The Atkinson and Shiffrin memory model

“We are our memory, we are that chimerical museum of inconstant forms, that pile of broken mirrors”. This phrase by JL Borges exemplifies very well the meaning that memory has for us. We are facing one of the most relevant basic psychological processes and there have been many researchers who have tried to create models that replicate its functioning, achieving mixed successes. Thus, one of the most successful models has been Atkinson and Shiffrin’s memory model.

This model is born within theories that seek to structure memory in different stores to explain the way in which the brain manages information. So, Atkinson and Shiffrin’s memory model is structured around three stores. These structures would be responsible for processing the different types of data that we collect and keep for more or less time in our brains.

To understand this model, we will first explain each of the memory stores: sensory registers, short-term memory and long-term memory; and secondly, we will talk about how these structures work together to give rise to what we know as memory.

3 memory stores of the Atkinson and Shiffrin memory model

Sensory records

Our senses capture a lot of information of various types (auditory, visual, haptic…). This information must be stored somewhere, before being processed and even serviced. And this is where the sensory registers come in, a temporary store for data that is waiting to be processed. It could be compared at the computational level with data buffers.

Sensory registers are closely related to perception and have different characteristics depending on the sensory modality.. The two most studied registers are iconic memory (vision) and echoic memory (hearing). Through research it can be inferred that each sense will have its own memory store with its particular qualities.

short term memory

Short-term memory or STM is a memory store that stores a small amount of data for a short or very short period of time. This capacity usually has a capacity to store between 5 and 9 items, which are kept for 10 or 20 seconds if they are not renewed. The main function of this memory is to be the workspace where data is processed. At the computing level it would be the equivalent of RAM memory.

The study of short-term memory is a very broad field of study. Over time, the models that explain MCP have become more complex in order to adapt to new information. Today, the MCP is considered a system that performs multiple control functions and is the central element of executive operations.

long term memory

Long-term memory or LTM is where we record all the significant facts that may be useful in the future. This information will be stored in this warehouse almost permanently and its function is to give the person information about their past, so that they can deal with the present or the future in an optimal way. It can be compared on a computational level with the hard drive of a computer.

This memory in turn can be subdivided into different types or classes. The primary classification of the MLP would be subdivided into: declarative memory and procedural memory. The first of them, the declarative, stores those contents that can be voluntarily brought to consciousness; for example knowing that the capital of Spain is Madrid. While procedural memory is an implicit memory related to action. For example, knowing how to ride a bike or how to walk.

How Atkinson and Shiffrin’s memory model works

To understand Atkinson and Shiffrin’s memory model we need to know how information flows through the different stores. Data moves between sensory registers, MCP and MLP depending on the subject’s needs.

Firstly, the information is captured by the senses and at least a good part of it is stored in the sensory registers.. On the other hand, much of the information that is stored in the sensory registers is only noise, therefore it will be up to the attention, focused on the information itself or on the subject himself, that sifts this information.

Thus, attentional processes are responsible for selecting the relevant information for the subject and moving that data to the MCP. Once there, this data is processed and interpreted. If the information is a lot, difficult to associate with some prior knowledge, not very salient and we do not implement a memorization strategy, such as repetition, this information will probably end up being lost. On the contrary, it is very likely that the rest of the information will pass to the MLP.

All information that may be useful or relevant for the future is stored in the MLP. This allows us to take information from the MLP to the MCP to integrate it with new information from the sensory registers or to use it in some type of executive processing (e.g.: hearing that when cutting onions we do not cry if we breathe through the mouth and applying the trick on the next occasion).

Memory is a complex cognitive process, not always reliable, that is involved in a multitude of processes and behaviors.. Thus, understanding how it works is essential if we want to know how it influences our behavior or why it has such a relevant weight in aspects as important as the image we have of ourselves.

You might be interested…