How Memory Works

Memory

• Retention of information over time
  1. encoding
  2. storage
  3. retrieval
• Flow of information through a system of processors
  1. Sensory memory
  2. Short term memory
  3. Long term memory

Sensory Memory

• Information from outside world are held in sensory form (visual, audio etc.); no longer than a second or several seconds
• Information to which we pay attention is transferred to short term memory

Short Term Memory

• Limited capacity
• Duration: information is retained for a short period of time (30s) unless rehearsed and processed further
• “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two” by George Miller (1956)
• On average, adults can retain7+ digits
• Memory span (the number of digits a person can report back without error)

Long-Term  Memory

• Duration: practically permanent
• Capacity: practically unlimited
• Procedural (implicit): knowledge about procedures that are unconscious, e.g., riding a bike, tying a shoe
• Declarative(explicit)
  • episodic (memory for events, e.g., what you had for breakfast this morning)
  • semantic(memory of general knowledge)

Retrieval

• Can be automatic or requires effort

• Encoding specificity principle

Creating effective cues

• Associations formed at the time of encoding or learning tend to be effective retrieval cues
• Short answer or essay questions require recall of previously learned information
• Multiple choice tests can provide retrieval cues to “recognize” information

Forgetting

• Cue dependent forgetting – lack of effective retrieval cues; it goes back to specificity of encoding
• Interference theory – other information gets in the way of what we are trying to remember
• Decaytheory– the passage of time is responsible for forgetting

• Santrock, J. W. (2009). Educational Psychology (4th ed.). New York: McGraw.