Editing Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model (section)

===Retrieval from long-term store===
[[File:Retrieval in SAM.png|thumb|Simplified diagram of the steps involved in retrieving an item from the long-term store under the SAM model. Simplification of the diagram found in Raaijmakers & Shiffrin, 1981.<ref name=RaaijmakersShiffrin1981 />]]
It is best to show how items are recalled from the long-term store using an example. Assume a participant has just studied a list of word pairs and is now being tested on his memory of those pairs. If the prior list contained, ''blanket – ocean'', the test would be to recall ''ocean'' when prompted with ''blanket – ?''.

Memories stored in long-term store are retrieved through a logical process involving the assembly of cues, sampling, recovery, and evaluation of recovery. According to the model, when an item needs to be recalled from memory the individual assembles the various cues for the item in the short-term store. In this case, the cues would be any cues surrounding the pair ''blanket – ocean'', like the words that preceded and followed it, what the participant was feeling at the time, how far into the list the words were, etc.

Using these cues the individual determines which area of the long-term store to search and then samples any items with associations to the cues. This search is automatic and unconscious, which is how the authors would explain how an answer "pops" into one's head. The items which are eventually recovered, or recalled, are those with the strongest associations to the cue item, here ''blanket''. Once an item has been recovered it is evaluated, here the participant would decide whether ''blanket – [recovered word]'' matches ''blanket – ocean''. If there is a match, or if the participant believes there is a match, the recovered word is output. Otherwise the search starts from the beginning using different cues or weighting cues differently if possible.<ref name=RaaijmakersShiffrin1981 />