Memory is.a complex mental system involving multiple stages of information processing.

According
to the Information-Processing model of memory, four major processes are involved in remembering
information:

■ Attention: We must direct our attention to the information.

■ Encoding: The information must be transformed into a neural impulse and mental representation
that can be processed, interpreted, and organized by the brain.
■ Storage: The information must be processed in some form and stored away.
■ Retrieval: Stored information must be brought to conscious awareness

Ulric Neisser
1956

MODELS OF MEMORY

In the mid-1960s, based on the data available at the time, researchers proposed a model of memory
distinguishing two structures of memory first proposed by William James (1890, 1970): primary
memory, which holds temporary information currently in use, and secondary memory, which holds
information permanently or at least for a very long time (Waugh & Norman, 1965).

Three years later, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968) proposed an alternative model that
conceptualized memory in terms of three memory stores:

• a sensory store, capable of storing relatively limited amounts of information for very brief periods;
• a short-term store, capable of storing information for somewhat longer periods but of relatively
limited capacity as well; and
• a long-term store, of very large capacity, capable of storing information for very

(sensory — SM)
(primary)
(secondary → long term memory)

IMAGE 1 — Multi-Store Model of Memory

Sequential Model, Modal Model

The multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968)

• Information passes from one storage system to the next in a fixed order.

[Diagram:]

Data → Sensory memory → (Selective attention) → Short-term memory → (Rehearsal) → Long-term

memory

Under Sensory memory: Forgetting through decay

Under Short-term memory: Forgetting through decay or displacement

Under Long-term memory: Forgetting through decay or interference

• SM, STM and LTM are seen as permanent structures of the memory system.

• The process of selective attention allows only specific information to enter conscious STM.

IMAGE 2 — Levels of Processing Model of Memory

does not talk about → stages of memory

LEVELS OF PROCESSING MODEL OF MEMORY

Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart (1972) proposed the Levels of Processing theory of memory, which
argues that information is more likely to be remembered when the information is processed at a
deep level.

Rote or maintenance rehearsal (repeating information over and over to oneself) is not enough to
remember information over long periods of time.

Instead, information needs to be elaborated on, made meaningful, related to already stored
information, organized in a meaningful way.

This theory suggests that what determines how long you will remember material is not what
memory system it gets into (they suggest that there is only one memory system), but the way in
which you process the material. They postulated that an item entering into memory is analyzed in
stages.

elaborative rehearsal →
distinctiveness →

[Triangle diagram showing:

Visual processing → Phonetic processing → Semantic Processing → Long-term memory]

IMAGE 3 — Processing Levels Example

remembering at best level is easiest

How can I remember the name of my new colleague, Scott?

Deepest processing
• Personally relevant
(Handwritten: She turns out to be your teacher!)
• Has the same name as my favourite singer (crossed out)

Deep processing
• Semantically meaning
The name means “Someone from Scotland”
(Handwritten: BOSS → LADY)
• (Crossed out previous line)
Mid-level processing
• Phonetic processing / acoustic
Rhymes with — (crossed out)
(Handwritten: Chaiyya Chaiyya song)

Shallow processing
• Structural processing
Has only 1 vowel (crossed out)
(Handwritten: red hat with small drawing)

IMAGE 4 — Three Levels of Processing

There are three ways, or levels, in which information can be processed.

First is physical (visual), by focusing on the appearance, size, and shape of the information.
Second is acoustical, by focusing on the sound combinations words have.
The third is semantic, by focusing on the meaning of the word.

These three ways demand different amounts of mental effort.

The first way demands very little effort, the third way (the deepest level) demands more effort.

The level at which information is stored will depend, in large part, on how it is encoded. Moreover,
the deeper the level of processing, the higher, in general, is the probability that an item may be
retrieved.

Among the levels of processing proposed by Fergus Craik and Endel Tulving are the physical,
phonological, and semantic levels.

Level of
Basis for Processing Example
Processing

Word: TABLE Question: Is the word

Physical Visually apparent features of the letters
written in capital letters?

Sound combinations associated with the Word: CAT Question: Does the word
Phonological
letters (e.g., rhyming) rhyme with “MAT”?

Word: DAFFODIL Question: Is the word

Semantic Meaning of the word
a type of plant?

THE WORKING MEMORY MODEL, BADDELEY & HITCH (1974)

Baddeley proposed a working memory model that temporarily holds and manipulates information
as we perform cognitive tasks.

Working memory can be conceptualized as a type of workbench in which new and old information
are constantly being transformed, combined, and updated.

Working memory challenges the view that STM is simply another “box” in the head—a simple
processing station along the way to either being lost or sent on to LTM.
Baddeley argues that the span of memory is determined by the speed with which we rehearse
information.

COMPONENTS OF WORKING MEMORY

1. Central Executive

o Has a limited capacity

o Flexible and involved in attending, problem-solving, and decision-making

2. Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad (VSSP)

o Also called the visuo-spatial scratchpad or sketchpad

o Limited capacity

o Stores visually coded information such as size, colour, and spatial relationships

o Known as the “inner eye”

3. Phonological Loop

o Has a time-based capacity of about 2 seconds

o Consists of two parts:

a) Phonological Store (inner ear) – stores acoustically coded items for short periods
b) Articulatory Control System (subvocal rehearsal) – linked to speech production;
allows us to rehearse information subvocally (useful for reading difficult material)

4. Episodic Buffer

o Integrates information from the phonological loop, VSSP, and LTM

o Temporary storage system for combining information into a single episodic

representation.

ENDEL TULVING’S MODEL OF LONG–TERM MEMORY, 1972

Tulving (1989) focused on the nature of the material that is stored in memory and
distinguished between two different kinds of memory: Episodic and Semantic.

Later on he added another category called procedural memory. He emphasizes that short-
term memory constitutes a separate memory system.

Tulving believes that procedural knowledge is the first system to develop during infancy,
followed by semantic knowledge and last of all – episodic memory.

Memory

Declarative

 Semantic (facts)
 Episodic (events)

Nondeclarative

 Procedural skills (e.g., motor, perceptual, cognitive)

 Priming (perceptual, semantic)

 Conditioning

 Nonassociative (habituation, sensitization)

Long-term memory

Explicit (handwritten)

Declarative:
Things you know that you can tell others (hippocampus dependent)

→ Episodic: Remembering your first day in school

Storage in cortex

→ Semantic: Knowing the capital of France

Storage in cortex

Nondeclarative (procedural):
Things you know that you can show by doing (hippocampus independent)

→ Skill learning: Knowing how to ride a bicycle

Basal ganglia, motor cortex, and cerebellum

→ Priming: Being more likely to use a word you heard recently

Cortex

→ Conditioning: Salivating when you see a favorite food

Cerebellum