| Chapter 1: | Study One: Introduction / Overview of Study Goals |
Information enters the STS from both the sensory register and the LTS. Newly acquired information enters the sensory register and then moves to the STS for processing and possible further storage in the LTS. Within the STS is a rehearsal buffer that holds items while they are rehearsed for long term storage. Similarly, when asked to retrieve information from the LTS, this information will enter the STS for processing and possible usage as a response. Here, information retrieved is compared to the requested information criteria and either a response is generated or the search through the LTS continues. Within the LTS, control processes work to store and retrieve information (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968; Shiffrin & Atkinson, 1969). Control processes are individual decisions we make when processing information. Within the storage process, we determine what information to store, how to store it, where to store it in terms of placement, and what proportion of information to store. Within the retrieval process we activate a search for information in the LTS, recover that information to the STS, analyze the information recovered, and either generate a response or continue the search. Decay of information can happen at all stages of this model. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) addressed forgetting by suggesting that information can be either destroyed, making retrieval impossible, or damaged, in that retrieval may be delayed temporarily or permanently.
Both Atkinson and Shiffrin have proposed updated versions of the A–S model. For instance, the Atkinson–Joula theory maintains the basic three-store system, but adds information to the model in the areas of coding, long-term memory substores, and memory scanning tasks (Lachman, et al., 1979). They expressed coding as perceptual and conceptual; they further divided the LTS into episodic and semantic memory; and they expand the process of retrieval from LTS by explaining memory scanning in further detail. The Shiffrin–Schneider theory, on the other hand, suggests major revisions to the model and attempts to connect selective attention to the scanning of memory for information retrieval.