Module+Nine+Overview

media type="custom" key="27385326" Memory is the persistence of learning over time. One helpful model of human memory is the Atkinson-Shiffrin three-stage processing model, which describes how information is encoded,stored, and retrieved. Recent research has modified this model to incorporate the concept of working memory.

Although some types of information are encoded automatically, other types, including information involving meaning, imagery, and organization, require effort. Mnemonic devices that use imagery and that organize information into chunks aid memory. Organizing into hierarchies also helps. Information first enters the memory through the senses. We register visual images via iconic memory and sound via echoic memory.

Although our memory for information just presented is limited to about seven items, our capacity for storing information permanently is essentially unlimited. The search for the physical basis of memory has focused on the synapses and their neurotransmitters and on brain circuits. The hippocampus processes explicit (declarative) memories; even more ancient brain regions—for example, the cerebellum—process implicit (nondeclarative) memories.



To be remembered, information that is “in there” must be retrieved with the aid of associations that serve as primers. Returning to the original context sometimes aids retrieval. While in a good or bad mood we often retrieve memories congruent with that mood. Forgetting sometimes reflects encoding failure. Without effortful processing, much of what we sense we never notice or process. Memories may also fade after storage—often rapidly at first and then leveling off. Retrieval failures may be caused by proactive or retroactive interference or even by motivated forgetting.

Memories are not stored as exact copies. Rather, they are constructed, using both stored and new information. Thus, when eyewitnesses are subtly exposed to misinformation after an event,they often believe they saw the misleading details as part of the event. Memory researchers are especially suspicious of long-repressed memories of sexual abuse, UFO abduction, or other traumas that are “recovered” with the aid of a therapist or suggestive book.

Among strategies for improving memory are spaced practice; active rehearsal; encoding of well-organized, vivid, meaningful associations; mnemonic devices; the return to contexts and moods that are rich with associations; self-testing and rehearsal; and minimizing interference.