Improving Memory Essay example

Memory is divided into three categories. These categories consist of: sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory, out of these short term memory is the main focus in this essay. It has been widely researched due to interest of how much memory can be stored, how long this memory can be stored for and what information is memorised.

Sensory memories are momentary recordings of information in our sensory systems. They are memories evoked through a person's five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. Although sensory memory is very brief, different sensory memories last for different amounts of time. Iconic

There are 3 necessary steps/types that are crucial to forming a lasting memory. Step 1: sensory memory, step 2: short-term memory, and step 3: long-term memory. These are the three types of memory that are needed to build a lasting memory. Sensory memory is the shortest memory in the shortest- term memory element.One of the types of memory allows you to remember information through the 5 senses. The brain will remember anything that happened from 1 second to 60 seconds using the sensory part of your memory. An example of sensory memory is: I got hit in the head with a purple yo-yo. After sensory memory comes the short-term memory. Short-term memory acts as a “scratch- pad” for temporary recall. Short- term memory holds small amounts of information. Anything something that took place in front of your eyes for longer than 60 seconds, the short-term memory section of the brain will remember it. This section of your brain will allow you to recall that information in the next few hours or days. An example of short-term memory is: time on the clock 10 minutes ago. Lastly, comes long– term memory. Long- term memory, is used to store information of a set time

In general our long-term memory is relatively more stable than short-term memory “Because STM is an active, conscious process, limited in both duration and capacity, it is easily disrupted by external events, as is clear every time we become distracted. LTM, on the other hand, is not easily disrupted. If you remember the capital of Denmark today, you are still likely to know it next month, next year, maybe even next decade” (LeFrancois, 2011, p. 5.2). In most cases, what we are able to learn now, can be remembered through repetition, reflection, and word association for decades to come. Although our memory continues to grow as we learn more, as we grow older we still process and retain new information, however, it just takes allot longer to learn as well as retrieve new information from memory. “Memory is involved in all aspects of human functioning. In fact, it is very difficult to separate memory and learning, so closely are they linked. Learning is a change in behavior that results from experience; and, in a sense, memory is the effect of experience. More precisely, it is the system that allows us to retain and retrieve the effects of experience. There will be no evidence of learning without something having happened in memory; by the same token, something happening in memory implies learning” (LeFrancois, 2011, p. 5.1).

McLeod (2007) describes memory as the psychological function of processing & preserving vast amounts of information such as visual images, acoustic sounds and semantic meanings. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (2009), memory involves a series of interconnected systems that serve different functions. The basic divisions of these systems are declarative and procedural memory, episodic and semantic memory and long and short term memory.

Long-term memory is the information we retain after a day, two weeks, or ten years. (4).

The short-term memory is the lead to our long lasting remembers. Short-term memory is the second stage in the memory processing (Huffman). The short-term memory is the part of the memory that temporarily stores and processes information from the sensory memory and holds it until it decides if the information will be sent to the third stage or long-term memory (Huffman). The short-term memory stores a mixture of perceptual analyses information (Huffman). The short-term memory works in different ways to increase its small capacity; it uses rehearsal and chunking to be able to remember more

Memory in the human brain is a complex process which is easier understood by the use of theoretical constructs. Memories begin as sensory stimuli which become sensory memory which only last about one second, from there it moves into working memory which lasts for about twenty to thirty seconds and is used to process information. Within working memory there are a few separate processes, the central executive which directs attention, the episodic buffer which is a secondary storage lasting ten to twenty seconds, this area communicates with long term memory as well as the central executive. The visuospatial sketchpad which is used to visualise visual and spacial

Memory is the retention of information over time and it changes through our lifespan, from infancy through adulthood (Santrock 218). There are two types of memory, explicit and implicit.

“Information flows from the outside world through our sight, hearing smelling, tasting and touch sensors. Memory is simply ways we store and recall things we 've sensed.” When we recall memories, the original neuron path that we used to sense the experience that we are recalling is refined, and the connection is made stronger. Sensory information in stored for only a few seconds in the cortex of the brain. This information can then progress to short-term memory, and then long-term memory, depending on the importance of the information received.

Memory has different parts in the memory system including sensory, short and long memories. Each type has a different time span and is broken down for different purposes for memorizing. Sensory memory occupies material for one to two

The generally accepted classification of memory is based on how long you can remember an item or experience (memory retention), and identifies three types of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

In this system there are three separate components that combine to enable us to process memories. These three components of memory are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory (Reisberg, 2013). Of the three, sensory memory has the shortest time-span in our memory lasting roughly 300 milliseconds. The purpose of the sensory memory is to interpret the sensations coming to the body, and then transfer them to short term if there is enough attention placed on them (Reisberg, 2013). Short-term memory has a longer time-span in which it can be remembered. In short term memory we are able to remember 7 items +/- 2. These items can be remembered for up to a minute and that length of time can be increased if they are rehearsed. Rehearsal allows memories to be consolidated and be placed in long-term memory where they can be later retrieved and placed in working memory. Long term-memory are memories that can be retrieved with a hint or cue (Reisberg, 2013)

Memory is defined as "the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information." Our memory can be compared to a computer's information processing system. To remember an event we need to get information into our brain which is encoding, store the information and then be able to retrieve it. The three-stage processing model of Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin suggests that we record information that we want to remember first as a fleeting sensory memory and then it is processed into a short term memory bin where we encode it ( pay attention to encode important or novel stimuli) for long-term memory and later retrieval. The premise for the three step process is that we are unable to focus on too much

Having short term memory is an important thing to have. Without short term memory we wouldn’t be able to recall things from only moments before. Short Term Memory is the ability to recall things from moments to days before. Imagine having a conversation with someone and then as soon as your attention is redirected you forget what you’ve just been told.