MEMORY AND MEMORY PROCESSES

Asma Kanwal
Lecturer
Department Of Computer Science
GC University Lahore
MEMORY AND MEMORY PROCESSES

Memory: Active system that stores, organizes, alters, and recovers (retrieves) information

 Encoding--transforming information into a form that can be entered and retained in the memory system
 Storage--retaining information in memory so that it can be used at a later time
 Retrieval--recovering information stored in memory so that we are consciously aware of it
MEMORY MODEL
TYPES OF PROCESSING

 Automatic processing: memory processing that occurs subconsciously and does not require attention.
 Effortful processing: memory processing that occurs consciously and requires attention
TYPES OF ENCODING

 Visual Encoding- Visual encoding is the process of encoding images and visual sensory information. This means
that people can convert the new information that they stored into mental pictures.
 Elaborative Encoding- Elaborative Encoding is the process of actively relating new information to knowledge
that is already in memory.
 Acoustic Encoding- Acoustic encoding is the encoding of auditory impulses.
 Tactile Encoding- Tactile encoding is the processing and encoding of how something feels, normally through
touch.
 Semantic Encoding- Semantic encoding is the processing and encoding of sensory input that has particular
meaning or can be applied to a context. Various strategies can be applied such as chunking and mnemonics to aid
in encoding.
STORAGE

Sensory Memory
 Capacity—large
 can hold many items at once
Short Term Memory
 Capacity—limited (holds 7+/-2 items)

Long Term Memory

 Undefined
RETRIEVAL

 Recall: a measure of long-term memory retrieval that requires the reproduction of the information with
essentially no retrieval cues.
 Cued recall: test of LTM that involves remembering an item of information in response to a retrieval cue

 Recognition: a measure of long-term memory retrieval that only requires the identification of the information in
the presence of retrieval cues.
 Relearning: the savings method of measuring long-term memory retrieval, in which the measure is the amount of
time saved when learning information for the second time.
 Serial position effect: tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of a list better than items in the
middle
HOW ARE MEMORIES ORGANIZED?
Clustering- Organizing items into related groups during recall from long-term memory
SEMANTIC NETWORK MODEL

 Mental links between concepts

 common properties provide basis for mental link

 Shorter path between two concepts = stronger association in memory
 Activation of a concept starts decremental spread of activity to nearby concepts
SEMANTIC NETWORK MODEL

Car Bus
Truck Fire
House
Engine
Fire
Ambulance
Red Hot Stove
Rose
Apple Cherry Pot Pan
Violet
Flower
Pear Pie
WHY WE DO FORGETTING?

Sensory memory
The senses momentarily register
amazing detail

Forgetting can occur at any

Short-term memory memory stage
A few items are both noticed
and encoded

Long-term storage
Some items are altered or lost

Retrieval from long-term memory

Depending on interference, retrieval
cues, moods, and motives, some
things get retrieved, some don’t
FORGETTING AS RETRIEVAL FAILURE

 Retrieval—process of accessing stored information

 Sometimes info is encoded into LTM, but we can’t retrieve it

Encoding
Short-term Long-term
memory memory

X
Retrieval

Retrieval failure
leads to forgetting
FORGETTING AS ENCODING FAILURE

 Info never encoded into LTM

Short-term X
Encoding Long-term
memory memory

Encoding failure
leads to forgetting