What is a limitation of the multi-store model (MSM)?

• A. It may be critiqued for its focus on structure over processes.
• B. It explains all memory interactions well.
• C. It accounts for rehearsal loops.
• D. It includes a central executive.

Answer: (B)

The question tests understanding of a key limitation: the multi-store model focuses on separate storage places and a simple path for information, but it doesn’t explain how processing works on that information. In MSM, memory is shown as distinct stores (sensory, short-term, long-term) with a basic role for rehearsal to keep things in short-term memory and to move them to long-term memory. But it treats memory mainly as storage and a linear transfer process, offering little about how we attend to, manipulate, or coordinate information across tasks. That is why later theories, like the working memory model, add a central executive and specialized subsystems to capture the active processing and control involved in real thinking and problem solving.

So the limitation is the emphasis on structure over processing. The idea that MSM explains all memory interactions well isn’t accurate, because it doesn’t account for how different memory systems influence each other or how processing operates in real time. It also doesn’t include features like a central executive or rehearsal-based loops as processing mechanisms, which are core to more modern models.