Memory is essentially the capacity for storing and retrieving information.
Three processes are involved in memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval. All three of these
processes determine whether something is remembered or forgotten.
Encoding
Processing information into memory is called encoding. People
automatically encode some types of information without being aware of it. For example, most
people probably can recall where they ate lunch yesterday, even though they didn’t try to
remember this information. However, other types of information become encoded only if people
pay attention to it. College students will probably not remember all the material in their
textbooks unless they pay close attention while they’re reading.
There are several different ways of encoding verbal information:
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Structural encoding focuses on what words look like. For instance, one might note whether
words are long or short, in uppercase or lowercase, or handwritten or typed.
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Phonemic encoding focuses on how words sound.
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Semantic encoding focuses on the meaning of words. Semantic encoding
requires a deeper level of processing than structural or phonemic encoding and usually
results in better memory.
Storage
After information enters the brain, it has to be stored or maintained. To describe the
process of storage, many psychologists use the three-stage model proposed by Richard
Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. According to this model, information is
stored sequentially in three memory systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term
memory.
Sensory Memory
Sensory memory stores incoming sensory information in detail
but only for an instant. The capacity of sensory memory is very large, but the information in
it is unprocessed. If a flashlight moves quickly in a circle inside a dark room, people will
see a circle of light rather than the individual points through which the flashlight moved.
This happens because sensory memory holds the successive images of the moving flashlight long
enough for the brain to see a circle. Visual sensory memory is called iconic
memory; auditory sensory memory is called echoic memory.
Short-Term Memory
Some of the information in sensory memory transfers to short-term
memory, which can hold information for approximately twenty seconds. Rehearsing can
help keep information in short-term memory longer. When people repeat a new phone number over
and over to themselves, they are rehearsing it and keeping it in short-term memory.
