How Many Different Types of Memory System Are There? Illustrate Your Answer with Examples of the Kinds of Information Which Each System Stores

Researchers such as Logie, Baddeley and Bunge generally agree that the short-term memory is made up of a number of components or subsystems. The working memory model has replaced the idea of a unitary store short-term memory as suggested by the multistore model. The working memory model explains a lot more and in a lot more detail than the multistore model. It makes sense a range of tasks- verbal reasoning, comprehension, reading, problem solving and visual and spatial processing, it also applies to real life tasks such as reading which involves the phonological loop subsystem, problem solving which involves the central executive and navigation which involves the visual and spatial subsystem. The Working Memory Model is supported by

Atkinson’s and Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model was extremely successful in terms of the amount of research it generated. However, as a result of this research, it became apparent that there were a number of problems with their ideas concerning the characteristics of short-term memory. Building on this research, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed an alternative model of short-term memory which they called working memory. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) argued that the picture of short-term memory (STM) provided by the Multi-Store Model is far too simple. According to the Multi-Store Model, STM holds limited amounts of information for short periods of time with relatively little processing. It is

Memory is defined as “the mental capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information” (American Psychological Association, 2002). It is a part of the means by which humans function. The process of forming and recalling memories involves various complex neurological processes and disruptions to these processes can result in loss of memory or the inability to form new memories. Amnesia is a memory disorder, in which, due to trauma or a head injury, certain parts of the memory is inaccessible. The two main types of amnesia are anterograde amnesia and retrograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia refers to the inability to create new memories (Mastin, 2010). “Retrograde

It is apparent that patient H.M.’s memory has not been affected by any general intellectual loss. H.M has severe anterograde amnesia, but surprisingly has spared implicit memory. Implicit memory is a type of memory in which past experiences aid the presentation of a task without mindful awareness of the experiences. There have been many tests conducted on the patient to test this spared memory.

The combined findings provide the foundation for the hypothesis that there is more than one kind of memory, or rather that skill-based memories must be organised differently from fact-based memories since the former seem to be preserved in amnesia as opposed to the latter.

Additionally, to further support these theories, researchers tend to conduct studies on the famous patient case, HM, to propose the consolidation deficit theory, in which those with amnesia cannot turn short-term memories into long-term memories (Dewar et al., 2010). However, researchers Dewar, Della Sala, Beschin, and Cowan (2010), mentioned that HM’s case does not fully explain why a patient with anterograde amnesia has the ability to get better at cognitive tasks despite being unable to recall having performed those tasks at a previous time. On the same hand, Duff, Wszalek, Tranel, and Cohen (2008) mentioned that most individuals with anterograde amnesia experience heightened intelligence, attention, skill, and reasoning levels (procedural memory).

When speaking about memory, one needs to look at the parts of the brain that are

In 1974, Baddeley and Hitch proposed that short term memory be replaced with working memory- composed of a central executive to direct attention towards information from a phonological loop for speech based information or visuospatial sketchpad for visual information as well as an easily accessible component for storage, the episodic buffer (Baddeley, 2004).

Most researchers into memory have argued that there is a significant distinction between explicit memory (declarative) and implicit memory (non-declarative). However, it is now suggested that researchers move past this distinction by focusing research on amnesia and healthy individuals as the current viewpoint may be limited. According to the original view, amnesiacs should have impaired performance on non-declarative memory tasks and intact performance on declarative tasks (Cognitive Psychology: a student’s handbook, Eysenck and Keane, 2010). However, according to Reder et al. (2009, p.24), “The critical feature that distinguishes tasks that are impaired from those that are spared under amnesia hinges on whether the task requires the formation

Memory is an internal journal or account of a previous circumstance or experience that a subject has met. A person's ability to keep and store mentally retained impressions and information also define memory. While information is not just naturally recorded in our brains, how one applies a theory or theories of memory and forgetting can help to improve how a subject remembers. Memory is essential to our everyday lives. People must recant who they are, they must recognize other people’s faces, and need to also remember how to maneuver and how to communicate. There are various models of the way memory is composed and how it works. Although there is much diversity between the models, they all consider memory as

Prior to the early 1970s the prominent idea of how memories were formed and retrieved revolved around the idea of processing memory into specific stores (Francis & Neath, 2014). These memory stores were identified as sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. In contrast to this idea, two researchers named Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart proposed an idea linking the type of encoding to retrieval (Goldstein, 2015). This idea is known as the levels of processing theory. According to this theory, memory depends on the depth of processing that a given item is received by an individual (Goldstein, 2015). Craik and Lockhart stressed four points in supporting their theory. First, they argued that memory was the result of a series of analyses, each level of the series forming a deeper level of processing than the preceding level (Francis & Neath, 2014). The shallow levels of processing were believed to hold less importance and are defined as giving little attention to meaning of an item. Examples of which include focusing on how a word sounds or memorizing a phone number by repeating it over and over again (Francis & Neath, 2014) (Goldstein, 2015). The deeper levels processing involve paying close attention to the meaning of an item and relating that meaning to something else, an example of which would be focusing on the meaning of a word rather than just how the word sounds (Francis & Neath, 2014) (Goldstein, 2015). The second point Craik and Lockhart

There are three parts of the multi-store model of memory; sensory memory, short-term store and long-term store. The model was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968. The proposed that information enters the system from the environment and first registers on the sensory memory store where it stays for a brief period of time before either decaying or passing onto the short term memory store. Sperling (1960) did a sensory store experiment, which involved showing the participants three rows of letters (12 on the chart) for a split second which they then had to recall. The findings showed that only a fraction of the letters were passed on to the

In the first section of Chapter 13: The Biology of Learning, I learned quite a few things regarding anything from learning to amnesia. In the first part of the section, I got a look of how classical and instrumental (operant) conditioning worked. However, sometimes it’s hard to accurately label certain situations as either classical or instrumental conditioning, like when a songbird hears the song of his species after the first few months it’s born then it is able to imitate it the following year. Also in this section I learned about the two principles of the nervous system proposed by the psychologist Karl S. Lashley. His first principle about the nervous system was that if one part of the cortex was not working, another part of it could substitute it, as they all worked equally in regards to learning. The second principle of the nervous system is that the cortex worked as a whole unit and the more access you had to it, the better. Psychologist Richard Thompson showed through test including puffin air into a rabbit’s eye and associating it with a tone, small parts of the cerebellum showed some instances of classical conditioning. I learned about working memory, one of the few types of memory we have. Working memory is a concept that is similar to short term memory. You are processing information the same time you are storing it. It is useful for planning ahead, analyzing, and organizing. Going onto amnesia, I learned more about amnesia, including the types of amnesia and

Case 1 tells the story of Henry Molaison (HM), a man with no memory. He lost his memory due to the operation of suctioned out the hippocampus to treat his epileptic seizures. At that time, it was not known yet that the hippocampus was essential for making memories. After operation, his seizures were significantly reduced, but Henry suffered a global amnesia. Owen et al. (2007) describes patients with global amnesia as perceptive and attentive but with a total loss of short-term memory and some trouble accessing memories of the recent past. Henry could not learn new things as he quickly forgot everything that he had learned. He could learn at a subconscious level only.

Memory is a very crucial topic not everyone understands. We might hear an individual saying “He has a great memory,” or others mentioning they have a “bad memory” whenever they have forgotten an important subject. People use the term memory frequently but often not knowing its true meaning. According to Baddeley (1999), memory is not an actual organ as the heart, the kidneys, or the liver; instead, it consists of a network in which many systems work together, allowing us to be capable of remembering past events and in predicting the future. Reisberg (2013) presents the Atkinson and Shiffrin Modal Model of Memory, in which they explained that when human body receives an input, it is received as sensory information, which travels to our short-term memory (also known as working memory) and is then processed to our long term memory (where it remains permanently). According to Reisberg (2013) working memory includes conscious and active processing of incoming auditory as well as visual-spatial information. It also retrieves information stored from the long-term memory. In other words, it is the memory a person uses when actively working on a specific task. Moreover, human working memory has a limited capacity; therefore, there is a “magic” number 7 plus or minus 2, which demonstrates that the average capacity of words that our working memory can store is 5 to 9 items (Reisberg, 2013).