What is Memory?
Memory is essential to 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 there would be no reason for education.
Memory is involved in processing vast amounts of information. This information takes many different forms, e.g. images, sounds or meaning. There are three processes involved with memory: Encoding, Storage and Retrieval.
All three of these processes determine whether something is remembered or forgotten. . In order to form new memories, information must be changed into a usable form, which occurs through the process known as encoding. Once information has been successfully encoded, it must be stored in memory for later use.
There are several different ways of encoding verbal information:
- Structural encoding focuses on what words look like. For instance, one might note whether words are long or short, in uppercase or lowercase, or handwritten or typed.
- Phonemic encoding focuses on how words sound.
- Semantic encoding focuses on the meaning of words. Semantic encoding requires a deeper level of processing than structural or phonemic encoding and usually results in better memory.
Watch Memory and Forgetting (6:08) to learn how we remember some information and why we forget other information.
Sensory Memory
All sensations from our environment come into our sensory memory which is also called the sensory register. They only last for a flash and are gone if we do not pay attention to them.
Visual stimuli last only about one-tenth of a second and make up our iconic memory. To understand what this is like, in a dark room swing a flashlight in a circle.
You will perceive a continuous circle. Why? Because the successive images remain in the sensory memory for a tenth of a second and then they all blend together.
Working Memory
To encode the information we need to pay attention to the stimuli. If we do not attend to the information it is out of the system and we cannot retrieve it.
Working memory is the 'online' information that is being processed at a given time. Working memory is usually dumped fairly quickly and not always sent for further memory storage (short term memory or long term memory).
Working vs Short Term Memory
Think of working memory (WM) as a type of rough drafting tool that you can use to alter or change memories.
For example, when you walk into a building for the first time you encode the path you took (left turn, right turn, up elevator and right turn). During this time your brain processed your path and stored it in short-term memory (STM).
While you were at the office you stopped thinking about the path. This dumped the information out of your working memory.
After you were finished working, you recalled the path from you STM back into you WM. You then processed it by reversing the directions to leave (left turn, down elevator, left turn, and right turn).
Once you are out of the building the directions are taken offline and out of your WM. If you return to the building the next day you would still be able to recall these memories due to their STM storage.
Storage: Short Term Memory
What we hear lasts for about three to four seconds after the stimulus and is called echoic memory.
To encode the information we need to pay attention to the stimuli. If we do not attend to the information it is out of the system and we cannot retrieve it.
The next part of memory is short term memory which is the storage component of working memory. This storage component has a limited capacity of about 5-9 items or bits.
That is not very much but we can extend the capacity of short term memory by chunking. Chunking is a process by which we group similar bits of information into meaningful units.
Storage Bits
Try this:
how many bits of information is a telephone number?
555-555-555
The duration of time that information is in short-term memory is 18 seconds unless the information is rehearsed enough then it is maintained indefinitely.
Memory Review
It may help you to think of learning new memory in this fashion:
Sensory memory--> attention--> WM--> storage--> STM--> encoding--> LTM
Recalling memory goes like this:
STM or LTM--> recall--> WM
You will learn more about retrieval in an upcoming lesson.
Read "Top 10 Memory Tips" to learn ways to improve your memory.
Storage: Long Term Memory
The last part of memory is long-term. It is our permanent part of memory with an unlimited capacity. The information that is stored here is called engrams and we say that we have encoded them.
Processing Information
If we just try to memorize information it is called shallow processing, surface processing, or maintenance processing. This type of processing is not effective.
How often have you done this when studying for a test?
The information does not stay long and hopefully it lasted long enough to take the test.
The second way to process is deep processing or elaborative processing. This method tries to connect the new information with already learned information or with devices that allow information be put in and retrieved from memory easier.
These memory devices are called mnemonics.
Here are a few examples:
Roy G. Biv
The colors of the rainbow in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet
A rat in the house may eat the ice cream. Arithmetic (how to spell arithmetic)
HOMES - the great lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior
Do you know others?
Storage: Long Term Memory Types
There are three types of long term memories. The first are episodic memories. These are personally experienced events.
An example would be a memory of where you went on your last vacation.
The second type is semantic memories. These are memories of general factual knowledge that you know.
The temperature at which water
freezes is an example of semantic
memory.
Procedural memories are the third type of long term memories. They are the memories of how to do something.
An example of a procedural memory is being able to ride a bike.
Another type of memory that is often investigated is called a flashbulb memory. Flash bulb memories usually surround big events and they bring out a multitude of memories.
On September 11, 2001 an event occurred that devastated the United States. Today, simply saying 9-11 brings back a "flash" of memories for most adults.
Can you think of a major event in your lifetime that would be considered a flashbulb memory? It doesn't have to
be the same magnitude of 9-11.
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