Memory
Definition = memory is both a ‘place’ and a ‘process’. It is an active system that receives information from the
senses, converts that information into a usable form, organises it as it stores it away and then retrieves the
information from storage.
“Memory is the chain that connects our past to our present.”
Three processes of memory:
1. Input and encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval
1. Encoding = set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that
information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems.
2. The process of storage depends on which system the person is using e.g. short-term or long-term.
3. Retrieval = getting the information out of storage.
Models of memory:
Information-processing model:
Focus: the way information is processed through three different systems of memory.
Assumption: the length of time that a memory will be remembered depends on the stage of memory in
which it is stored.
Parallel-distributed processing model:
Sees memory as a simultaneous process, with the creation of storage of memories taking place across a
series of mental networks ‘stretched’ across the brain.
Allows people to retrieve many different aspects of memory all at once.
Levels-of-processing model:
Believes that a memory’s duration depends on the depth to which the information is processed or
encoded.
Three levels: perceptual processing (shallow level), phonemic processing and deep processing (deeper
level).
Perceptual (visual analysis) – Phonemic (auditory analysis) – Deep processing (semantic analysis).
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Definition = memory is both a ‘place’ and a ‘process’. It is an active system that receives information from the
senses, converts that information into a usable form, organises it as it stores it away and then retrieves the
information from storage.
“Memory is the chain that connects our past to our present.”
Three processes of memory:
1. Input and encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval
1. Encoding = set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that
information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems.
2. The process of storage depends on which system the person is using e.g. short-term or long-term.
3. Retrieval = getting the information out of storage.
Models of memory:
Information-processing model:
Focus: the way information is processed through three different systems of memory.
Assumption: the length of time that a memory will be remembered depends on the stage of memory in
which it is stored.
Parallel-distributed processing model:
Sees memory as a simultaneous process, with the creation of storage of memories taking place across a
series of mental networks ‘stretched’ across the brain.
Allows people to retrieve many different aspects of memory all at once.
Levels-of-processing model:
Believes that a memory’s duration depends on the depth to which the information is processed or
encoded.
Three levels: perceptual processing (shallow level), phonemic processing and deep processing (deeper
level).
Perceptual (visual analysis) – Phonemic (auditory analysis) – Deep processing (semantic analysis).
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