memory english

8/3/2019 Memory English

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MEMORY

The Nature of Memory:Mathematician John Griffith estimated that, in an average

lifetime, a person will have stored roughly five hundred times as

much information as can be found in all the volumes of the

Encyclopedia Britannica. The impressive capacity of human memory

depends on the operation of a complex mental system.

Basic Memory Processes:Remembering something requires, first, that the item be

encoded - put in a form that can be placed in memory. It must thenbe stored and, finally, retrieved, or recovered. If any of these

processes fails, forgetting will occur:

]1[Encoding:)Its the active process of putting information into memory code and

put into memory:(

Types of memory codes* :a) Acoustic codes: represent information as sequences of sound

represent stimuli as pictures b) visual codes:c) Semantic codes: represent an experience by its general meaning

]2[Storage:Is the process of holding encoded information in memory until the

time of retrieval (maintain in memory(

*Types of long term memories:a)Episodic Memories:

Are those that record and store our life experiences and events.

They are somewhat autobiographical and time ordered. Here westore our life events and experiences e.g. When did you first learn to

drive a car or what did you have for lunch yesterday.

b)Procedural Memories:

Which involve the skill learning i.e. provide the memory for

how to do things e.g. How to ride a bike, typing, read a map or

driving a car.

c) Semantic Memories:

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Are those that contain generalized knowledge of the world that

doesnt involve memory of a specific event? (They store our facts,

knowledge and vocabularies e.g. what is the capital of Egypt, how

many colors are there in the Egyptian flag).

[3]-Retrieval: (recover from memory)Its the process of removing and using information that is

stored in memory.

*Types of Retrieval:a) Recall

b) Recognition

To Recall information; as on an essay test, you have to

retrieve it from memory without much help. Recognition: is aided by clues, such as the alternatives given

in a multiple choice test item. Accordingly, recognition tends

to be easier than recall.

To summarize

EncodingCode& put into

memory StorageMaintain In

memory Retrievalrecover from

memory

Types of memory

codes:

Acoustic

Visual

Semantic

Types of a long-

term memories:

Episodic

Procedural

Semantic

Types of retrieval

Recall

Recognition

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Types of memory:

A. Sensory Memory:Sensory Memory involves the very brief storage or shallow

processing of large amounts of information. It is assumed that this

information is stored in the form in which it is received by our sense

receptors. Visually presented material lasts in sensory memory for a

fraction of a second, auditorially processed material may last for 3 or

4 seconds.

B. Short Term Memory [working memory] (STM)This store or level of memory has a limited Capacity (7 + 2 bits

of information) and limited duration. This assumes that at first the

information is unrelated and meaningless. By grouping bits and

pieces of information together into meaningful clusters, more can be

processed at the level of STM.

Information can be held in short term memory for approximately 15-

20 seconds before fading or being replaced by new information.

Processing information to this memory or to this depth requires thatwe pay attention to this information. We can keep material in STM

by reattending to it, a process called maintenance rehearsal.

Information in our short term memory may be processed there in

any number of forms. Words that sound alike are more likely to

cause STM confusion than are words that mean the same thing.

C. Long term Memory (LTM)This part of memory has virtually an unlimited capacity and a

very long or may be permanent duration.

Although long-term memory may hold information for a very long

time it should not necessarily be thought of as a literally permanent

memory. Information in LTM may be subjected to distortion or

replacement.

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Although the simple repetition of information (maintenance

rehearsal) may sometimes be sufficient to encode material from STM

into LTM, it is almost certain that the best mechanism for placing

information into LTM is elaborative rehearsal. This is to think about

the material which we wish to store and form associations or imagesof that material, relating it to something already stored in LTM. The

deeper the elaboration, the better will be retrieval.

Causes Of forgetting:

1-Passage of time

2-Interference Theory:a- Retroactive interference occurs, when previously learned

material cannot be retrieved because its inhibited or

blocked by material or information learned later.

b- Proactive Interference occurs when information cannot

be retrieved because it is inhibited or blocked by material

learned earlier.

3-Repression:

Its sometimes called motivated forgetting. It occurswhen anxiety producing or traumatic events are forced into the

unconscious level of the mind.

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