1

HUMAN MEMORY
Both Aristotle and Plato compared memory to a block of wax
that differed in size and hardness for various individuals. According to
this analogy, remembering was like stamping an impression into the
wax. As long as long the image remained in the wax, the memory would
remain intact. Current theories of memory reflect the technological
advances of the 20th century. Many modern theories draw an analogy
between information storage by computers and information storage in
human memory. There are three key processes involved in memory:
encoding, (getting information in), storage (maintaining), and retrieval
(getting it out).

Encoding involves forming a memory code and that requires attention.

Storage involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time.

Retrieval involves recovering information from memory stores.

Encoding: getting information into memory

Encoding requires attention. Attention involves focusing awareness

on a narrowed range of stimuli or events. According levels of processing
theory, there are three levels of encoding namely, structural, phonemic and
semantic encoding.

Structural encoding focuses on the physical structure of the stimulus.

For example, if words are flashed on a screen structural encoding
registers such things as how they were printed (capital, lowercase, and
so on) or the length of the words (how many letters).

The phonemic encoding, which emphasizes what a word sounds like.

Phonemic encoding involves naming or saying (perhaps silently) the
words.

Semantic encoding involves thinking about the objects and actions the
words represent.

K. Veerapandian
Consultant Psychologist
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Thus, levels of processing theory propose that deeper levels of

processing result in longer – lasting memory codes. Other than levels of
processing theory there are other methods also to enrich encoding. They are
elaboration, visual imagery, self – referent encoding.

9 Elaboration is linking a new stimulus to other information you already

know at the time of encoding.

9 Visual imagery – the creation of visual images to represent the words to

be remembered can also be used to enrich encoding.

9 Self – referent encoding involves deciding how or whether information is

personally relevant.

Storage: maintaining information in memory

The information – processing model of memory holds that there

are three memory stores: a sensory store, short – term store, and a long –
term store. The following diagram of memory model was contributed by
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968, 1971). According to Atkinson
and Shiffrin model, incoming information must pass through two temporary
storage buffers (the sensory and short – term stores) before it can be
transferred into long-term storage.

Figure shows Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory

1. Sensory 2. Working (short 3. Long – term

memory -term) memory memory

Information
Iconic Articulatory Visuo-spatial
organized into:
memory & Rehearsal sketch 1. Categories
Echoic Loop Pad
2. Conceptual
memory Elaborative hierarchies
rehearsal
3. Semantic
Sensory input
networks
4. Schemas
Executive control 5. Scripts
Attention system Retrieval

K. Veerapandian
Consultant Psychologist
 3

Sensory memory

The sensory memory preserves information in its original sensory

form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second. Sensory memory
allows the sensation of a visual pattern, sound, or touch to stay for a brief
moment after the sensory stimulation is over. This type of memory can be
called as echoic memory or iconic memory.

Short – term memory

Short – term memory (STM) is a limited capacity store that can

maintain unrehearsed information for about 20 to 30 seconds. Actually, you
can maintain information in your short – term store for longer than 30
seconds, by primarily engaging in rehearsal. Rehearsal is the process of
repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information. Without rehearsal,
information in short – term memory quickly decays with the passage of time.
And the capacity of STM was very well pointed by George Miller as the
magical number seven, plus or minus two (7+ or -2).

Short – term memory can hold five to nine of information at a

given time. When it is filled to its capacity the insertion of new information
often displaces some of the information currently in STM. At the same time,
the capacity of STM can be increased by a process called chunking. A chunk
is a group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit. For example, the
sequence of twelve letters given below if it is grouped or chunked it can be
remembered successfully in STM.

FB- TWI-AC-IAIB-M (or)

FBI – TWA – CIA – IBM

Among other things, Baddley (1976, 1989) pointed out that STM is
the working memory as it consists of three components. The first is the
rehearsal loop which helps us to recite the new information. The second
component in working memory is a visuospatial sketchpad that permits
people to temporarily hold and manipulate visual images. The third
component is an executive control system. It handles the limited amount of
information that people can juggle at one time as they engage in reasoning
and decision making.

K. Veerapandian
Consultant Psychologist
 4

Long – term memory

Long –term memory (LTM) is an unlimited capacity store that can

hold information over lengthy periods of time. Unlike sensory and short-term
memories, which decay rapidly, LTM can store information indefinitely.
Long-term memories are durable. Some information may remain in LTM
across an entire lifetime. How information is transferred into long-term
memory? Through rehearsal the information is transferred into the long-
term memory. Rehearsal can be distinguished into two types, maintenance
rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal.

Maintenance rehearsal is simple recitation that keeps new information

recycling.

Elaborative rehearsal involves deeper processing that focuses on the

meaning of new information.

Information is more likely to be transferred into long-term memory

through elaborative rehearsal than through maintenance rehearsal. Usually,
LTM uses organization principles to store vast amount of information.

The organizational structures include the following principles.

Clustering
Conceptual hierarchy
Semantic networks
Schemas and scripts

i. Clustering - is the tendency to remember similar or related items in

groups.

ii. Conceptual hierarchy – is a multilevel classification system based on

common properties among items.

iii. Semantic networks – consists of nodes representing concepts, joined

together by pathways that link related concepts.

K. Veerapandian
Consultant Psychologist
 5

iv. Schemas and scripts – schema is an organized cluster of knowledge

about a particular object or event abstracted from previous experience
with the object or event.

v. A script organizes what people know about common activities.

Retrieval: getting information out of memory

Some time we fail to recall an incident or information even

though we surely know that information, this is called as tip-of-the-tongue
phenomenon. Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is the temporary inability to
remember something you know accompanied by a feeling that it is just out of
reach. Most of us experience this temporary frustration at least once in a
week, the reason for this is the absence or non-availability of retrieval cues.
So, to bring the information back from LTM, we use retrieval cues. Retrieval
cues are the stimuli that help gain access to memories. This is otherwise
known as cue-dependent memory. Another notable retrieval process is
known as state-dependent memory. State-dependent memory is improved
recall that is attributed to being in the same emotional state during encoding
and subsequent retrieval.

Conclusion
Thus, the three memory stores are not viewed as anatomical structures in the
brain, but rather as functionally distinct types of memory.

K. Veerapandian
Consultant Psychologist