Cognitive Psychology and Memory - Coursework Example

Cognitive Psychology and Memory Have you ever thought that how your mind is able to store tons of data and information? The ability to reminisce about your exhilarating experiences, conjuring up mental pictures about the events and the capacity to apply information based on the context. The study of human mind and memory has been in days of yore and it has now become a central topic in the realm of cognitive psychology. The term cognitive psychology is used to describe the scientific examination of human mind or the mental actions. It revolves around the notion that suppose if we want to identify what motivates the people, then a simple method to do it is to get the picture of actions swirling around the mind of that person. It aims to have a deep understanding of the processes by which knowledge is acquired and retained in the central repository, including perception, learning, intuition, and reasoning. The term memory lies at the heart of cognitive psychology and this field has contributed enormously towards learning and understanding the concept of memory. The notion of human memory as a separate discipline began in 1960’s and it was pointed that there exist a two component memory system; short term and long term memory. This gave rise to the multi-store model of memory formulated by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). The theory is built on the premise that there is more than one type of a memory. In this three component model of memory, the human memory is sectioned off in three distinct components; sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory. The theory proposes that the information in memory passes through each component in a fixed sequence. These components differ from each other in at least three ways; capacity limitations, duration of information and encoding mechanisms. Sensory memory is a storage system that retains incoming sensory information (hearing, smelling, vision etc.) for a short amount of time. It holds information in an unprocessed form until it is further processed into short-term memory provided if the target person pays close attention to the subject matter. Baddeley (1988) indicated that one of the functions of sensory memory is to enable information from successive eye-fixations to persist for a considerable amount of time to be integrated and so to provide unbroken continuity to our visual environment. For instance, if you are watching a movie, your conscious experience is of an uninterrupted visual scene in which all of the action appears to be moving fluidly. As a matter of fact, the film in reality is being presented as a collection of images merged together at a blistering pace. The movie makes sense to you because your sensory memory stores the visual information from one frame of film until the next one is presented to it. This implies that the sensory memory stores modality specific information in its repository for a very short period of time. The information from sensory store is passed on to short-term memory which stores the information for a brief period of time. Information can be maintained or retained in the short term memory by the process of rehearsal. Short-term memory can hold a small number of items at a specific period of time and as new information enters in the memory, the old ones are cleared off. Miller (1957) conducted a psychological experiment and he determined that short-term memory can hold seven items approximately. Short term memory codes the information primarily in an acoustic format and even sometimes translating visual information into sounds. It has a very limited duration and information fades away with distraction or passage of time. Finally, the long-term memory as the term indicates can hold a huge amount of information for a long period of time. The information stored at this section is diverse and emanates from distinct locations. All your nostalgic childhood memories, the relishing moments and tragic events that you have faced in life and the fundamental concepts that are embedded in your mind are actually stored in the long-term memory. It also comprises of all your ambitious future plans and is considered as the repository for your knowledge about skills and expertise. The long-term memory is a dynamic system which constantly modifies the available information and makes it updated based on the new information acquired. It has an unlimited capacity as we know that human beings are always capable of learning more and more with no upper limits. Long-term memory mostly encodes the information in semantic and visual form and at times it uses the mode of acoustic. The multiple-store model has some serious flaws in its structure. As the model assumed that the information passes through sequential phases; on the contrary it is highly unfeasible that the information progresses in such a manner. Eysenck and Keane (1995) believed that this model is over-simplified and inflexible as it assumes that each storage area functions as an individual and isolated unit. Critics of multiple-store model say that human brain performs several functions simultaneously in parallel therefore all components interact with each other. The model places too much emphasis on the size of information rather then spotlighting on the nature of the information. We know that some of the things are more captivating, enthralling, distinctive and conspicuous than the others therefore we remember and retain them more as compared to others. The model does not account on the essential nature of the information. The multiple-store theory also proposed that information can be transferred from short term to long term memory through the process of rote rehearsal which has been severely criticized as there is no prove that rehearsal guarantees the retention of information in long-term memory. The model had another unrealistic assumption as it presumed that entrance of information activates the learning process. In fact, merely holding information does not signify that learning is taking place. The learning process hinges on the intensity of processing that an item underwent. This concept is emphasized in the levels-of-processing framework put forward by Craik & Lockhart (1972). Craik and Lockhart rejected the notion of separate memory systems in their framework and believed that the incoming information proceeded through a variety of processing operations. This model suggested that the probability for recall of information was related to the magnitude or depth through which information was processed. This framework takes into account the impact of differential processing on the retention of information. It assumes that shallow processing will engender fragile and short-term retention, whereas in-depth processing will ensure enduring and long lasting retention. The better it processes, higher are the chances of retention. The deepest level of processing involves coding the information in terms of its semantic meaning. For instance, if you note the visual characteristic of a word with an upper or lower case than low level of learning will take place. However, if you make a decision about meaning of the word through your acumen and past experience than greater learning will take place. Evidences indicate that linking information with prior knowledge is far better retained than the one which receives perfunctory analysis. The theorists of this model also differentiated between different types of rehearsal. They identified that simply rehearsing material by rote repetition, as it was mentioned in the multiple-store model, is called maintenance rehearsal and is deemed as shallow processing. It is different from elaborative rehearsal in which the subject makes links to semantic associations. As multiple-store model assumed that short-term and long-term memory act as unitary stores, it was not justified and criticized for its assumption. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) conducted several studies and there results were incompatible with this assumption. Baddeley & Hitch proposed that the concept of a simple unitary short-term memory can be replaced by a more flexible and dynamic system known as working memory. Working memory in its simplest terms can be thought of as the desktop of the brain. It is the linchpin of the memory and holds the information which is being manipulated. Based on their experiments, Baddeley and their fellow members identified that working memory consists of several components comprising of a central executive and slave-systems which can work independently of one another. The central executive also known as attention controller is the most vital component of the model as it controls and coordinates the operations of the slave-systems. It plays the central role in planning and synthesizing information from the slave-systems and as well as the long-term memory. The slave systems consist of a phonological loop and visuo-spatial scratchpad. The phonological loop can store finite number of sounds for short periods and it consists of two components. One component is the phonological which stores auditory inputs coded in terms of acoustic characteristics and it is also concerned with speech perception. The other component is the articulatory control system, which stores verbal information of the items stored in the phonological store. The visuo-spatial scratchpad holds visual and spatial information. The working memory can be explained via an example. Suppose if someone asks you that how many chairs are there in your home. Like most of the people you will conjure up mental images of the chairs placed at different locations in your home. The images will be built and manipulated in your visuo-spatial scratch pad and the phonological loop will hold the running total of the chairs as you count down them sub-vocally. Central executive will monitor and control all the operations and it will allocate the tasks and point out when the final total has been calculated. Cognitive psychology has made a significant contribution in understanding and comprehending the human memory. Psychological patients are being examined on the basis of the theories formulated and these abstractions have various implications on the human life. Nevertheless, researches are still being conducted to dig up new information to make a better apprehension of the notion of memory. Bibliography Atkinson, R. C. and Shiffrin 1968, ‘Human memory: a proposed system and its control processes’, The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory , vol. 2, pp. 89-195. Baddeley, A. D. and Hitch, G. J. 1974, ‘Working memory; In G.A. Bower (ed.)’, Recent Advances in Learning and Motivation, vol. 8, pp. 47–89 Baddeley, A. D. 1988, Human Memory: Theory and Practice Craik, F. I. M. and Lockhart, R. S. 1972, ‘Levels of processing: a framework for memory research’, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, vol. 11, pp. 671–684. Eysenck, M. W. & Keane, M. T. 1995, Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook New Jersey: Erlbaum. Miller, G.A. 1956, The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, vol. 63, pp. 81–97. Read More