Psychology
Features of Memory
The features of memory refer to the characteristics and processes involved in encoding, storing, and retrieving information. These features include sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory, as well as the roles of attention, rehearsal, and retrieval cues. Memory also involves processes such as encoding specificity, context-dependent memory, and the influence of emotions on memory.
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8 Key excerpts on "Features of Memory"
eBook - PDF- Nancy Ogden, Michael Boyes, Evelyn Field, Ronald Comer, Elizabeth Gould(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
By keeping a record of our past, our memory takes us out of an infinite present. What Is Memory? LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1 Define the basic activities of memory and describe two major models of memory. Simply put, memory is the faculty for recalling past events and past learning. This definition is perhaps the only thing about memory that is simple. Although psychologists often differ in their ideas about memory, they generally agree that it involves three basic activities: • Encoding—Getting information into memory in the first place • Storage—Retaining memories for future use • Retrieval—Recapturing memories when we need them For example, when you attend a concert, you may transform the sights and sounds produced by the performing band into a kind of memory code and record them in your brain (encoding). This information then remains stored in the brain until you retrieve it at later times—such as when you see photos of the band online, watch their music videos, or decide which of the band’s songs to download. At times of retrieval, the original concert event, including the feelings of exhilaration and joy that you experienced at the concert, may come rushing back. How do we manage to encode, store, and retrieve information? Psychologists have devel- oped a number of models of explanation, including the information-processing model and the parallel distributed-processing model, or connectionist model. The information-processing model of memory has its roots back in early computer science (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968) and was intended to chart the ways that, like computers, humans process information from their senses into memory. The information-processing model of memory holds that information must pass through three stages, or systems, of mental functioning to become a firmly implanted memory—sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory (see Figure 8.1) (Estes, 2014b; Kandel, Dudai, & Mayford, 2014; Dudai, 2011).
eBook - PDFLearn to Teach
Teach to Learn
- Catherine Scott(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
82 Chapter objectives Understanding the structure of human memory • Sensory memory • Working memory • Working memory in the classroom • Tracking down • g Long-term memory • How school improves memory • Cognitive tools in the classroom Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Cognitive tools in the classroom 83 Introduction In this chapter we will discover something about how the human cognitive system – that is, the mind – works, with a focus on memory. Understanding memory will help you to use teaching methods that ensure your students learn well. Learning is mem- ory, after all, so understanding how it works is essential for educators. Memory is the essence of what it means to be human. Our identity depends on our fund of personal memories; and our ability to imagine ourselves in the future and our ability to plan for that future depend on what we have learned and remembered. Much of what we know about memory, how it is structured and how it works is the result of studying cases where people have suffered illnesses or brain injuries that have affected their memories. In many of these cases, the experience of being human is profoundly altered and disrupted by the damage to their memory processes or structures. Structures and processes Theories about how memory works use two sets of explanatory concepts: structures and processes. Structures are used to explain where material contained in memory is stored, while processes explain how material enters, is retained in and then retrieved from these storage modules. In this chapter we learn about the structures that neurologists hypothesise compose human memory. In Chapter 6, we will learn about the memory processes thought to govern how memories are stored in the brain. The three storage struc- tures are sensory memory, working memory (previously called short-term memory) and long-term memory. While the standard model of how memory is structured has been presented here, it is important to remember that this model is still a work in progress.
eBook - PDF- Catherine A. Sanderson, Karen R. Huffman(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
© evemilla/iStockphoto © John Cooke/iStockphoto 174 The Nature of Memory 175 7.1 The Nature of Memory LEARNING OBJECTIVES Retrieval Practice While reading the upcoming sections, respond to each Learning Objective in your own words. Summarize the key factors, research findings, and major models of memory. • Define memory and its constructive process. • Discuss the two major memory models. • Explain the function and process of sensory memory. • Review the core principles of short-term memory (STM) and how it compares to working memory. • Describe the core features, functions, and various types of long-term memory (LTM), and how to improve it. Memory is learning that persists over time. It allows us to learn from our experiences and to adapt to ever-changing environments. Without it, we would have no past or future. Yet our memories are highly fallible. Although some people think of memory as a gigantic library, or an automatic video recorder, our memories are not exact recordings of events. Instead, mem- ory is highly selective (Baddeley et al., 2015; Chen & Wyble, 2015; Matlin & Farmer, 2016). As discussed in Chapter 5, we only pay attention to, and remember, a small fraction of the information we’re exposed to each day. Perhaps most important, memory is a constructive process through which we actively organize and shape information as it is being encoded, stored, and retrieved (Herriot, 2014; Karanian & Slotnick, 2015; Robins, 2016). As expected, this construction often leads to serious errors and biases, which we’ll discuss throughout the chapter. Would you like personal proof of the constructive nature of your own memory? See the following Psychology and You. Memory The persistence of learning over time; process by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Constructive process The process of organizing and shaping information during encoding, storage, and retrieval of memories.
eBook - ePubCognitive Psychology and Information Processing
An Introduction
- R. Lachman, J. L. Lachman, E. C. Butterfield(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
7 Some Structural Features of Human Memory: The Episodic Memory System and Its PartsAbstract
- introduction People notice the situations in which they forget, and they judge them to require memory. Cognitive psychologists see memory wherever information is maintained over time. We are as interested in the processes that underlie remembering as those that cause forgetting.
- The Episodic-Semantic Distinction Tulving (1972) distinguished episodic from semantic memory. Episodic memory is autobiographical; it preserves the temporal and spatial features of a person's past experience. Semantic memory preserves people's general knowledge of symbols, concepts, and the rules for manipulating them. This chapter is concerned only with how people remember episodes from their own past.
- Structural Features and Control Processes This chapter is organized around Atkinson and Shiffrin's (1968) account of the episodic memory system. It describes the evidence for various structural features of that system. By structural features, Atkinson and Shiffrin mean the permanent aspects of memory over which people exercise no voluntary control, and which they use unvaryingly from one situation to another. By control processes they mean memory routines or strategies that are selected, constructed, and used at the option of the person, depending on the characteristics of the situation facing him.
- Three Memory Stores According to Atkinson and Shiffrin, the basic structural features of episodic memory are three memory stores, called the sensory register, the short-term store and the long-term store. The three stores are said to be structurally distinct because they preserve information in different formats, for different durations and for different purposes, and because they lose information in different ways and have different anatomical bases.
- The Sensory Register
eBook - PDF- Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Openstax(Publisher)
Memory is the set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve information over different periods of time ( Figure 8.2). FIGURE 8.2 Encoding involves the input of information into the memory system. Storage is the retention of the encoded information. Retrieval, or getting the information out of memory and back into awareness, is the third function. LINK TO LEARNING Watch this video about the neuroscience of memory (http://openstax.org/l/unexpectfact) to learn more. Encoding We get information into our brains through a process called encoding, which is the input of information into the memory system. Once we receive sensory information from the environment, our brains label or code it. We organize the information with other similar information and connect new concepts to existing concepts. Encoding information occurs through automatic processing and effortful processing. If someone asks you what you ate for lunch today, more than likely you could recall this information quite easily. This is known as automatic processing, or the encoding of details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words. Automatic processing is usually done without any conscious awareness. Recalling the last time you studied for a test is another example of automatic processing. But what about the actual test material you studied? It probably required a lot of work and attention on your part in order to encode that information. This is known as effortful processing ( Figure 8.3). FIGURE 8.3 When you first learn new skills such as driving a car, you have to put forth effort and attention to encode information about how to start a car, how to brake, how to handle a turn, and so on. Once you know how to drive, you can encode additional information about this skill automatically. (credit: Robert Couse-Baker) What are the most effective ways to ensure that important memories are well encoded? Even a simple sentence is easier to recall when it is meaningful (Anderson, 1984).
eBook - PDF- John P. Houston, Helen Bee, David C. Rimm(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
This new approach con-ceives of the human being as an information*processing system. Accord-ing to this way of thinking, memory involves the flow of information through the organism, beginning with encoding and storage and ending with the retrieval of stored information. The number of specific models of memory that have developed within this new tradition is quite astounding (see Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1971; Broadbent, 1971; Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Hilgard & Bower, 1975; Lind-say & Norman, 1977; Ratcliff, 1978; Wickelgren, 1979). We will con-sider a model of memory that represents a distillation of several different models, because many of the available models agree with one another in important ways. These areas of agreement are summarized by the flow diagram in Figure 5. Notice that the model in Figure 5 contains three distinct types of memory—sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Most recent information-processing models define three types of memory, while the older interference theory specifies only one memory process. In Figure 5 information is presumed to move through these three memory systems from left to right. Perceived information first FIGURE 5 The three human memory systems. Stimulus Sensory memory Rehearsal Short-term memory Long-term memory Retrieval o / 7 V 174 Chapter 5 Memory enters sensory memory; it may then be transferred to short-term memory, and finally to long-term memory. In essence, the argument for having three memories, or stores, is that the ways in which we remember items for very short periods of time differ from the ways in which we remember the same items for long periods of time, For example, if you wanted to remember 193-2040 for a very short time (say, 30 seconds), you might do it by remembering the sounds of the numbers and by arranging these sounds into some easily remembered pattern or rhythm such as one-nine-three-twenty-forty.
eBook - PDF- Margaret W. Matlin, Thomas A. Farmer(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
143 C H A P T E R 5 Long-Term Memory Chapter Introduction Brief Overview of Long-Term Memory Encoding in Long-Term Memory Levels of Processing Encoding-Speciicity Principle Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Explicit Versus Implicit Memory Tasks Individuals with Amnesia Expertise Autobiographical Memory Schemas and Autobiographical Memory Source Monitoring and Reality Monitoring Flashbulb Memories Eyewitness Testimony Special Topics in Long-Term Memory Emotions and Memory Anxiety Disorders and Explicit and Implicit Memory Tasks The Recovered-Memory/False-Memory Controversy CHAPTER 5 Long-Term Memory 144 Through the many stages of human development, and based on many years of experi- ence with the world, you have come to possess a strikingly large amount of internally stored knowledge. This knowledge takes many forms. You know the names of your high school science teachers, of your friends and family, and of movie and TV stars. You know the physical characteristics of your best friend’s face, what your cognitive psychology professor looks like, and you could probably easily identify a picture of your current living room from a collection of pictures of hundreds of other living rooms. You also have stored knowledge about events in which you have participated over time. For example, there’s a good chance that many of you can recall many speciic details about the day that you graduated from high school. You also know lots of basic facts about the world, such as the fact that the irst President of the United States was George Washington, and that 2 + 5 = 7. Additionally, you probably know how to ride a bike, drive a car, or play an instrument. All of the information that is currently stored in your mind constitutes your “memory.” Memory is one of our most important cognitive abilities. Think about how dificult it would be to recognize any person or object that exists out there in the world without accessing your memory.
eBook - PDF- Elizabeth Ligon Bjork, Robert A. Bjork(Authors)
- 1996(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
Overview of Human Memory This Page Intentionally Left Blank Structures, Processes, and the Flow of Information Harold Pashler Mark Carrier This chapter presents an overview of the structures and processes of human memory from an information processing perspective. The first section de- scribes the memory systems that play an important role in our explicit memory for experiences (as manifested, e.g., in tasks like recall and recog- nition). It describes the characteristics of these systems and provides an overview of the various kinds of evidence that establish their separate identi- ties. Section II reviews some major findings about how the flow of informa- tion between memory systems is regulated, including encoding and stor- age, rehearsal, and retrieval. It focuses on the demands these various processes place on limited capacity mechanism(s) and on how the flow of information between different memory systems is controlled. These phe- nomena are often subsumed under the heading Attention and Memory. The use of the term attention as a theoretical construct will be avoided, however, because the concept is so sprawling and diffuse. Section III pre- sents a tentative analysis of processes involved in copying information among different memory structures, postulating several distinct forms of attention with specifiably different properties. The aim of this chapter is to provide the reader with a general framework for viewing different memory structures and the information processing operations that modify their contents. Some readers may be surprised to Memory Copyright 9 1996 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 4 Harold Pashler and Mark Carrier find advocated in this chapter various concepts that some have claimed to be obsolete (e.g., iconic and echoic memory, short-term and long-term mem- ory, central processing bottlenecks).
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