Atkinson-Shiffrin Memory Model

The Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model, also known as the multi-store model, is a theory of human memory proposed in 1968 by the psychologists Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin, describing memory as made up of three separate stores through which information passes. The sensory register is the point where sensory information from the environment first enters the memory system and is held very briefly. Information that receives attention passes to the short-term store, sometimes called working memory, which holds a limited amount of information for a limited time and also receives input retrieved from the long-term store. Information sufficiently rehearsed while in the short-term store transfers into the long-term store, which is capable of holding information indefinitely. The model was highly influential in establishing memory as a set of distinct, sequential processing stages rather than a single undifferentiated faculty, and though later researchers have proposed refinements and alternatives, including more detailed accounts of working memory, the Atkinson-Shiffrin model remains a standard starting point for describing how information moves from sensation into lasting memory.