Memory
Memory
• Memory refers to the processes that are used to
acquire, store, retain and later retrieve
information.
• “Memory is the process of maintaining
information over time.” (Matlin, 2005)
• “Memory is the means by which we draw on our
past experiences in order to use this information
in the present’ (Sternberg, 1999).
• Memory is the term given to the structures and
processes involved in the storage and subsequent
retrieval of information.
Stages of memory
Sensory Memory
• The term Sensory refers to the initial process of
storing information that is perceived through
our senses. It lasts for a subtle period and it is
regularly replaced by new data, as our senses
work continuously.
• 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.
Types of sensory memory
• Visual sensory memory is known as iconic
memory.
• Iconic memory was first studied by the
psychologist George Sperling (1960)
• The “short enough” is the length of iconic
memory, which turns out to be about 250
milliseconds (¼ of a second).
• 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 (Cowan, Lichty, & Grove, 1990)
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 (Baddeley,
Vallar, & Shallice, 1990).
• 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. Capacity—limited (holds 7+/-2 items)
Maintenance rehearsal is the process of repeating
information mentally or out loud with the goal of
keeping it in memory. We engage in maintenance
rehearsal to keep a something that we want to
remember (e.g., a person’s name, e-mail address,
or phone number) in mind long enough to write it
down, use it, or potentially transfer it to long-term
memory.
Chunking is the process of organizing information
into smaller groupings (chunks), thereby increasing
the number of items that can be held in STM.
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Long Term Memory
• If information makes it past short term-
memory it may enter long-term memory
(LTM),
• Memory storage that can hold information for
days, months, and years.
• The capacity of long-term memory is large,
and there is no known limit to what we can
remember (Wang, Liu, & Wang, 2003).
Process of memory
Memory Encoding
• Encoding refers to the initial experience of
perceiving and learning .
• Information is changed so that we can make
sense of it. This process is known as encoding.
• Encoding is the process of representing an
item in some form in the memory; it may be in
the form of a “sound” heard in the mind, a
“picture” seen in the mind or a “meaning”
held in the mind.
Types of encoding
• Visual coding is the process of encoding
images and visual sensory information. The
creation of mental pictures is one way people
use visual encoding. This type of information
is temporarily stored in iconic memory, and
then is moved to long-term memory for
storage..
• Acoustic coding is the use of auditory stimuli
or hearing to implant memories. This is aided
by what is known as the phonological loop.
The phonological loop is a process by which
sounds are sub-vocally rehearsed (or "said in
your mind over and over") in order to be
remembered.
• Semantic coding involves the use of sensory
input that has a specific meaning or can be
applied to a context. Chunking aid in semantic
encoding; sometimes, deep processing and
optimal retrieval occurs. For example, you
might remember a particular phone number
based on a person's name or a particular food
by its color.
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.
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. When we are asked to retrieve something
from memory
Types of Memories
Episodic memory
• It is sometimes called explicit memory
• Is memory of facts and events, and refers to those
memories that can be consciously recalled
• Refers to the first hand experiences that
represents our memory of experiences and
specific events in time in a serial form, from which
we can reconstruct the actual events that took
place at any given point in our lives.
• It is the memory of autobiographical events
(times, places, associated emotions and other
contextual knowledge.
(e.g., recollections of our high school graduation day
or of the fantastic dinner we had in New York last
year).
Semantic memory
• It is more structured record of facts, meanings,
concepts and knowledge about the external world
that we have acquired.
• It refers to general factual knowledge, shared with
others and independent of personal experience
and of the spatial/temporal context in which it
was acquired.
• Semantic memories may once have had a
personal context, but now stand alone as
simple knowledge. It therefore includes such
things as types of food, capital cities, social
customs, functions of objects, vocabulary,
understanding of mathematics, etc.
Procedural memory
• Procedural memory (“knowing how”) is the unconscious
memory of skills and how to do things, particularly the use
of objects or movements of the body, such as playing a
guitar or riding a bike.
• It is composed of automatic sensory motor behaviors that
are so deeply embedded that we are no longer aware of
them, and, once learned, these "body memories" allow us
to carry out ordinary motor actions automatically.
• Procedural memory is sometimes referred to as implicit
memory, because previous experiences aid in the
performance of a task without explicit and conscious
awareness of these previous experiences, although it is
more properly a subset of implicit memory
