsal as the sole transfer mechanism===

The model has been further criticized as suggesting that rehearsal is the key process whichthat initiates and facilitates transfer of information into LTM. There is very little evidence supporting this hypothesis, and long-term recall can in fact be better predicted by a [[Levels-of-processing effect|levels-of-processing framework]]. In this framework, items which are encoded at a deeper, more semantic level are shown to have stronger traces in long-term memory.<ref name=CraikLockhart1972 /> This criticism is somewhat unfounded as Atkinson and Shiffrin clearly state a difference between rehearsal and coding, where coding is akin to elaborative processes which levels-of-processing would call deep-processing.<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1968 /> In this light, the levels-of-processing framework could be seen as more of an extension of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model rather than a refutation.<ref name=Raaijmakers1993 />

:{{further|Levels-of-processing effect}}

===Division of long-term memory===

In the case of long-term memory, it is unlikely that different types of information, such as the motor skills to ride a bike, memory for vocabulary, and memory for personal life events are stored in the same fashion. [[Endel Tulving]] notes the importance of encoding specificity in long-term memory. To clarify, there are definite differences in the way information is stored depending on whether it is episodic (memories of events), procedural (knowledge of how to do things), or semantic (general knowledge).<ref name=TulvingThompson1973 /> A short (non-inclusive) example comes from the study of [[Henry Molaison]] (H.M.): learning a simple motor task (tracing a star pattern in a mirror), which involves implicit and procedural long-term storage, is unaffected by bilateral lesioning of the hippocampal regions while other forms of long-term memory, like vocabulary learning (semantic) and memories for events, are severely impaired.<ref name=Milner1962 />

:{{further|Encoding specificity principle}}

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<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1968>{{cite book |last1=Atkinson | first1=R.C.| last2=Shiffrin| first2=R.M.| editor-first=K.W.| editor-last=Spence| editor2-first=J.T.| editor2-last=Spence |title=The psychology of learning and motivation|volume=2| publisher= New York: Academic Press|year=1968 |pages=89–195 |chapter=Chapter: Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes}}</ref>

<ref name=AtkinsonShiffrin1971>{{cite journal |last1=Atkinson |first1=Richard C. |last2=Shiffrin |first2=Richard M. |title=The control of short-term memory |journal=Scientific American |volume= 225|issue=2 |pages=82–90 |date=August 1971 |pmid=5089457 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0871-82|bibcode=1971SciAm.225b..82A |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/25m708jq }}</ref>

<ref name=BaddeleyHitch1974>{{cite book |last1=Baddeley |first1=Alan D. |last2=Hitch |first2=Graham J. |chapter=Working memory |editor-last=Bower |editor-first=Gordon H. |title=The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory |volume=8 |pages=47–90 |___location=New York |publisher=Academic Press}}</ref>

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<ref name=CrowderMorton1969>{{cite journal |last1=Crowder |first1=Robert G. |last2=Morton |first2=John |title=Precategorical acoustic storage (PAS) |journal=Perception & Psychophysics |date=November 1969 |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=365–373 |doi=10.3758/BF03210660|doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=DarwinTurveyCrowder1972>{{cite journal |last1=Darwin |first1=Christopher J. |last2=Turvey |first2=Michael T. |last3=Crowder |first3=Robert G. |title=An auditory analogue of the sperling partial report procedure: Evidence for brief auditory storage |year=1972 |journal=Cognitive Psychology |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=255–267 |doi=10.1016/0010-0285(72)90007-2 |url=http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0119.pdf |access-date=24 November 24, 2013 |archive-date=3 March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225510/http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0119.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name=Ebbinghaus>{{cite book |last=Ebbinghaus |first=Hermann |title=Über das Gedächtnis |trans-title=Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology |orig-year=1885

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<ref name=HowardKahana2002>{{cite journal |last1=Howard |first1=Marc W. |last2=Kahana |first2=Michael J. |s2cid=2942357 |title=A distributed representation of temporal context |journal=Journal of Mathematical Psychology |date=June 2002 |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=269–299 |doi=10.1006/jmps.2001.1388}}</ref>

<ref name=James1890>{{cite book |last=James |first=William |title=The Principles of Psychology |year=1890 |___location=New York |publisher=Henry Holt |url=http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/index.htm |access-date=23 November 23, 2013}}</ref>

<ref name=Lee1992>{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Catherine L. |chapter=The perturbation model of short-term memory: a review and some further developments |editor1-last=Healy |editor1-first=Alice F. |editor2-last=Kosslyn |editor2-first=Stephen M. |editor3-last=Shiffrin |editor3-first=Richard M. |title=From Learning Processes to Cognitive Processes: Essays in Honor of William K. Estes |volume=2 |year=1992| ___location=Hillsdale, NJ |publisher=Erlbaum |pages=119–141 |isbn=978-0-8058-0760-8}}</ref>

<ref name=Melton1963>{{cite journal |last=Melton |first=Arthur W. | author-link=Arthur Melton |title=Implications of short-term memory for a general theory of memory |journal=DTIC Document |date=October 1963 |url=http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0422425 |access-date=24 November 24, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173656/http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0422425 |archive-date=3 March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name=Miller1956>{{cite journal | last=Miller | first=George A. | title=The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information | journal=Psychological Review | publisher=American Psychological Association | volume=63 | issue=2 | year=1956 | issn=1939-1471 | doi=10.1037/h0043158 | pages=81–97 | pmid=13310704 | citeseerx=10.1.1.308.8071| s2cid=15654531 }}</ref>

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<ref name=PetersonPeterson1959>{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Lloyd |last2=Peterson |first2=Margaret Jean |title=Short-term retention of individual verbal items |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology |volume=58 |issue=3 |date=September 1959 |pages=193–198 |doi=10.1037/h0049234 |pmid=14432252|citeseerx=10.1.1.227.1807 }}</ref>

<ref name=PhillipsShiffrinAtkinson1967>{{cite journal |last1=Phillips |first1=James L. |last2=Shiffrin |first2=Richard J. |last3=Atkinson |first3=Richard C. |title=The effects of list length on short-term memory |journal=Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior |year=1967 |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=303–311 |doi=10.1016/S0022-5371(67)80117-8|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/741429sd }}</ref>

<ref name=Posner1966>{{cite journal |last=Posner |first=Michael I. |title=Components of skilled performance |journal=Science |date=24 June 24, 1966

|volume=152 |issue=3730 |pages=1712–1718 |doi=10.1126/science.152.3730.1712|pmid=5328119 |bibcode=1966Sci...152.1712P }}</ref>