Understanding Human Memory: Processes and Systems
Understanding Human Memory
Memory is the ability to acquire, store, and retrieve information. It has three basic functions: collecting new information, keeping that information organized to have meaning, and retrieving it when needed.
Memory Phases
Memory consists of three phases:
- Consolidation: The transformation of stimuli into a mental representation.
- Storage: Retaining data in memory for later use.
- Recovery: Accessing information stored in memory.
Memory Systems
Sensory Memory (SM)
Sensory memory logs information from the external environment for a very short time, enough for it to be transmitted to the Short-Term Memory (STM). It explores the physical characteristics of stimuli and records sensations. The capacity of sensory memory is great, with a subsystem for each sense. The duration depends on the information.
Short-Term Memory (STM)
STM’s role is to organize and analyze information and interpret our experiences. The information stored in STM is mostly coded visually and audibly. The storage capacity is limited, holding no more than seven items at once. The duration ranges between 18 and 20 seconds.
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
Long-term memory contains our knowledge of the physical world, social and cultural reality, our autobiographical memories, and the language and meanings of concepts. Semantic information is verbal, while visual information pertains to figures. LTM has an unlimited capacity with permanent storage.
Types of Long-Term Memory
LTM is made up of different memory systems that store different kinds of knowledge:
- Declarative and Procedural Memory: Declarative memory stores information, facts, and events. Procedural memory concerns abilities and skills.
- Episodic and Semantic Memory: Episodic memory allows us to remember dates, facts, or events experienced in a time and place. The source of this memory is sensory perception. Semantic memory stores knowledge of language and the world, regardless of the circumstances of learning.
- Explicit and Implicit Memory: Explicit memory is intentional, including learning about people, places, and events that we can relate verbally and represents a conscious awareness. Implicit memory is incidental; we can learn things without realizing it, including complex skills we cannot verbalize.
Recall
Recall is extracting information from memory. Influencing factors include:
- Recall relates better to emotionally significant events.
- Context: Memory depends on mood and significantly affects recall.
- Remembering involves filling in the gaps of memory.
Forgetting
Forgetting is the inability to recall an earlier experience. The causes are varied:
- Brain Injury: Forgetting occurs because of brain injury or neurobiological abnormalities.
- Repression: Forgetting occurs because the information is disturbing or painful.
- Interference: Competition between experiences.
- Proactive Interference: Information learned previously interferes with subsequent learning.
- Retroactive Interference: Recent learning interferes with the recollection of past information.
- Lack of Processing: Information is not processed properly the first time.
- Inadequate Context: Information is difficult to recover because it was learned in a different environment.