Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory.

According to the multi-store model of memory, short-term memory is a unitary store with a very limited capacity and finite duration. Miller (1956) demonstrated that short-term memory has a capacity of 7 items plus or minus 2 items. This capacity can be increased by chunking to combine individual items together, reducing the number of separate items overall to create larger, more meaningful pieces of information. This process means that short-term memory can hold around 7 large chunked units of information. Additionally, Peterson & Peterson (1959) gave subjects a combination of 3 consonants followed by 3 digits, which they were asked to remember in the correct order. Participants were then required to count backwards from their assigned number, in multiples of 3, for a given duration between 3 and 18 seconds. Those who recalled after 3 seconds were 80% accurate, whereas those recalling after 18 seconds were less than 10% accurate. This indicates that when rehearsal is prevented, short-term memory has a limited duration of around 18 seconds.