Memory Stages: Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval

Definition of Memory

• Memory is the process of maintaining information over time, drawing on past experiences to use information in the present (Matlin, 2005; Sternberg, 1999).
• Involves structures and processes for storing and retrieving information.
• Essential for functioning in daily life, learning, and planning for the future.

Aspects of Information Processing

• Memory deals with:
  • Encoding: Changing information into a storable format.
  • Storage: Nature of memory stores, duration, capacity, and type of information.
  • Retrieval: Accessing stored information.

Encoding

• Information needs to be encoded to be stored.
• Methods of encoding:
  1. Visual (picture)
  2. Acoustic (sound)
  3. Semantic (meaning)
• Short-term memory (STM) primarily uses acoustic coding.
  • Rehearsal helps retain information in STM.
• Long-term memory (LTM) uses semantic coding but can also encode visually and acoustically.

Storage

• Focus on how information is stored, including duration and capacity.
• Short-Term Memory (STM):
  • Capacity: 5-9 items (Miller's "magic number 7").
  • Duration: 0-30 seconds.
  • Capacity can be increased by chunking information.
• Long-Term Memory (LTM):
  • Capacity: Unlimited.
  • Duration: Potentially a lifetime.

Retrieval

• Process of accessing stored information.
• STM Retrieval: Sequentially, based on order of input.
• LTM Retrieval: By association, aiding in recalling context (e.g., remembering tasks when in the original context).
• Organizing information can help retrieval (e.g., sequences by time, size, alphabetical order).

Criticisms of Memory Experiments

• Many memory studies are criticized for low ecological validity due to artificial lab settings.
• Concerns include unrealistic settings and tasks that don't reflect daily life memory use.
• Ecological validity determines if study findings can be generalized to real-life settings.
• Artificial tasks (e.g., recalling unconnected words) may not relate to everyday memory usage.

References

• Matlin, M. W. (2005). Cognition.
• Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review.
• Sternberg, R. J. (1999). Cognitive psychology (2nd ed.).