 | This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards.(July 2021) |
Memory is inferred by comparing how much is remembered or accessed to how much has been forgotten. It is described as the revival of ideas, mental images of object and events from past experiences. In other words, memory is ability to retain and is reproduced when required.
The measurement of memory in its various types has always been the favorite subject of psychologists. According to them remembering involves those processes which are essential for memory. Basically, there appears to be three different memory systems.
As you progress through each of these systems in succession, the content gets more abstract and gets retained for longer and longer periods of time. The 5E's learning cycle shows the best interpretation of how scientists think information is purposefully facilitated to move throughout the brain and between these systems of memory.
This is the first system of memory in which the information is brought to us by our senses and the information is retained as long as it is exposed to our senses. As soon as the sense loses contact with the information, it is vanished from the memory. For example, we see many faces at a metro station and they instantly fade from our memory when we look away. This type of memory is extremely volatile and much gets "lost" in less than a second unless we pay attention to it. Technically speaking, the information received was never "found" or "retrieved" in the first place because sensory input is not stored unless specified. Learn more about that in the next section.
The information received by the system remains in it for very short period (i.e. 20 sec or slightly more. The most common use of this is reminders or remembering numbers. After that this information either vanishes or is moved to next system of memory. Short-term memory has limited capacity and is often referred to as "working-memory", however these are not the same. Working memory involves a different part of the brain and allows you to manipulate it after initial storage. The information that travels from sensory memory to short-term memory must pass through the Attention gateway. The filter of attention keeps a check between sensory memory and short-term memory. You cannot skip systems of memory, such as jumping directly from sensory input to long-term memory. Sensory input must be actively relayed and filtered by the thalamus to the cortex for short term memory storage.[ citation needed ] Olfactory sensory input is the most prevalent in our memory, contrary to the popular belief, as it mostly bypasses the thalamus, and all such information gets encoded directly. If there were no such filter, as with olfaction, all 11 million bits per second of sensory input would flood the brain and make it impossible to think about anything.[ citation needed ] This "attention gateway" created by the thalamus limits what is recorded to the small portion that you more or less tell it to. This is how focusing works.
This system is more permanent and has a virtually unlimited capacity of storage. In this system basic meaning and essence can be stored for hours, days, weeks, and even for years. Much of the information retained here covers the whole life. When required, with appropriate cues, the material is typically retrieved. For studying, in order to maximize information retention, psychologists developed another version (one of many) of the learning cycle:
In 1885 Hermann Ebbinghaus carried out a study wherein provided a quantitative measure of retention. For this purpose the designed "Nonsense syllable".... A meaningless three letter unit consisting of vowel between two consonants such as LEP, NOL etc. For obtaining a pure, uncontaminated by the previous learning and association, he used these non-sense syllables.
In these experiments he used himself as a subject and as a result of these experiments, he designed many methods for the training of memory. In the present experiment by the uses of nonsense syllables and meaningful words, subject's ability of retention will be evaluated.
Memory regarding the nonsense syllable is poorer as compared to meaningful words.
Memory drum or exposure board. A list of three letter nonsense syllable and a list of meaningful words, each consisting of 12 words.
The subject is seated in front of the drum and the following instructions are given:
After the instructions, when the subject was completely relaxed, she was shown a list of meaningful words at two second intervals through the window of memory drum. When the list has been presented once, she was given a paper for reproduction of the list. As there were mistakes in her reproduction, therefore, the experiment was repeated. In the second trial, she committed two mistakes, but in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th trial, she reproduced the list successfully. After the rest pause of 30 minutes, the experiment was carried out with non-sense syllable on the same pattern. Presentation of the list was continued until the criterion of complete mastery was reached. At the end of the experiment, Tables were prepared for comparative study.
Forgetting or disremembering is the apparent loss or modification of information already encoded and stored in an individual's short or long-term memory. It is a spontaneous or gradual process in which old memories are unable to be recalled from memory storage. Problems with remembering, learning and retaining new information are a few of the most common complaints of older adults. Studies show that retention improves with increased rehearsal. This improvement occurs because rehearsal helps to transfer information into long-term memory.
The forgetting curve hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time. This curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it. A related concept is the strength of memory that refers to the durability that memory traces in the brain. The stronger the memory, the longer period of time that a person is able to recall it. A typical graph of the forgetting curve purports to show that humans tend to halve their memory of newly learned knowledge in a matter of days or weeks unless they consciously review the learned material.
Hermann Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory. Ebbinghaus discovered the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. He was the first person to describe the learning curve. He was the father of the neo-Kantian philosopher Julius Ebbinghaus.
Long-term memory (LTM) is the stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model in which informative knowledge is held indefinitely. It is defined in contrast to sensory memory, the initial stage, and short-term or working memory, the second stage, which persists for about 18 to 30 seconds. LTM is grouped into two categories known as explicit memory and implicit memory. Explicit memory is broken down into episodic and semantic memory, while implicit memory includes procedural memory and emotional conditioning.
Short-term memory is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in an active, readily available state for a short interval. For example, short-term memory holds a phone number that has just been recited. The duration of short-term memory is estimated to be on the order of seconds. The commonly cited capacity of 7 items, found in Miller's Law, has been superseded by 4±1 items. In contrast, long-term memory holds information indefinitely.
Recall in memory refers to the mental process of retrieval of information from the past. Along with encoding and storage, it is one of the three core processes of memory. There are three main types of recall: free recall, cued recall and serial recall. Psychologists test these forms of recall as a way to study the memory processes of humans and animals. Two main theories of the process of recall are the two-stage theory and the theory of encoding specificity.
The interference theory is a theory regarding human memory. Interference occurs in learning. The notion is that memories encoded in long-term memory (LTM) are forgotten and cannot be retrieved into short-term memory (STM) because either memory could interfere with the other. There is an immense number of encoded memories within the storage of LTM. The challenge for memory retrieval is recalling the specific memory and working in the temporary workspace provided in STM. Retaining information regarding the relevant time of encoding memories into LTM influences interference strength. There are two types of interference effects: proactive and retroactive interference.
The Atkinson–Shiffrin model is a model of memory proposed in 1968 by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. The model asserts that human memory has three separate components:
Visual memory describes the relationship between perceptual processing and the encoding, storage and retrieval of the resulting neural representations. Visual memory occurs over a broad time range spanning from eye movements to years in order to visually navigate to a previously visited location. Visual memory is a form of memory which preserves some characteristics of our senses pertaining to visual experience. We are able to place in memory visual information which resembles objects, places, animals or people in a mental image. The experience of visual memory is also referred to as the mind's eye through which we can retrieve from our memory a mental image of original objects, places, animals or people. Visual memory is one of several cognitive systems, which are all interconnected parts that combine to form the human memory. Types of palinopsia, the persistence or recurrence of a visual image after the stimulus has been removed, is a dysfunction of visual memory.
Subvocalization, or silent speech, is the internal speech typically made when reading; it provides the sound of the word as it is read. This is a natural process when reading, and it helps the mind to access meanings to comprehend and remember what is read, potentially reducing cognitive load.
The Levels of Processing model, created by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart in 1972, describes memory recall of stimuli as a function of the depth of mental processing. More analysis produce more elaborate and stronger memory than lower levels of processing. Depth of processing falls on a shallow to deep continuum. Shallow processing leads to a fragile memory trace that is susceptible to rapid decay. Conversely, deep processing results in a more durable memory trace. There are three levels of processing in this model. Structural processing, or visual, is when we remember only the physical quality of the word. Phonemic processing includes remembering the word by the way it sounds. Lastly, we have semantic processing in which we encode the meaning of the word with another word that is similar or has similar meaning. Once the word is perceived, the brain allows for a deeper processing.
Memory has the ability to encode, store and recall information. Memories give an organism the capability to learn and adapt from previous experiences as well as build relationships. Encoding allows a perceived item of use or interest to be converted into a construct that can be stored within the brain and recalled later from long-term memory. Working memory stores information for immediate use or manipulation, which is aided through hooking onto previously archived items already present in the long-term memory of an individual.
In psychology and neuroscience, memory span is the longest list of items that a person can repeat back in correct order immediately after presentation on 50% of all trials. Items may include words, numbers, or letters. The task is known as digit span when numbers are used. Memory span is a common measure of working memory and short-term memory. It is also a component of cognitive ability tests such as the WAIS. Backward memory span is a more challenging variation which involves recalling items in reverse order.
Echoic memory is the sensory memory that registers specific to auditory information (sounds). Once an auditory stimulus is heard, it is stored in memory so that it can be processed and understood. Unlike most visual memory, where a person can choose how long to view the stimulus and can reassess it repeatedly, auditory stimuli are usually transient and cannot be reassessed. Since echoic memories are heard once, they are stored for slightly longer periods of time than iconic memories. Auditory stimuli are received by the ear one at a time before they can be processed and understood.
Musical memory refers to the ability to remember music-related information, such as melodic content and other progressions of tones or pitches. The differences found between linguistic memory and musical memory have led researchers to theorize that musical memory is encoded differently from language and may constitute an independent part of the phonological loop. The use of this term is problematic, however, since it implies input from a verbal system, whereas music is in principle nonverbal.
Association value is a concept in cognitive psychology and in particular the psychology of human learning and memory. The association value of a stimulus is a measure of its meaningfulness. It is a strong predictor of how easy it is to learn new information about that stimulus, for example to learn to associate it with a second stimulus, or to recall or recognize it in a memory test.
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, it would be impossible for language, relationships, or personal identity to develop. Memory loss is usually described as forgetfulness or amnesia.
In cognitive psychology, Brown–Peterson task refers to a cognitive exercise designed to test the limits of working memory duration. The task is named for two notable experiments published in the 1950s in which it was first documented, the first by John Brown and the second by husband-and-wife team Lloyd and Margaret Peterson.
Attenuation theory, also known as Treisman's attenuation model, is a model of selective attention proposed by Anne Treisman, and can be seen as a revision of Donald Broadbent's filter model. Treisman proposed attenuation theory as a means to explain how unattended stimuli sometimes came to be processed in a more rigorous manner than what Broadbent's filter model could account for. As a result, attenuation theory added layers of sophistication to Broadbent's original idea of how selective attention might operate: claiming that instead of a filter which barred unattended inputs from ever entering awareness, it was a process of attenuation. Thus, the attenuation of unattended stimuli would make it difficult, but not impossible to extract meaningful content from irrelevant inputs, so long as stimuli still possessed sufficient "strength" after attenuation to make it through a hierarchical analysis process.
Associative interference is a cognitive theory established on the concept of associative learning, which suggests that the brain links related elements. When one element is stimulated, its associates can also be activated. The most known study demonstrating the credibility of this concept was Pavlov's experiment in 1927 which was later developed into the learning procedure known as classical conditioning.