Memory

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 Memory and Its Processes
• Memory - an active system that receives information
from the senses, organizes and alters it as it stores it
away, and then retrieves the information from
storage.
• Processes of Memory: There are three main stages in the
formation and retrieval of memory:
• Encoding or registration: receiving, processing and combining of
received information

– Storage - holding onto information for some period of time.

– Retrieval - getting information that is in storage into a form

that can be used.
 Studying Memory:

Keyboard Disk Monitor

(Encoding) (Storage) (Retrieval)
Sequential Process 3
 Stages of Memory

1. Sensory Memory

2. Short-Term Memory

3. Long-Term Memory
 Sensory Memory
• Sensory memory

• the very first stage of memory, the point at which

information enters the nervous system through the sensory
systems.
 Short-Term Memory
• Short-term memory (STM) (working memory) - the memory
system in which information is held for brief periods of time
while being used.
 Short-Term Memory
• Maintenance rehearsal - practice of saying some information to
be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to
maintain it in short-term memory .
• Duration of STM - lasts from about 12 to 30 seconds without
rehearsal.
 Long-Term Memory
• Long-term memory (LTM) - the
system of memory into which all the
information is placed to be kept more
or less permanently.

• Elaborative rehearsal - a method of

transferring information from STM
into LTM by making that information
meaningful in some way.
 Amnesia
The loss of memory is described as forgetfulness, or as a
medical disorder, called amnesia

• Retrograde amnesia - Retrograde amnesia is the inability to

recall past memories . loss of memory from the point of
some injury or trauma.

• Anterograde amnesia - loss of memory from the point of

injury or trauma forward, or the inability to create new
memories. 
 Some Ways to Improve Memory

Whole Learning: Studying an entire package of information at once, like a

poem

Recitation: Summarizing aloud while you are learning

Rehearsal: Reviewing information mentally (silently)

Selection: Selecting most important concepts to memorize

Spaced Practice: Alternating study sessions with brief rest periods