Memory: Encoding, Storage and Retrieval
Memory: Encoding, Storage and Retrieval
Memory: Encoding, Storage and Retrieval
Background
• The nature of memory is not fully known yet. The human brain consists
of about 10 billion nerve cells. These nerve cells interact in various ways
and influence behavior as well as mental activity.
• Philosophers in the Greece and India were the first to initiate study on the
memory. Memory functions of abnormal as well as normal subjects have
been studied in detail during the last 10 years.
• The retention of the memory depends upon “how importance and
concentration a person gives to the input.
• Attention is the process that controls the flow of information from the
sensory store into working memory.
• The normal people use only 3-4% of their memory. The extra-ordinary
people use 5-6% of their memory.
• A research is being conducted even now a days on the brain of Newton as
it is thought that he used around 10% of his memory
Encoding
It is the process that controls the movement from working memory into the
long term store. When you deliberately memorize a poem or a list of names.
You are consciously encoding it to long term memory. Whatever strategies a
person uses ranging from simple repetition to the most elaborate means are
the part of encoding process. Most encoding is not deliberate rather it occurs
incidentally as a side effect of the special interest that you devote to certain
items of information.
Storage
It is the process of holding and protecting inputs for later use. In fact, the
human memory consists of billion of cells that are used for storage. The
process of storage might be conscious or unconscious. Sometimes we are
deliberately storing a paragraph or an essay by reading again and again. And
sometimes we store the things in our mind which we see only. It is all
without any deliberate effort.
Retrieval
It is the process that controls the flow of information from the long term
store into the normal working memory. Retrieval is what we commonly call
remembering like encoding, retrieval can be either deliberate or sometimes
we actually search our long term store for particular piece of information.
More often, However, Information seems to flow automatically into the
working store form the long-term store. One image or thought in working
memory seems to call forth the next in a stream that is sometimes logical
and sometimes fanciful.
Causes of forgetting
Though forgetting is considered to be an essential characteristic there are
various factors that cause this process. From the psychological point of view,
these can be identified and studied separately.
Types of Forgetting.
Type of Definition Causes Examples
Forgettin
g
Proactive Current (new) Earlier 1. I have trouble recalling my new phone
Interference information is information number, because I get it mixed up with my old
lost because it projects itself number.
is mixed up forward and
with previously interferes with 2. A student finds a new concept to be hard to
learned, similar what we try to understand because she confuses it with
information. learn next. similar ideas she has already learned.
Retroactive Previously New 1. I have trouble recalling my old phone
Interference learned information number, because I get it mixed up with my
information is interferes with new number.
lost because it older
is mixed up information, 2. A student understood a concept last week
with new and much like a but can no longer discuss the concept
somewhat retroactive pay correctly, because he confuses it with other
similar raise influences concepts studied since that time.
information. previous
paychecks.
Fading We can no There was once 1. I cannot recall my family's phone number
longer recall a clear memory, when I was in the first grade, because my
information but it has faded family hasn't lived at that house in over 40
from our away because years.
memory the information
because of was never used. 2. A student correctly identifies concepts on
disuse. the unit test, but gets these concepts wrong on
the final exam ten weeks later, because she
has not used or reviewed those concepts
during the intervening time.
Natural Decay
One explanation is that memory traces gradually fade away in due course of
time. This usually in course of events that have never been revived and
consequently become more and more vague and indefinite until they are
totally wiped out. Gradually an individual develops new interests and new
memory traces replace the old ones.
Emotional Blocking
Memory disorders:
1. Amnesia
2. Anterograde Amnesia / Clive Wearing
3. Retrograde amnesia
4. Lacunar Amnesia
Amnesia
Forgetting can also be caused due to abnormal states like amnesia and
fugues. Amnesia is a loss of memory for particular events or period, but the
individual do not loses his identity. In case of fugues an individual acquires a
new name and identity and experiences a total loss of memory for all
previous events. These are abnormal mental states and don’t occur in the
case of mentally healthy individuals.
Retrograde Amnesia
Lacunar Amnesia
Lacunar amnesia is the loss of memory about one specific event. It is a type
of amnesia that leaves a lacuna (a gap) in the record of memory.
2. Write it down! Most people use one or more external aids to help
remember.e.g.entering appointments in a diary or on a calendar, writing on
the back of your hand/knotted handkerchief, writing lists, using alarm clocks
on your watch or mobile phone, putting objects in a conspicuous place (e.g.
by the front door), asking someone else to remind you
6. Give your memory a holiday Routine is memory's best friend. Make the
mundane events in your life routine and forget about them. Always put your
keys in the same place when you come through the front door.
7. Put yourself to the test to learn better It is often better to test yourself
on something you've learned than to keep re-learning it. This is because in
testing yourself, you can reflect on your progress, check how well you have
learnt things, and fill in the gaps rather than re-learn everything again.
After learning something, come back to it after a few minutes and test
yourself on it. Try learning capital cities or lines from a play.
9. See it, feel it, remember it One type of memory aid - relies on imagery
rather than words. A classic way of remembering a person's name is to try
and imagine it (or something associated to it) on the person's face. This is
easy if you meet John Bridge: just imagine a bridge on his face.
Psychologists have found that the more vivid the image the better it works.