Memory

INTRODUCTION

     Memory is the ability of the brain to store, retain, and subsequently recall information. Although traditional studies of memory began in the realms of philosophy, the late nineteenth and early twentieth century put memory within the paradigms of cognitive psychology. In the recent decades, it has become one of the principal pillars of a new branch of science that represents a marriage between cognitive psychology and neuroscience, called cognitive neuroscience.

There are several ways of classifying memories, based on duration, nature and retrieval of information. There are three main stages in the formation and retrieval of memory:

STAGES OF MEMORY

Encoding: is the crucial first step to creating a new memory. It allows the perceived item of interest to be converted into a construct that can be stored within the brain, and then recalled later from short-term or long-term memory.

There are three main ways in which information can be encoded:

1. Visual (picture)

2. Acoustic (sound)

3. Semantic (meaning)

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.

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.

TYPES OFMEMORY

Sensory Memory

     Sensory memory is the shortest-term element of memory. It is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli have ended. It acts as a kind of buffer for stimuli received through the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, which are retained accurately, but very briefly. For example, the ability to look at something and remember what it looked like with just a second of observation is an example of sensory memory.

Short-Term Memory

     Short-term memory (STM) is the second stage of the multi-store memory model proposed by the Atkinson-Shiffrin.The duration of short term memory seems to be between 15 and 30 seconds, according to Atkinson and Shiffrin. Items can be kept in short term memory by repeating them verbally (acoustic encoding), a process known as rehearsal.

Short term memory has three key aspects:

1. limited capacity (only about 7 items can be stored at a time)

2. limited duration (storage is very fragile and information can be lost with distraction or passage of time)

3. encoding (primarily acoustic, even translating visual information into sounds).

Long-Term Memory

     Long-term memory (LTM) the final stage of the multi-store memory model proposed by the Atkinson-Shiffrin, providing the lasting retention of information and skills.

Theoretically, the capacity of long-term memory could be unlimited, the main constraint on recall being accessibility rather than availability.

Duration might be a few minutes or a lifetime.  Suggested encoding modes are semantic (meaning) and visual (pictorial) in the main but can be acoustic also.

Procedural Memory

     Procedural memory is a part of the long-term memory is responsible for knowing how to do things, i.e. memory of motor skills.

Semantic Memory

Semantic memory is a part of the long-term memory responsible for storing information about the world.  This includes knowledge about the meaning of words, as well as general knowledge.

Episodic Memory

     Episodic memory s a part of the long-term memory responsible for storing information about events (i.e. episodes) that we have experienced in our lives.

Autobiographical Memory

     Autobiographical memory relates to things we remember during the course of our lifetime. It can be divided up into lifetime periods, general events and event-specific knowledge. All information contained within this type of memory relates to ourselves including knowledge of the kind of person we were, are and will be.

Visual Memory

     Visual memory is the ability to remember or recall information such as activities, pictures or words that have been viewed in the past.

CONCLUSION

     Since memory is an important cognitive phenomenon, psychologists have devoted considerable time and effort to understand the process of memory, and the strategies to improve memory. Memory is the retention of information over time. It has to be retrieved from its store for present use.

REFERANCES

• Medin,D. (2002) (Ed.), Steven's Handbook Of Experimental Psychology: Third Edition, Vol. 2: Memory And Cognitive Processes. New York: J. Wiley.

• Atkinson, R.C., & Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes” In Spence, K.W. & Spence, J.T. The psychology of learning and motivation, 2. New York: Academic Press. pp. 89–195.