Visual Memory and Models of Human Information-Processing

Interest in the structural organization of memory existed long before an analogy was drawn between the brain and computers, Nevertheless, we have the efforts of proponents of information theory [18, 22, 371 to thank for the foundations of numerous structural models of memory, whose common feature is the notion that there are three linked units of information storage and retention (Figure 1). Thus, the most sophisticated model of this sort, that of R. Atkinson & R. Shiffrin [27, 281 distinguishes: (1) modality-specific sensory registers, (2) short-term (primary) memory, and (3) long-term (secondary) memory.