Saturday 5 February 2011

Memory Overview

  • History - The distinction between long term and short term memory was made (STM/LTM)
  • Memory refers to the retention of learning or experience. Our memory retains all the things that we learn and would have no content without learning.
  • Memory consists of 3 interrelated processes:
  1. Encoding (registration/reception)
  2. Storage
  3. Retrieval
  • Encoding is necessary for storage and retrieval. There is not sufficient availability/accessibility distinction.

The distinction between STM and LTM - William James (1890)
  • Primary memory: psychologically present, conscious experience, retrieval is effortless
  • Secondary memory: Psychologically past, unconscious, retrieval is effortful


Atkinson and Shriffin's (1968) multi-store model

Input -> Sensory stores ->(attention) -> Short term store -> (rehearsal)-> Long term store

  • Sensory stores holds information briefly. It is modality specific however, and the information decays quickly.
  • Short term store has a limited capacity and duration and information is easily displaced.
  • Long term store has a large capacity and is held for a long time. There can be interference with the information however over time.

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