Final answer:
The limitation of the Multi-Store Model (MSM) is highlighted by the existence of different types of rehearsal – maintenance and elaborative – which the model fails to differentiate between. This contradicts the model's oversimplified view of memory processing, as it does not account for the complexity of memory storage and overlooks the significance of meaning and emotion in memory formation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The fact that there is more than one type of rehearsal is seen as a serious limitation of the Multi-Store Model (MSM) of memory, which was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968. The MSM suggests that memory is made up of three stores: the sensory register, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM), with rehearsal acting as a mechanism to transfer information from STM to LTM. However, later research identified different types of rehearsal: 'maintenance' and 'elaborative'.
Maintenance rehearsal is the simple repetition of information to keep it in STM or to aid in its encoding into LTM. Elaborative rehearsal, on the other hand, involves linking new information to existing knowledge, thereby creating more meaningful associations and aiding deeper processing. This distinction is important because the original MSM does not account for the complexity of how information is processed and stored. It assumes a singular, simple rehearsal process which is contradicted by empirical evidence. Moreover, the MSM does not explain why some un-rehearsed information is remembered (due to its meaning or emotional significance) while other rehearsed information can be forgotten.
Consequently, the notion that different types of rehearsal processes exist challenges the simplicity of the MSM and underscores a need for more nuanced models of memory that can accommodate the various ways in which information is reviewed and encoded into LTM. Furthermore, the MSM's focus on the role of rehearsal is oversimplified, as it does not fully explain the depth and complexity of memory formation which involves more than simple repetition.