there is an underlying motivation
not to remember (especially for
episodic memories)
Suppression (deliberate)
(motivated forgetting) conscious
refusal to allow memories to occur
Repression (involuntary)
a psychological process which automatically
and unconsciously prevents emotionally
distressing memories from coming into our
conscious awareness
memory is present but no accessible
Decay Theory (biological theory)
the memory has
faded, or decayed,
through lack of use
memory trace fades if not revisited and renewed
Multi-store Model of Memory
(Atkinson-Shiffrin's) (Information
processing model)
Sensory Memory
a very brief memoy store.
Information enters this register
and is transferred to STM
Iconic Memory
visual sensory memory
Duration
0.3 seconds
Capacity
Unlimited
Form of encoding
Visual
Forgetting
Fades rapidly
Example of Iconic Memory
Waving a sparkler in the
dark and briefly
experiencing an afterimage
Echoic Memory
auditory (sound) sensory memory
Duration
3-4 seconds
Capacity
Unlimited
Forms of encoding
Acoustic
Forgetting
Fades
Example of Echoic Memory
Retaining the sounds of
words for long enough to
understand the whole word
or phrase that has been
spoken
Short-term Memory
a limited store of actively
conscious memory. Information
is then transfers to LTM
Capacity
5-9 pieces of information (7+-2)
Duration
12-13 seconds
Function
Holds information in
awareness for a short
period of time- long
enough to use for mental
tasks
Encoding
Mostly acoustic.
Attention and rehearsal
will help store
information in LTM
Forgetting
Displacement and interference. Possibility of decay.
Example
Remembering an
address long enough to
look it up in a street
directory
Maintenance Rehearsal
a strategy for keeping information in
short-term memory or for moving it into
long-term memory by simply repeating
information over and over, but not trying
to form meaningful connections
between the new information and other
information which is already in memory
Methods of Maintenance Rehearsal
Verbal (using words)
Example
- vocal (saying words out
loud) , sub-vocal (thinking
words silently to oneself)
Non-verbal (using visual or spatial information)
Example
Visualising (keep a pictorial image
in one's mind, muscular (imagining
how it feels to perform an action)
Chunking
grouping together of items that can be
remembered as a single group, for
example remembering phone numbers in
groups of digits; usually related to
increasing capacity of short-term memory
Long-term Memory
a store of information that is
virtually limitless in capacity. It
needs retrieval to bring back
into conscious awareness
stored in semantic networks
Duration
LTM lasts longer than sensory
memory and STM , but it is hard to
determine its exact duration
Capacity
Unlimited
Encoding
Elaborative rehearsal
giving meaning to information and linking it
to information already in long-term memory.
This is the process of encoding
Salience
personal relevance- a way to improve
encoding, storage and retrieval of material
Mnemonic devices
a form of elaborate rehearsal where the
information is connected to material already in
your long-term memory. This can include
visualisation, rhythm and rhyme
Memory
the mental capacity for retaining an
image, concept or knowledge when
the stimuli which created it no longer
exist in consciousness. Memory may
also refer to the storage system
which retains such images
Encoding
the process of putting information into a form which
will allow it to fit in with your personal storage
system
Storage
maintaining encoded information in a memory store
Retrieval
the process of getting information
back from long-term memory to be
used in working memory