Different Types of Memory - Essay Example

Memory Memory Introduction Memory is the process in which data is en d and stored for later retrieval. The encoding system allows data from the outside world to go through the five senses in the form of physical and chemical stimuli. The information must be changed in the first stage for it to be put in the encoding system. Storage of memory is the second process after information from the outside world has been received. The information must be returned and located in the consciousness. Attempts to retrieve the information may be sometimes effortless depending on the type of information stored. Memory loss, usually known as forgetfulness, is referred to as amnesia in medical terms. This paper discusses the different forms of memory and how they coordinate in the brain to ensure that the information is stored based on its particular category. Sensory Memory This form of memory holds sensory information, which may be stored for less than one second after a sense is perceived. A good example of sensory memory is the ability to look at an object and remember what it looked like within a millisecond (Kahana, 2012). The cognitive memory is an automatic response. In situations involving very short presentations, many participants report to be able to see more than they can report. The first experiment on the sensory memory system was conducted in 1963 by Sperling George based on the “Partial Report Paradigm.” The experiment involved the presentation of subjects with a grid of 12 letters that were arranged in three rows of four. After a brief period of presentation, the subjects were played a high, medium, and low tone that cued them which of the rows to report. Based on the experiment, it was reported that the sensory memory capacity was in the region of 12 items, but it had a quick rate of degradation (Graf, & Ohta, 2002). Because the form of memory degrades so quickly, the participants would not report all the 12 items. The sensory memory cannot be prolonged following a rehearsal. Sensory memory is also classified into three: the iconic memory, the haptonic memory, and the echoic memory. The iconic memory has a fast rate of degradation of visual information. The type of memory briefly stores an image that has been perceived as only a small duration. The visual memory is classified as visual short-term memory and the visual long-term memory. Its components include the informational persistence and the visible persistence (Graf, & Ohta, 2002). The Haptonic memory is the form of sensory memory that represents information about the touch stimuli while the echoic memory is a fast-decaying information store. This type of memory is associated with the skin. The echoic memory temporarily stores sound memory. The echoic memories are usually stored for a longer period than the iconic memories. The type of memory is received by the ears before it is recorded and stored. Overall, the sensory memory system is usually short, lasting for a few seconds. The nature of the object and the psychological nature of the individual determine the state of remembrance and the duration of remembrance associated with the sensory memory system. Short-term Memory This form of memory allows remembrance for a longer duration without rehearsal as compared to the sensory memory. George Miller conducted experiments on the short-term memory in the Bell laboratories that demonstrated that the short-term memory store is in the range of seven plus or minus two items (Medin, & Pashler, 2002). However, the capacity of the memory can be increased through chunking. This is the process of splitting the items into smaller subjects that can be easily remembered. For instance, a ten-digit phone number can be chunked into three smaller digits for easy retrieval from the short-term memory. The digits could be chunked into three beginning from the area code, the three-digit chunk, followed by the four-digit chunk. The method is more effective and reliable than trying to remember the whole ten-digit number. The reason is that the human brain is only able to store information in the short-term memory in meaningful groups of digits. The tendency is also reflected in many countries that represent telephone numbers in chunks of threes and fours (Tulving, & Craik, 2000). The short-term memory mainly relies on the acoustic code for data storage and sometimes on the visual code. Conrad found out in 1954 that subjects had difficulties remembering a collection of numbers with acoustic similarities. The confusion associated with remembrance of acoustically similar numbers rather than the numbers or letters that are visually similar implies that letters are encoded acoustically. Researchers have reported the duration of short-term memory between 15 to 30 seconds. The remembrance of items in the short-term memory can be enhanced through acoustic coding or verbal repetitions (Weiner, 2003). The process is also referred to as rehearsal. For example, in order to remember a sentence, its begging needs to be registered in the mind while the rest is read, the role that is carried out by the short-term memory. Other examples of short-term memory are the process of holding a piece of information for a short duration in order to complete a given task. A good example is the “carry over” of a number in a subtraction sum or remembering a point of argument until a person finishes talking. The information stored in the short-term memory soon disappears unless efforts are made to retain it. In other words, attempts to store information in the short-term memory for longer durations transfer the information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory. This is easily done by associating information with the previously acquired knowledge or information. The process is mainly applicable to the reading process where students interlink concepts with one another in order to remember them for longer durations. Long-term memory The storage of memory in the sensory and the short-term memory systems has a limited duration. This means that the information is not remembered for long and can be easily lost. On the contrary, the long-term memory can store large quantities of data for extended durations. Some information may last in the long-term memory for the entire life span. The capacity of the long-term memory is immeasurably large. For instance, a random seven-digit number can only be remembered for a few seconds, suggesting that it was stored in the short-term memory. On the other hand, repetition enables people to remember telephone numbers for many years since it transfers the stored data from the short-term memory system to the long-term memory. As aforementioned, the short-term memory encodes data acoustically. On the other hand, long-term memory encodes data semantically. Baddeley discovered in 1966 that test subjects had difficulties recalling and recollecting words with similar meanings after 20 minutes (e.g., Large, great, huge, and big) (Tulving, & Craik, 2000). Another part of this form of memory is what is referred to as the episodic memory. The memory captures information such as ‘when,’ ‘what,’ ‘where.’ Individuals can remember specific events such as weddings and birthday parties through the long-term memory. The short-term memory is mainly supported by the transient patterns of neuronal relay of information that depends on the regions of the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe. On the other hand, the long-term memory is maintained by more permanent and stable changes in connections between neurons in the brain. The hippocampus section of the brain is responsible for learning new information and the process of information consolidation from the short-term to the long-term memory. Studies have reported that the long-term memory in humans can be maintained by prions and DNA methylation. Some scholars have maintained that people do not forget things stored in the long-term memory, but the information becomes so large that it becomes increasingly difficult to retrieve part of it. It is through the consolidation process that short-term memories get to the long-term memory. Long-term memory has been classified into different types over the years. These include implicit memory, explicit memory, procedural memory, and declarative memory. Declarative memory is also classified as semantic and episodic memory as well as prospective and retrospective memory. In other words, the distinction between the forms of memories is the duration that it takes for data stored in the memory to be forgotten. The duration lasts from a few seconds in the sensory memory to a lifetime in the long-term memory. Even information stored in the long-term memory may be forgotten when it is not often used in the daily activities. Conclusion The three primary forms of memory are the sensory memory, the short-term memory, and the long-term memory. The sensory memory may store information up to a few seconds; the short-term memory may store data up to a few minutes or hours while the long-term memory may store information for a few or a lifetime. The duration of information storage in the three forms of memory is enhanced through repetitions and rehearsing. The paper has also mentioned that information can be transferred from the short-term memory to the long-term memory, especially if the information is repeated severally on a daily basis. The more that information is used, the more its memory can be retained. References Graf, P., & Ohta, N. (2002). Lifespan development of human memory. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Kahana, M. J. (2012). Foundations of human memory. New York: Oxford University Press. Medin, D. L., & Pashler, H. (2002). Memory and cognitive processes. New York, NY: Wiley. Tulving, E., & Craik, F. I. M. (2000). Handbook of memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Weiner, I. B. (2003). Handbook of psychology: 3. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Read More