Question

Memory Chapters (5-7) What is memory? How does it work? Why is it important? What are its uses and functions? Try to generate answers and explanations to these questions ustng the concepts we discussed in lecture and in the book (and listed below). Thinking about and eaxplaining answers to general questions such as these can help you identify what you know and understand and what you do not. It can help you organize the concepts, elaborate on them, and relate them to one another. You can also ask the same questions about any spectfic concept-try it! Know the general structure (parts) of memory: sensory, short-term memory, working memory: phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory . Be able to differentiate between these structures (e.g., what are the differences in the type of content processed by sensory and short-term memory? hint -perceptual, semantics, or both). How do various memory processes relate to these structures? (e.g, maintenance rehearsal's relation to short-term memory; o o elaborative rehearsal's relation to long-term memory; etc.)

Answer 1

• Memory is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the storage and subsequent retrieval of information.
• Memory is essential to all our lives. Without a memory of the past, we cannot operate in the present or think about the future. We would not be able to remember what we did yesterday, what we have done today or what we plan to do tomorrow. Without memory, we could not learn anything.
• Memory is involved in processing vast amounts of information. This information takes many different forms, e.g. images, sounds or meaning.
• ENCODING:-When information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it needs to be changed into a form that the system can cope with, so that it can be stored.
• For example, a word which is seen (in a book) may be stored if it is changed (encoded) into a sound or a meaning (i.e. semantic processing).
• There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed):
• 1. Visual (picture)
• 2. Acoustic (sound)
• 3. Semantic (meaning)
• For example, how do you remember a telephone number you have looked up in the phone book? If you can see it then you are using visual coding, but if you are repeating it to yourself you are using acoustic coding (by sound).
• Evidence suggests that this is the principle coding system in short-term memory (STM) is acoustic coding. When a person is presented with a list of numbers and letters, they will try to hold them in STM by rehearsing them (verbally).
• The principle encoding system in long-term memory (LTM) appears to be semantic coding (by meaning). However, information in LTM can also be coded both visually and acoustically.
• STORAGE:-This concerns the nature of memory stores, i.e., where the information is stored, how long the memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at any time (capacity) and what kind of information is held.
• The way we store information affects the way we retrieve it. There has been a significant amount of research regarding the differences between Short Term Memory (STM ) and Long Term Memory (LTM).
  
• Most adults can store between 5 and 9 items in their short-term memory. Miller (1956) put this idea forward and he called it the magic number 7. He though that short-term memory capacity was 7 (plus or minus 2) items because it only had a certain number of “slots” in which items could be stored.
• If we can “chunk” information together we can store a lot more information in our short-term memory. In contrast, the capacity of LTM is thought to be unlimited.Information can only be stored for a brief duration in STM (0-30 seconds), but LTM can last a lifetime
• RETRIEVAL:-This refers to getting information out storage. If we can’t remember something, it may be because we are unable to retrieve it. When we are asked to retrieve something from memory, the differences between STM and LTM become very clear.
• STM is stored and retrieved sequentially. For example, if a group of participants are given a list of words to remember, and then asked to recall the fourth word on the list, participants go through the list in the order they heard it in order to retrieve the information.
• LTM is stored and retrieved by association. This is why you can remember what you went upstairs for if you go back to the room where you first thought about it.
• Sensory Memory-The part of memory where any information is first registered is called Sensory Memory. Although sensory memory has a large capacity, it corresponds approximately to the initial 200-500 milliseconds after an item is perceived.
• A simple example of sensory memory is to look at an item, and remember what it looked like with just a second of observation, or memorization. Degradation of this kind of memory is remarkably quick, as this type of memory stores information as it senses, regardless of the body’s consciousness.
• Short-Term Memory-It’s a primary or active memory that is capable of holding small amount of information for a brief period of time. This form of memory is capable of storing information for 30 seconds or even less without rehearsal.
• Rehearsal and Chunking are two basic methods that can be used to prevent the eradication of information, and the information can be then switched from Short-Term Memory (STM) to Long-Term Memory.
• Maintenance rehearsal is just temporarily maintaining the new information in the short-term memory. It usually works by repetition.
• Elaborative rehearsal is exactly like its name suggests: a more elaborate, or complex, process. It involves using concepts that are already in your long-term memory to remember concepts that are only in your short-term memory.
• Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed the Working Memory Model (WMM), which focuses specifically on the workings of short-term memory (STM).
• It has been developed to directly challenge the concept of a single unitary store for short-term memories. The working memory model is based upon the findings of the dual-task study and suggests that there are four separate components to our working memory (STM).
• The most important component is the central executive; it is involved in problem solving/decision-making. It also controls attention and plays a major role in planning and synthesizing information, not only from the subsidiary systems but also from LTM.
• It is flexible and can process information from any modality, although it does have a limited storage capacity and so can attend to a limited number if things at one time.
• Another part of the working memory model is the phonological loop, it stores a limited number of speech-based sounds for brief periods. It is thought to consist of two components - the phonological store (inner ear) that allows acoustically coded items to be stored for a brief period and the articulatory control process (the inner voice) that allows sub-vocal repetition of the items stored in the phonological store.
• Another important component is the visuo-spatial sketch pad; it stores visual and spatial information and can be thought of as an inner eye. It is responsible for setting up and manipulating mental images.
• Like the phonological loop, it has limited capacity but the limits of the two systems are independent. In other words, it is possible, for example, to rehearse a set of digits in the phonological loop while simultaneously making decisions about the spatial layout of a set of letters in the visual spatial sketchpad.  
• Finally in 2000 Baddeley proposed an additional component, the episodic buffer. It is responsible for integrating & manipulating material; it has limited capacity and depends heavily on executive processing.
• It binds together information from different sources into chunks or episodes, hence the term ‘episodic’. One of its important functions is to recall material from LTM & integrate it into STM when working memory requires it (e.g. imagining an elephant ice-skating).
• Long-Term Memory-This form of memory is a memory store capable of storing large quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration.
• Basic idea of memory in a mass is usually mistaken with Long-Term Memory alone. Going deeper into the topic, there are different characteristics that affect the long term memory. A classic example of LTM is being able to remember incidents from our childhood.
• Due to time limit,any remaining questions can be asked as another question,they will be answered,thankyou for your cooperation