Improve Memory
In psychology, memory is the
process by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Encoding allows
information that is from the outside world to reach our senses in the forms of
chemical and physical stimuli. In this first stage we must change the
information so that we may put the memory into the encoding process. Storage is
the second memory stage or process. This entails that we maintain information
over periods of time. Finally the third process is the retrieval of information
that we have stored. We must locate it and return it to our consciousness. Some
retrieval attempts may be effortless due to the type of
information.
From an information
processing perspective there are three main stages in the formation and
retrieval of memory:
Encoding or registration: receiving,
processing and combining of received
information
Storage: creation of a permanent record of
the encoded information
Retrieval, recall or
recollection: calling back the stored information in response to some cue
for use in a process or activity
The loss of memory is described as
forgetfulness, or as a medical disorder,
amnesia.
Sensory memory
Main article: Sensory memory
Sensory
memory holds sensory information for a few seconds or less after an item is
perceived. The ability to look at an item, and remember what it looked like with
just a second of observation, or memorisation, is an example of sensory memory.
It is out of cognitive control and is an automatic response. With very short
presentations, participants often report that they seem to "see" more than they
can actually report. The first experiments exploring this form of sensory memory
were conducted by George Sperling (1963) using the "partial report paradigm".
Subjects were presented with a grid of 12 letters, arranged into three rows of
four. After a brief presentation, subjects were then played either a high,
medium or low tone, cuing them which of the rows to report. Based on these
partial report experiments, Sperling was able to show that the capacity of
sensory memory was approximately 12 items, but that it degraded very quickly
(within a few hundred milliseconds). Because this form of memory degrades so
quickly, participants would see the display, but be unable to report all of the
items (12 in the "whole report" procedure) before they decayed. This type of
memory cannot be prolonged via rehearsal.
There are
three types of sensory memories. Iconic memory is a fast decaying store of
visual information, a type of sensory memory that briefly stores an image which
has been perceived for a small duration. Echoic memory is a fast decaying store
of auditory information, another type of sensory memory that briefly stores
sounds which has been perceived for a small duration. Haptic memory is a
type of sensory memory that represents a database for touch stimuli. Itching and
pain are a form of haptic memory.
Short-term
memory
Main article: Short term memory
Short-term
memory allows recall for a period of several seconds to a minute without
rehearsal. Its capacity is also very limited: George A. Miller (1956), when
working at Bell Laboratories, conducted experiments showing that the store of
short-term memory was 7±2 items (the title of his famous paper, "The magical
number 7 2"). Modern estimates of the capacity of short-term memory are
lower, typically of the order of 4–5 items. however, memory capacity can be
increased through a process called chunking. For example, in recalling a
ten-digit telephone number, a person could chunk the digits into three
groups: first, the area code (such as 123), then a three-digit chunk (456) and
lastly a four-digit chunk (7890). This method of remembering telephone numbers
is far more effective than attempting to remember a string of 10 digits; this is
because we are able to chunk the information into meaningful groups of numbers.
This may be reflected in some countries in the tendency to display telephone
numbers as several chunks of three numbers, with the final four-number group
generally broken down into two groups of two.
Short-term
memory is believed to rely mostly on an acoustic code for storing information,
and to a lesser extent a visual code. Conrad (1964) found that test subjects had
more difficulty recalling collections of letters that were acoustically similar
(e.g. E, P, D). Confusion with recalling acoustically similar letters rather
than visually similar letters implies that the letters were encoded
acoustically. Conrad's (1964) study however, deals with the encoding of written
text, thus while memory of written language may rely on acoustic components,
generalisations to all forms of memory cannot be made.
Long-term
memory
Main article: Long term memory
The storage
in sensory memory and short-term memory generally have a strictly limited
capacity and duration, which means that information is not retained
indefinitely. By contrast, long-term memory can store much larger quantities of
information for potentially unlimited duration (sometimes a whole life span).
Its capacity is immeasurably large. For example, given a random seven-digit
number we may remember it for only a few seconds before forgetting, suggesting
it was stored in our short-term memory. On the other hand, we can remember
telephone numbers for many years through repetition; this information is said to
be stored in long-term memory.
While
short-term memory encodes information acoustically, long-term memory encodes it
semantically: Baddeley (1966) discovered that after 20 minutes, test subjects
had the most difficulty recalling a collection of words that had similar
meanings (e.g. big, large, great, huge) long-term. Another part of long-term
memory is episodic memory "which attempts to capture information such as “what”,
“when” and “where”.With episodic memory individuals are able to recall specific
events such as birthday parties and weddings.
Short-term
memory is supported by transient patterns of neuronal communication, dependent
on regions of the frontal lobe (especially dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and
the consolidation of information, as several studies have demonstrated
that memory depends on getting sufficient sleep between training and test.
Additionally, data obtained from neuroimaging studies have shown activation
patterns in the sleeping brain which mirror those recorded during the learning
of tasks from the previous day suggesting that new memories may be solidified
through such rehearsal.
Research has
suggested that long-term memory storage in humans may be maintained by DNA
methylation, or prions.
process by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Encoding allows
information that is from the outside world to reach our senses in the forms of
chemical and physical stimuli. In this first stage we must change the
information so that we may put the memory into the encoding process. Storage is
the second memory stage or process. This entails that we maintain information
over periods of time. Finally the third process is the retrieval of information
that we have stored. We must locate it and return it to our consciousness. Some
retrieval attempts may be effortless due to the type of
information.
From an information
processing perspective there are three main stages in the formation and
retrieval of memory:
Encoding or registration: receiving,
processing and combining of received
information
Storage: creation of a permanent record of
the encoded information
Retrieval, recall or
recollection: calling back the stored information in response to some cue
for use in a process or activity
The loss of memory is described as
forgetfulness, or as a medical disorder,
amnesia.
Sensory memory
Main article: Sensory memory
Sensory
memory holds sensory information for a few seconds or less after an item is
perceived. The ability to look at an item, and remember what it looked like with
just a second of observation, or memorisation, is an example of sensory memory.
It is out of cognitive control and is an automatic response. With very short
presentations, participants often report that they seem to "see" more than they
can actually report. The first experiments exploring this form of sensory memory
were conducted by George Sperling (1963) using the "partial report paradigm".
Subjects were presented with a grid of 12 letters, arranged into three rows of
four. After a brief presentation, subjects were then played either a high,
medium or low tone, cuing them which of the rows to report. Based on these
partial report experiments, Sperling was able to show that the capacity of
sensory memory was approximately 12 items, but that it degraded very quickly
(within a few hundred milliseconds). Because this form of memory degrades so
quickly, participants would see the display, but be unable to report all of the
items (12 in the "whole report" procedure) before they decayed. This type of
memory cannot be prolonged via rehearsal.
There are
three types of sensory memories. Iconic memory is a fast decaying store of
visual information, a type of sensory memory that briefly stores an image which
has been perceived for a small duration. Echoic memory is a fast decaying store
of auditory information, another type of sensory memory that briefly stores
sounds which has been perceived for a small duration. Haptic memory is a
type of sensory memory that represents a database for touch stimuli. Itching and
pain are a form of haptic memory.
Short-term
memory
Main article: Short term memory
Short-term
memory allows recall for a period of several seconds to a minute without
rehearsal. Its capacity is also very limited: George A. Miller (1956), when
working at Bell Laboratories, conducted experiments showing that the store of
short-term memory was 7±2 items (the title of his famous paper, "The magical
number 7 2"). Modern estimates of the capacity of short-term memory are
lower, typically of the order of 4–5 items. however, memory capacity can be
increased through a process called chunking. For example, in recalling a
ten-digit telephone number, a person could chunk the digits into three
groups: first, the area code (such as 123), then a three-digit chunk (456) and
lastly a four-digit chunk (7890). This method of remembering telephone numbers
is far more effective than attempting to remember a string of 10 digits; this is
because we are able to chunk the information into meaningful groups of numbers.
This may be reflected in some countries in the tendency to display telephone
numbers as several chunks of three numbers, with the final four-number group
generally broken down into two groups of two.
Short-term
memory is believed to rely mostly on an acoustic code for storing information,
and to a lesser extent a visual code. Conrad (1964) found that test subjects had
more difficulty recalling collections of letters that were acoustically similar
(e.g. E, P, D). Confusion with recalling acoustically similar letters rather
than visually similar letters implies that the letters were encoded
acoustically. Conrad's (1964) study however, deals with the encoding of written
text, thus while memory of written language may rely on acoustic components,
generalisations to all forms of memory cannot be made.
Long-term
memory
Main article: Long term memory
The storage
in sensory memory and short-term memory generally have a strictly limited
capacity and duration, which means that information is not retained
indefinitely. By contrast, long-term memory can store much larger quantities of
information for potentially unlimited duration (sometimes a whole life span).
Its capacity is immeasurably large. For example, given a random seven-digit
number we may remember it for only a few seconds before forgetting, suggesting
it was stored in our short-term memory. On the other hand, we can remember
telephone numbers for many years through repetition; this information is said to
be stored in long-term memory.
While
short-term memory encodes information acoustically, long-term memory encodes it
semantically: Baddeley (1966) discovered that after 20 minutes, test subjects
had the most difficulty recalling a collection of words that had similar
meanings (e.g. big, large, great, huge) long-term. Another part of long-term
memory is episodic memory "which attempts to capture information such as “what”,
“when” and “where”.With episodic memory individuals are able to recall specific
events such as birthday parties and weddings.
Short-term
memory is supported by transient patterns of neuronal communication, dependent
on regions of the frontal lobe (especially dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and
the consolidation of information, as several studies have demonstrated
that memory depends on getting sufficient sleep between training and test.
Additionally, data obtained from neuroimaging studies have shown activation
patterns in the sleeping brain which mirror those recorded during the learning
of tasks from the previous day suggesting that new memories may be solidified
through such rehearsal.
Research has
suggested that long-term memory storage in humans may be maintained by DNA
methylation, or prions.