How Memory Works

 

Short-term memory contains information that we are actively using. If you wish to phone someone and you don't know the number, you might look it up in a telephone directory, find and write down the number. But, what if you don't have pen or paper handy? You might try repeating the number in your head, "saying" the number silently to yourself, maybe even out loud (energizing “acoustical” memory.) You then pick up the phone and dial the number (seven digits is what most people can remember). However, if the number is busy, and you cannot make a connection, what will happen to this "memorized" phone number?. The chances are great that 5 minutes later the phone number will be lost from your memory. If you don't have a re-dial button on your phone or if someone used the phone since your previous call, you'll have to look it up again! This is because anything stored in your short-term memory usually stays less than a minute unless there is repetition or rehearsal! However, as you will learn later, you can convert the telephone number into a mental image and retain it for as long as you like.

In order for the information to be stored in long-term memory, it must be processed or manipulated. This process is known as encoding. The more meaningful the encoding, the better the material will be remembered. There are different ways to encode information in working or short-term memory.

Acoustic coding — remembering information by how it sounds. This is the most commonly used type of coding for short-term memory. It is often the way you remember a phone number after looking it up. You can almost hear yourself saying the numbers, even if you aren't talking out loud. This silent repeating of information in your head is called rehearsal or sequential repetition. This method is boring and is not efficient for long-term retention.

Visual coding (using imagery) — remembering information by its visual characteristics An example of this is remembering a telephone number by visualizing the numbers on the key pad.

Semantic coding — remembering something by its meaning. This is what many actors use when they first review a script that they have to memorize

When the information is in short-term memory, it can either be discarded or it can be encoded into long-term memory. There are many different ways to encode something into your long-term memory, though.some are more effective than others. Shallow Processing (Maintenance Rehearsal) — this keeps information in short term, long enough to evaluate content. Examples: reading, repeating phone number.

Deep Processing (Elaborate Rehearsal) — Required for transferring information from short-term to long-term memory. One must evaluate the material in a more meaningful or more detailed fashion than in shallow processing. Examples: understanding the emotion and the reasoning behind a character's lines in a play, writing a literary critique of the work you just read or understanding the pathophysiology of a disease.

As you will shortly find out you can also convert information into a mental video. This material must then be reviewed a day later, again a few days later and a week later to ensure that it is permanently retained.

Organization — Finding organization in what you need to memorize is often critical to understand the information. For example, if you can group information into categories, your brain will process the information in more depth. You add meaning to what you are learning by making a judgment about the nature of the information. In some cases, you are integrating the new knowledge with information you already know. This can be very helpful.

Mental Imagery (or mental visualization) is an extremely effective way to retain material. The more vivid or startling you can make the mental picture, the more likely you are to remember whatever it is you are trying to remember. Once one has created images these can be linked together to form mental videos. Imagery is an integral part of mnemonic devices, such as the peg system and the method of loci which is also known as the Roman Room. These are covered in great detail in the next few pages.

Please click here to proceed to the Linking section.