The Science of Memory
Youssef Saifelnasr, Youssef Mamdouh, Vera Poyraz
STEM High School for Boys, Sheikh Zayed Secondary school, Çınar Koleji
Abstract
“There appears to be something mysterious about
memory powers, failures and disparities that draw
attention, compared to any of our other cognitive
abilities.” Jane Austen
One thing we don’t care to think over is our
memory. We use our memory every day, but don’t
think about how we use it. Schools are requiring
students to memorize multiplication tables, poems,
birth dates, death of important people and what
they did through their life, wars and many others.
Every aspect of our daily behavior and life is
affected in one way or another by our capabilities
to remember past events and experiences. We need
memory as a prerequisite for life, learning, and for
self-protection. Without memory, we cannot face
the present, or plan for the future.
Example: Imagine a person with no ability to
remember; If this person had been spoken to, he
would not understand your words since the
vocabulary of language and the meaning of words
would be forgotten. Furthermore, if called by his
name, he would not answer because would simply
forget. If this person wakes up, he will not know
how to wash his face or wear his clothes. Simple,
everyday actions must be learned and stored in our
memory and remembered when needed.
This paper will discuss and explain what memory is,
how we store information and recall it, experiments
conducted on memory, and differences between
remembering and recognition, short- and long-term
memory...
INTRODUCTION
Everything in life seems so simple at first glance, but
when we take the time to stop and inspect them at
much deeper level, these things turn out to be much
more complex. This, is how we treat our memory.
We recall past events every day and we find that we
don’t even blink an eye over it, but in fact what
comes as second nature to us is not fully
comprehended even to this day, the act of
remembering is a complicated process that occurs
inside our brain. Furthermore, the process of
learning is an active field of research. It is of
paramount importance to ponder our brain
significance. The reason for the numerous amount of
research conducted on topics on what, why and how
to remember, should be clear: Memory is a major
psychological process. As Michael Gazzanega, a
prominent cognitive neuroscientist, put it
“Everything in life is a memory, except for minor
things from the present”. Memory allows us to
remember birthdays, holidays and other important
events that may have occurred hours, days, months,
or even several years ago. Our memories are
personal and "internal", but without them we will
not be able to practice "external" actions - such as
conducting dialogue, recognizing the faces of our
friends, remembering appointments, implementing
new ideas, succeeding in work, or even learning to
walk.
There are several different hypotheses of how
memory works from classical times. For example,
Plato likened the memory to a wax board, on which
impressions or "encodings" are printed, and then
"strangled" after that, in order to return to these
impressions (i.e. memories) and "retrieve them, at a
later time." This triple distinction between
"encoding", "storage", and "retrieval" has
necessitated scientific researchers until the modern
era. Other philosophers in classical times likened
memories to birds in a cage or books in a library,
citing difficulties in retrieving information after
storing it; which means hunting the desired bird or
finding the desired book. Indeed, memory can be
thought of as having three critical components.
Sensory, working and long-term memory. Memory
can be thought of as having three critical
components. Sensory, working and long-term
memory.
Sensory Memory
Our sensory memory is where everything starts.
When we enter a new environment we look around,
try to familiarize ourselves with it, and look for
details. However, all of this is soon forgotten due to
our sensory memory. We collect sensory
information using all of our senses. Everything we
hear (echoic memory), see (iconic memory), smell
(olfactory memory), feel (haptic memory), and taste
(gustatory memory) gets captures by our sensory
memory in great detail. Due to the amount of detail,
these sensory inputs don’t remain intact in our brains
for a long amount of time; in fact we can recall
sensory memory only up to a second. Why exactly
is this? Every second, every hour, and every day our
brain is over flooded with sensory information and
keeping that much information at that great of a
detail is simply useless to us. Information we don’t
need gets forgotten.
Short-Term Memory/ Working Memory
With enough attention given to a sensory memory it
will travel to our short-term memory. Short-term
memory has a very limited capacity and can only be
retained for about a minute. This limit has been
studies by George Miller and he concluded that our
short-term memory has a capacity of remembering 5
to 9 objects. This is called 2-7+2 which he even
refers to as the magical number which is also
sometimes referred to as Miller’s Law. Some people
can remember up to 15-20 items, how can this
happen? This is made possible by organizational
encoding or chunking. To remember a list of items
exceeding the average of 7 like 15, can be condensed
into a smaller number by forming groups.
Working memory on the other hand is a process used
to temporarily store and manipulate information in
our short-term memory. Alan Baddeley and Graham
Hitch formed a model that separates the process of
manipulating information we retain from our
environment into 3 parts.
1. Visio-spatial Scratchpad remembering past events
based off a mental image. When trying to remember
where we last placed our keys, we picture our living
room in our heads.
2. Phonologic Loop remembering something by
looping it in our minds or repeating it constantly.
This is the technique we use to keep ourselves from
forgetting phone numbers. A very important aspect
of the phonological loop is when distracted we
easily forget what we were looping.
3. Episodic Buffer This is a mixture of the Visio-
spatial scratchpad and phonological loop. We use
the episodic buffer by creating mental images but
also repeating certain aspects of, for example, a
lecture we are listening to.
Long Term Memory
Unlike short-term memory, our long term memory
doesn’t have a limit. With enough attention and
time, a short-term memory will be stored as a long
term memory. Long term memory is composed of
many parts and any of the memories mentioned
below are considered to be a part of long term
memory.
1. Explicit/Declarative (conscious memory)
Information we can have an active conversation
over.
a) Semantic Memory- consists of factual knowledge
such as a birth date, name, or the capital of a country.
b) Episodic Memory- “episodes” of our lives. An
episodic memory consists of events and actions done
in a certain time span; we can think of this like an
episode of a TV show.
2. Implicit/Non-declarative (unconscious memory)
Information that is remembered unconsciously and
can’t necessarily be explained. Like skills we
perform automatically (walking, tying shoes)
a) Procedural memory- this is processed by the
cerebellum and other areas of the brain that deal with
performing a skill without active thought. Examples
of procedural memory would include riding a bike
or speaking in your native tongue.
b) Conditioned Memory- these are memories that
have conditioned a person to feel a certain type of
feeling in a certain situation (being afraid of the dark
after having been stuck in a dark room for hours).
One example to this would be the study of Pavlov’s
Dogs.
TO CONCLUDE
Long-term memory is relatively permanent,
however if we want to maintain easy access to a
memory, we need to retrieve this information
regularly. What this means is that learning depends
on three critical processes which are: Attention,
encoding and retrieval.
Attention: to get new information into Long-term
memory, it must go through the working memory
and to get into working memory we must pay
attention to it. This means that attention and focus
are the starting point for learning. If learners are not
paying attention to what their teachers say, they will
not be able to process the information or remember
it later. Distractions, text messages, notifications and
daydreaming are not helpful for learning.
Encoding: once we get new information into
working memory, we want to encode it into Long-
term memory. Encoding is made easier when:
1-Learners connect new information to what they This also proves the important point related to
already know. "conscious versus" unconscious "knowledge.

2-information and processes are repeated. Bartlett's Thought

3-information is assembled, structured, and The second greatest method of memory research is
organized. (It can help to think of your memory a the work of Friedrich Bartlett, which was conducted
little bit like a filing cabinet. It is easier to find things by the first half of the twentieth century, that is,
when they are filed away in an organized fashion) several decades after Ebbinghaus, in his book
"Remembering - Published in 1932 -" Bartlett
4-information is translated from however it is challenged the thinking of Ebbinghouse, who was
originally seen and heard into something created by then dominant in this field. Bartlett argued that the
the learner study of meaningless passages does not reveal to us
Retrieval is taking the information from our long- much about how human memory works in the real
term memory to our conscious memory. The more world. He posed an important question: How many
you retrieve something the easier it becomes to people spend their lives remembering the
remember again meaningless passages? In contrast to Ebbinghaus -
who tried to delete the meaning from his test
Ebbinghaus's thought subjects - Bartlett emphasized the opposite; That is,
on articles that have a meaning (specifically the
Some classic systematic research on memory and
materials on which you are trying to impose a
forgetfulness had been carried out at the end of the
meaning). The Bartlett experiments preserved and
nineteenth century by Hermann Ebbinghaus.
remembered these materials under relatively normal
Ebbinghaus retained a separate list of thirteen
conditions. Indeed, it appears that one of the
syllablesthat does not have meaning. Each syllable
essential elements in human nature is that we - in our
included three words “meaningless” consisting of
natural state - usually seek to impose meaning on
consonant - moving - consonant (such as: PEL).
events in our environment, and this principle was
Ebinghouse memorized each of these lists after a
confirmed by most of Bartlett's works. For example:
break of between 21 minutes and 31 days. He was
In some of Bartlett's most influential studies,
particularly interested in the extent of forgetfulness
volunteers were asked to read a story for themselves
that had occurred to him during this time period,
(the most famous story was "Ghost War"), and then
using the "preservation scale," (that is, the amount
they tried to remember the story later. Bartlett
of time it took to re-memorize the list) as a measure
discovered that individuals remembered each story
of how much he had forgotten. Ebbinghaus noted
in their own way, but also discovered some general
that the forgetfulness rate was almost in form of
trends among its results: The stories were probably
power. That is, the forgetfulness was rapid at first
shorter when they were remembered.Seemingly - to
(immediately after learning the material), but the
associate this material with their pre-existing ideas,
rate of forgetting the information gradually
general knowledge and cultural expectations. The
decreased. This observation lasted for a long period
changes that individuals made when remembering
of time, and it proved its effectiveness with several
the story were ostensibly linked to the reactions and
different subjects and learning conditions. Thus, if
feelings they experienced when they first heard it.
you stop learning French after leaving school,
Bartlett argued that what people remember
during the first twelve months you will see a rapid
facilitates - to some extent - their personal and
deterioration of your French vocabulary, but the rate
emotional commitment to the original event to be
at which you forget these vocabulary will gradually
remembered and invested in. According to Bartlett
slow down over time. Therefore, if you remember
himself, the memory retains "slightly prominent
French again after five or ten years, you may be
details", while the remainder of what we remember
shocked at how much you actually kept in your
represents a continuation that is affected only by the
memory (compared to how many you remembered a
original event. Bartlett referred to this key feature
few years earlier). Another interesting memory
in the memory as "reconstruction", not
feature has been noted by Ebinghouse; And it is that
"reproduction." In other words, instead of
after "losing" information - like some of your French
“reproducing the original event or the original story,
vocabulary - you can start learning this information
we seek from them a rebuilding, based on our
faster than someone who has never learned French
postulates and our expectations and our current
at all (i.e. the concept of memorization)). This
psychological tendency. For example, think about
discovery indicates that there must be a residual
the way two people who are encouraging two
trace of this missing information »in your brain.
different countries (England and Germany) narrate
the events of a football match they just saw (between
England and Germany). The same substantive
events took place on the field, but the England fan
will probably tell the events in a different way
clearly from the German team fan, and when two
people watch the same movie, their narrated
memories of the movie will be similar, but there will
usually be noticeable differences between them.
Why may their narratives differ? This will depend
on their interests, motivations, and emotional
reaction; Any way they understand the story
presented. Likewise, a person who voted in favor of
the current government during the last general
elections may well remember events related to a
major national event (for example, a war) in a
completely different way than someone who voted
for the current opposition party. (These examples
also refer to the method Social factors - including
stereotypes - can influence our memories of events.
This is why there is a fundamental difference in the
way Ebbinghaus and Bartlett handle memory, as the
essence of Bartlett's argument was that people try to
impose meaning on what they observe in the world,
and that this affects their memory of events. This
may not be significant in a laboratory experiment
that uses relatively meaningless and abstract
materials, such as the meaningless syllables used by
Ebbinghouse. But Bartlett argued that this "pursuit
of meaning" - in a more natural context - is one of
the most important features of the way our memories
work in the real world.
Misconceptions of Memory
We trust our memory for basic actions like
remembering where we last placed our car keys or
the house number of a close friend, but we also use
our memories in other, not-so-common situations
like bearing witness to a crime and giving details on
what was witnessed. It has been proven countless
times by a variety of experiments that our memory
is less reliable than we originally think it is. In fact,
the more we try and recall an event in detail the more
it is suspected to change from its original form.
There are many experiments that showcase these
adjustments in our “reality”
In a research conducted by Loftus and Palmer, the
influence of visual imagery and wording on
eyewitness’ memory was tested. Loftus and Palmer
asked participants in their research to estimate the
speed of motor vehicles they had been shown in a
film. 7 films of traffic accidents were shown to each
group and afterwards the participants were asked to
explain what they would report about this situation
if they were eye witnesses. A variety of questions
were asked, but the question that tested Loftus and
Palmer’s research was, “How fast were the cars
going when they (contacted, bumped, smashed,
collided, hit) each other?”
The wording of the question changed in every group,
and so did the answers. The speed guessed by the
participants was affected by the word choice.
Participants that were asked the version of the
question with “smashed’ reported the cars shown in
the film were going faster than those who were
asked the question with “contacted” In conclusion
Loftus and Palmer came up with two explanations
for the result of their research.
Response-bias Factors: the change in wording
mighty not alter a person’s memory but might have
created a bias towards a certain answer.
Memory representation is altered: The wording used
changes the recollection of the memory; it causes
one to believe that a situation was more or less
serious than it was.
In another study, conducted by Julia Shaw and
Stephen Porter, the creation of false memories in
stressful situations was put to test. Sixty vetted
student participants thought they were involved in a
research studying how people remember their
childhood. They were asked to remember an event
from when they were eleven to fourteen. The
participants were interviewed in three, 40-minute
sessions and were asked to recall both true and a
false event. The false event introduced by the
researches didn’t contain many details but it
included contact with police in a minor incident. By
the end of this experiment, 21 of 60 participants gave
details about being involved in a criminal event that
resulted in police contact and as a result these
participants classified as creating a false memory.
Not only did these participants create false
memories, they also gave details about that very
memory. These are just a few examples of human
proneness of creating false memories and
elaborating on them. Our brain has to multitask
continuously and as a result we cannot keep our
memories as fresh and vivid as the very day they
happened. As our memories fade, we put other
believable details in place of the ones that vanished;
this saves us energy and time.
Retrieval: Remembering vs. Recognition.
Remember, information usually means bringing it
to the mind; usually There is a "hint”, stimulating
(and / or )making it easy to remember." For
example: Exam questions usually contain tips from
academic content that direct our reminder to
information related to our exam objectives. Our
daily life questions include: “What did you do on
Friday night? »On time tips. Such hints are very
general, and do not provide much information.
Remembering when it responds to these kinds of
unspecified allusions is often called "free recall".
Some hints may also be loaded with more
information and direct us to specific events or
information. A question like: «Where did you go
on Friday evening after leaving the movie theater?
It differs from the previous question, mentioned
above, by providing us with more information in an
attempt to extract a specific article. And when the
hints increase in direction, the name of the recall
process becomes "hint recall." Here are some other
examples: When studying retrieval in an
experimental context, you may provide information
to individuals - such as a story - during what we
call a learning session, then we may ask them to
remember certain aspects of the story. And "free
summons" is when we ask individuals to remember
as much of the story as possible, without any
assistance, and the "tip of the tongue phenomenon"
explains the nature of one of the common problems
with free summons, as we often have partial access
to the information that we are trying to retrieve. By
comparison, a hint call-up is when we present an
etch (such as a classification, or the first letter of a
word) in order to retrieve a specific piece of
information. For example, we might say: “Tell me
all the names of people that start with a letter,
which were in the story that I read to you
yesterday. »A hint callback is probably a little
easier for respondents than a free call. This may be
because we provide the individual with more
support and context. That is, we are already doing
part of the "memory work" for him by providing
these tips. It is worth noting that hints may be
useful in retrieving information, but they may also
present distortion and bias.
Our ability to distinguish a specific information or
previous event when it is presented before us again
is called "recognition". For example: During tests,
questions of right and wrong and multiple choice
usually target the student's ability to correctly
identify the information. In real life, some
questions like: “Did you go out to eat after you left
the movie theater? “present A specific event or
information and ask the person who was asked the
question whether the information provided
corresponds to an event he did in the past.
(Identification) “is the simplest sort of retrieval,
because part of the“ targeted ”memory material is
already provided, and you - the respondent - have
to make a decision about it. Then you are asked:
“Tell me which of these two elements you have
seen before?” This is an algebraic choice, since you
are forced to choose one of the two elements. This
can be compared to “recognize yes no " where I
show you a series of elements one by one and ask
you:“ Have you seen this element of Before? ”In
this case, you simply have to answer“ yes ”or“ no
”to each component. Methodological experiences
have indicated that there are two independent
processes that can contribute to the identification,
namely:
Contextual retrieval
relies on "explicit restoration" of time and space;
For example: You might meet someone as the
person you saw on the bus when you came home
from work last Friday. So for this type of
recognition, you should be able to determine your
past experience and location.
Familiar
You may see someone who seems to be blurredly
familiar, knowing that you have seen him before, but
you cannot really remember when or where you
have seen him. It seems that what reinforces this
type of learning experience is the "familiar process",
but there is no explicit retrieval of the previous
interview. So this is a less detailed form of
identification (very similar to the type of
"knowledge" response). Familiar factors can be
observed without the ability to bring a previous
event to the mind (i.e. remember or recognize it).
And you yourself may have had this experience on
many occasions: that is, you met a person who
seemed familiar, even though you were unable to
recognize him clearly. Indeed, one of the
mechanisms behind success is that it makes certain
products more familiar, and people tend to prefer
familiar things over unfamiliar things. . Hence the
old saying: “All propaganda is an end. There is a
remarkable phenomenon that most of us are exposed
to, and it may be intrinsically dependent on a
misplaced sense of familiarism: a deception of “Déjà
vu” Meaning it was seen before. This phenomenon
occurs when people feel they have seen something
before, without being able to actually identify the
previous event or provide any other evidence that
confirms that the event or event actually took place.
That in the event deceiving a deception, familiar
mechanisms may happen by mistake, and a feeling
of familiarization arises because of a scene or
something new. Moreover, some researchers have
indicated that Deja Fu's propaganda deception
appears that It can be hypnotized. So it seems
possible that brain mechanisms that support the
experience of deception (Déjà vu) may be stimulated
by mechanisms different from those that usually
work when we are totally vigilant.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, praises and thanks to Allah, the

almighty, for his showers of blessings throughout
our research work to complete our research
successfully.

We would like to express our deep and sincere

gratitude to Dr Joe Hanson and Kim Ann
Zimmermann. They are insecure nerds, whom we
learned a lot from their videos and websites about
short- and long-term memories and their
mechanism. He really inspired us a lot.

We cannot express enough thanks to these helpful

professors for their research papers that helped us:
Professor Nelson Cowan, Professor Shawn Christ,
Professor Todd Schachtmann, and Dr. Michael
Sherman. I offer my sincere appreciation for the
learning opportunities provided by these professors.

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