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 then be stored and, finally, retrieved, or recovered. If any of these processes fails, forgetting will occur:

:Encoding [1]
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

: Storage[2]
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 we store 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:
1

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
Encoding Code& put into memory Storage Maintain In memory Retrieval recover from memory

Types of memory codes: Acoustic Visual Semantic

Types of a longterm memories: Episodic Procedural Semantic

Types of retrieval Recall Recognition

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 1520 seconds before fading or being replaced by new information. Processing information to this memory or to this depth requires that we 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.

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 images of 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 occurs when anxiety producing or traumatic events are forced into the unconscious level of the mind.