Human Memory

Human Memory

1. Encoding: Getting Information into Memory

   • The process of memory begins with encoding. Attention is inherently selective and has been compared to a filter.
     • Level of processing theory memory codes people create depend on which aspects of a stimulus are emphasized; deeper processing results in better recall of information, and more effect processing.
       • Elaboration enriches encoding by linking a stimulus to other information. Visual imagery may work in the same way, creating two memory codes rather than one. Encoding the emphasizes person self-reference may be especially useful in using retention.

2. Storage: Maintaining Information in Memory

   • Sensory memory preserves information in its original form for only a fraction of a second. Short term memory has a limited capacity and can maintain unrehearsed information for up to 20 seconds. Short term memory is working memory and appears to involve more than a simple rehearse loop.
   • Longterm memory is an unlimited capacity of storage that may hold information forever. LTM storage may be permanent, but evidence is not convincing. Some theorists raise doubts that short term memory and long term memory are really separate.
   • LTM can be organized in simple clusters, conceptual hierarchies, or semantic networks. Schema is organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or chain of events.

3. Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory

   • Reinstating the context of an event can facilitate recall. May account for when hypnosis appears to aid recall. Memories are not exact replications of the past. Memory is partially reconstructive.
   • Information learned after an event can alter one's memory of it. Source monitoring and reality monitoring errors may explain why people recall something that was only suggested to them or something they only imagined.

4. Forgetting: When Memory Lapses

   • Ebbinghaus's early studies of nonsense syllables suggested that people forget more rapidly. Forgetting can be measured by asking people to recall, recognize, or relearn information.
   • Decay theory proposes that forgetting occurs randomly with the passage of time. Interference theory shows that people forget information because of competition from other material.
   • Repression involves the motivated forgetting of painful or unpleasant memories. In past years there are many reports of repressed memories of sexual abuse in childhood.

5. In Search of the Memory Trace: The Physiology of Memory

   • Memory traces may reflect alterations in neurotransmitter release at specific locations. May consist of localized neural circuits that undergo long term potentiation. Study of amnesia and other research has implicated hippocampal region as a key player in memory processes.
     • Hippocampal region may be responsible for the consolidation of memories but its exact role is unknown.

6. Systems and Types of Memory

   • Differences between implicit and explicit memory suggest that people have several separate memory systems. Declarative memory is memory for facts and can be subdivided into episodic and memory for personal fact and semantic memory for general facts. Nondeclarative memory is for actions and skills.

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