How Memory is Collected and Stored
Sensory, Short-Term and Long-Term Memory Development
What turns an experience into a memory? Cognitive scientists often describe the human memory system as an information filing mechanism. Data comes in; the brain encodes it, stores it and then retrieves it when prompted.
Contrary to the simplistic view this description unintentionally implies and the fact that many people accept memory as just an archive of stored data, memory is really a complex construction of experience and thought pulled from many sources that science is just beginning to understand.
While there is some variation among scientists in explaining how the brain collects and stores memory, according to The Brain From Top to Bottom, a website published by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Institute of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction, one generally accepted model classifies memory according to the duration of retention. This method of classification divides memory into three distinct systems — sensory memory, short-term (or working memory) and long-term memory.
Sensory Memory is Unconscious and Fleeting
Stimuli that enters through the senses is either ignored or perceived, and the term sensory memory refers to the split second in which the senses become aware of the sight, sound, smell, taste or feel of some experience.
Sensory memory does not require any conscious attention, and is often classified as part of the perception process, but is an important first step in the memory process.
Short-Term/Working Memory Is Characterized by Attention and Cognitive Processes
If attention is paid to the sensory memories that enter perception, sensory memory moves into the short-term memory system. Short-term memory records a limited number of items for a time period of a few seconds to a minute. The common idea however, that short-term memory is simply a holding area for experiences to be transferred to long-term memory has been replaced by theories that “short-term memory” describes the duration of a memory while in this portion of the brain, but the term “working memory" best describes the attentional control that is placed on the experience when it enters this phase.
Working memory allows cognitive processes to be performed on data that is briefly stored in short-term memory, such as applying instructions to numbers to do math problems, repeating sequences, translating languages or even more complex procedures involved in activities like driving a car.
Long-Term Memory Integrates Old and New Memories
Long-term memory can last days, months or years, and is made up of short and long-term facts. In order for memory to move from temporary to long-term storage, a process described by Daniel Schacter in his 1996 book searching for memory from BasicBooks as elaborative encoding must take place.
Elaborative encoding creates a more durable memory by associating it with information that already exists in memory. Encoding occurs in a number of ways, primarily through cognitive, emotional and environmental associations, and is the brain’s way of organizing experiences so they can be retrieved and used again at a later date.
Understanding how memory works starts with understanding the systems in the brain that develop memory. While scientists often use the duration of memory retention as a framework for describing how a memory goes from a flash of perception (sensory memory) to temporary storage(short-term/working memory) and then to a fully encoded memory (long-term) that can be accessed for longer periods of time, the cognitive functions that occur while experience and thought pass from one memory system to another are also a vital aspect of memory development.
As science learns more about memory and the brain, the idea that memory is simply a storehouse of snapshots and data is evolving into a deeper understanding of memory as a complex system of perception, cognition, encoding and retrieval that moves through distinct phases of processing.
References:
Schacter, Daniel L. searching for memory: the brain, the mind, and the past. NY: BasicBooks,1996.
"Memory and Learning." The Brain from Top to Bottom. Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Institute of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction. n.d. Web. 13 Jun. 2009.
Memories are More than Snapshots
|
What do you think about this article?
Latest Articles