Psychology : Semester I : Learning and Memory |
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Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 |
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Psychology : Learning and Memory : Section Four Memory Memory is the process by which we are able to retain and retrieve information and the structures that allow us to do it. The model of memory that is used to explain what happens is the information processing model. This model views humans and computers as systems that encode, store and retrieve information. In humans, the process occurs in three systems: sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Below is a diagram of the model. Please remember that this is just a model and there are not three distinct areas but many areas involved in memory distributed throughout our brains. Memory Model
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 not paid attention to. Visual stimuli last on 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 of why? The successive images remain in the sensory memory of a tenth of a second and the successive images all blend together. What we hear lasts for about three to four seconds after the stimulus and is called echoic memory. To stay longer, 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 second part of memory is short-term memory or it is also called working memory. It has a limited capacity of about 5-9 items or bits. That is not very much and 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. Try this…how many bits of information is a telephone number? The duration of time that information is in short-term memory is 18 seconds unless the information is rehearsed enough and then it is maintained indefinitely. 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. There are two ways to process information in the memory system. If we just try to memorize information it is called shallow 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). There are three types of long tem 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 a semantic memory. The third type of memories is procedural. Memories can also be explicit or declarative; these are the ones of which we are consciously aware. You may have an explicit memory of a tennis game you played.
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They are the memories of how to do something. An example of a procedural memory is being able to ride a bike.
You may be able to tie your shoes but not be able to explain how to do it to another person.