MEMORY

Memory is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the storage and subsequent
retrieval of information.

Memory is essential to all our lives. Without a memory of the past, we cannot operate in the
present or think about the future. We would not be able to remember what we did yesterday,
what we have done today or what we plan to do tomorrow. Without memory, we could not learn
anything.

Memory can be categorized into three

 By Processes Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval

Three important aspects of information processing:

Memory Encoding

When information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it needs to be changed
into a form that the system can cope with, so that it can be stored.

Encoding is the process by which we place the things that we experience into memory. Unless
information is encoded, it cannot be remembered. Not everything we experience can or should be
encoded. We tend to encode things that we need to remember and not bother to encode things that
are irrelevant.

Think of this as similar to changing your money into a different currency when you travel from
one country to another. For example, a word which is seen (in a book) may be stored if it is
changed (encoded) into a sound or a meaning (i.e. semantic processing).

There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed):

1. Visual (picture)

2. Acoustic (sound)
3. Semantic (meaning)

Memory Storage

This concerns the nature of memory stores, i.e., where the information is stored, how long the
memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at any time (capacity) and what kind of
information is held.

The way we store information affects the way we retrieve it. There has been a significant
amount of research regarding the differences between Short Term Memory (STM ) and Long
Term Memory (LTM).

Memory Retrieval

This refers to getting information out storage. If we can’t remember something, it may be
because we are unable to retrieve it. Even when information has been adequately encoded and
stored, it does not do us any good if we cannot retrieve it. Retrieval refers to the process of
reactivating information that has been stored in memory.

When we are asked to retrieve something from memory, the differences between STM and LTM
become very clear.

STM is stored and retrieved sequentially. For example, if a group of participants are given a list
of words to remember, and then asked to recall the fourth word on the list, participants go
through the list in the order they heard it in order to retrieve the information.

LTM is stored and retrieved by association. This is why you can remember what you went
upstairs for if you go back to the room where you first thought about it.

Organizing information can help aid retrieval. You can organize information in sequences (such
as alphabetically, by size or by time). Imagine a patient being discharged from hospital whose
treatment involved taking various pills at various times, changing their dressing and doing
exercises.
If the doctor gives these instructions in the order which they must be carried out throughout the
day (i.e., in the sequence of time), this will help the patient remember them.

1. Explicit Memory

When we assess memory by asking a person to consciously remember things, we are measuring
explicit memory. Explicit memory refers to knowledge or experiences that can be consciously
remembered.

There are two types of explicit memory: episodic and semantic.

Episodic memory refers to the firsthand experiences that we have had (e.g., recollections of our
high school graduation day or of the fantastic dinner we had in New York last year). Semantic
memory refers to our knowledge of facts and concepts about the world (e.g., that the absolute
value of −90 is greater than the absolute value of 9 and that one definition of the word “affect” is
“the experience of feeling or emotion”)

Explicit memory is assessed using measures in which the individual being tested must
consciously attempt to remember the information. A recall memory test is a measure of explicit
memory that involves bringing from memory information that has previously been remembered.
We rely on our recall memory when we take an essay test, because the test requires us to
generate previously remembered information. A multiple-choice test is an example of a
recognition memory test, a measure of explicit memory that involves determining whether
information has been seen or learned before

[Link] Memory While explicit memory consists of the things that we can consciously report
that we know, implicit memory refers to knowledge that we cannot consciously access.
However, implicit memory is nevertheless exceedingly important to us because it has a direct
effect on our behavior. Implicit memory refers to the influence of experience on behavior, even
if the individual is not aware of those influences

There are three general types of implicit memory: procedural memory, classical conditioning
effects, and priming.
Procedural memory refers to our often unexplainable knowledge of how to do things. When we
walk from one place to another, speak to another person in English, dial a cell phone, or play a
video game, we are using procedural memory. Procedural memory allows us to perform complex
tasks, even though we may not be able to explain to others how we do them

The idea of implicit memory helps explain how infants are able to learn. The ability to crawl,
walk, and talk are procedures, and these skills are easily and efficiently developed while we are
children despite the fact that as adults we have no conscious memory of having learned them.

Classical conditioning effects, in which we learn, often without effort or awareness, to associate
neutral stimuli (such as a sound or a light) with another stimulus (such as food), which creates a
naturally occurring response, such as enjoyment or salivation. The memory for the association is
demonstrated when the conditioned stimulus (the sound) begins to create the same response as
the unconditioned stimulus (the food) did before the learning.

Priming, or changes in behavior as a result of experiences that have happened frequently or

Stages of Memory:

They include; Sensory, Short-Term, and Long-Term Memory

Another way of understanding memory is to think of stages that describe the length of time that
information remains available to us.

Information begins in sensory memory, moves to short-term memory, and eventually moves to
long-term memory.

But not all information makes it through all three stages; most of it is forgotten. Whether the
information moves from shorter-duration memory into longer-duration memory or whether it is
lost from memory entirely depends on how the information is attended to and processed.
Sensory Memory Sensory memory refers to the brief storage of sensory information. Sensory
memory is a memory buffer that lasts only very briefly and then, unless it is attended to and
passed on for more processing, is forgotten. The purpose of sensory memory is to give the brain
some time to process the incoming sensations, and to allow us to see the world as an unbroken
stream of events rather than as individual pieces.

Visual sensory memory is known as iconic memory. A few letters all seen but one could
remember them only very briefly, making it impossible for them to report them all.

Auditory sensory memory is known as echoic memory. In contrast to iconic memories, which
decay very rapidly, echoic memories can last as long as 4 seconds. This is convenient as it allows
you—among other things—to remember the words that you said at the beginning of a long
sentence when you get to the end of it, and to take notes on your psychology professor’s most
recent statement even after he or she has finished saying it.

Short-Term Memory Most of the information that gets into sensory memory is forgotten, but
information that we turn our attention to, with the goal of remembering it, may pass into short-
term memory

Short term memory (STM) is the place where small amounts of information can be temporarily
kept for more than a few seconds but usually for less than one minute.

Information in short-term memory is not stored permanently but rather becomes available for us
to process, and the processes that we use to make sense of, modify, interpret, and store
information in STM are known as working memory.

One way to prevent the decay of information from short-term memory is to use working memory
to rehearse it. Maintenance rehearsal is the process of repeating information mentally or out loud
with the goal of keeping it in memory (e.g., a person’s name, e-mail address, or phone number)

Digit span test-a test of working memory. The digit span of most adults is between five and nine
digits, with an average of about seven.

One way we are able to expand our ability to remember things in STM is by using a memory
technique called chunking. Chunking is the process of organizing information into smaller
groupings (chunks), thereby increasing the number of items that can be held in STM. For
example-XOFCBANNCVTM can’t be remembered easily. But this MTVCNNABCFOX.

Long-Term Memory (LTM

Just as information is stored on digital media such as DVDs and flash drives, the information in
LTM must be stored in the brain. The ability to maintain information in LTM involves a gradual
strengthening of the connections among the neurons in the brain. When pathways in these neural
networks are frequently and repeatedly fired, the synapses become more efficient in
communicating with each other, and these changes create memory. This process, known as
longterm potentiation (LTP), refers to the strengthening of the synaptic connections between
neurons as result of frequent stimulation (Lynch, 2002).

McLeod, S. A. (2013, August 05). Stages of memory - encoding storage and retrieval. Simply
Psychology. [Link]/[Link]