Memory essay

Memory essay

  • Submitted By: qndlch
  • Date Submitted: 04/30/2013 4:37 AM
  • Category: Psychology
  • Words: 413
  • Page: 2
  • Views: 163

Memory: a storage system that retains images, concepts and knowledge when the stimuli which created it no longer exist in consciousness. It depends on three sequential processes:
It is essential to our identity: it connects our past experiences to the present and shapes our future by enabling us to adapt to daily changes in our environment.
o Encoding: the process of the brain converting information into a form (electrochemical code) that allows it to be stored in our memory.
o Storage: refers to retaining information in the brain so that we can use it later on whereby information is stored in an organised way to make it easier for us to recover memories when we need them (note that unlike a computer hard drive, human memories are not exact replicas of information but instead are rough copies).
o Retrieval: the process of getting information back from our memory so that we can use it whereby it relies on using the right cues so that we can get to the correct location in our semantic network.
Atkinson-Shiffrin: Multi-store model of memory
 Multi-store model of memory: describes three distinct levels/stores of memory and the way in which they interact with each other (sensory, short-term and long-term memory)
 Although these three levels of memory are separate, they function simultaneously and interact with one another to enable us to encode, store and retrieve information.
 Information flows from the sensory memory to the short-term memory and then the long-term memory; it may also go from the sensory memory directly to the long-term memory or from the long-term memory to the short-term memory.
» Sensory Memory
 Sensory memory: the store for incoming, brief sensory information that enters from the external environment.
 Virtually unlimited capacity but a very brief duration (decays rapidly).
 Most information that enters sensory memory is ignored, however if attended to, the information is then sent to STM for processing.
 Although the duration...

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