What makes certain details of daily life stick in memory and others escape notice? Even though the brain is often likened to a sponge soaking up sensory information, according to Patricia Wolfe in her 2001 book published by the Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development titled Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice, what the brain does with the enormous amount of sensory input it receives each moment is more like a sieve.
Wolfe points out that by some estimates, 99 percent of all sensory information is almost immediately discarded as soon as it enters the brain. What ends up sifting through the senses and remaining in memory primarily depends on a complex system of storage and cognitive processing that occurs in the brain during memory development. A cognitive process called encoding is responsible for turning what is seen, heard, felt, tasted or thought into memory and is a critical step in one's ability to remember life’s experiences.
One Model for Describing the Storage and Processing of Memory
The simplest model of how memory works is divided into three storage places and three cognitive processes. How the brain stores memory is typically described by the amount of time the experience is held. The three memory stores are referred to as sensory, short-term (or working) memory and long-term memory.
The way an experience or thought travels from a fleeting sensory flash to a durable memory depends on the amount of attention it receives when entering awareness. A more in-depth discussion of the memory stores can be found in the Suite101 article How Memory Works: Sensory, Short-Term and Long-Term Memory Development.
Encoding Occurs When Attention Applied
Psychologists describe the basic cognitive processes that are performed on experiences to turn them into memory as encoding, maintenance and retrieval.
When attention is paid to an experience rather than allowing it to pass through the senses unnoticed, one either begins to repeat or rehearse the information (mentally or vocally) to retain it in short-term memory, or engages in a process that elaborates and associates the data with something already existing in memory. These two types of encoding are referred to as shallow encoding and elaborative encoding.
Shallow Encoding is a Function of Short-Term Memory
Trying to remember a phone number by repeating it again and again allows an individual to store the information for a very short time because it uses a part of the brain called the phonological loop.
This brain mechanism is only designed for short-term storage. In order to create a lasting memory of some piece of information, a more elaborate cognitive process must be applied to the data.
Elaborative Encoding Connects New with Existing Information
The act of processing thought and experience into deeper storage within the memory system is called elaborative encoding. Elaborative encoding helps store new information for future retrieval by creating an association, link or connection with knowledge already existing in memory.
Adding meaning to a piece of data, like associating a series of numbers like 0416 with someone whose birthday is on April 16, facilitates remembering the information because it can be accessed by remembering the person, the birthday, the date, or even a specific occurrence on that date.
Context Plays a Role in Encoding
Environmental, cognitive and emotional context play a role in elaborative encoding as well. Memory experts like Harvard Professor Daniel Schacter, author of Searching for Memory published by Basic Books in 1996 points out that memories are “…complex constructions built from multiple contributors…”
Schacter uses the analogy of a paleontologist reconstructing a dinosaur from fragments of bone to describe the way elaborative encoding tucks pieces of data away to be reassembled later as memory.
Using attention, visualization and mnemonic devices to more elaborately encode an experience or data can help develop richer, more vivid memories by creating more ways of retrieving those memories later. Strengthening elaborative encoding processes is the basis for most memory-improvement techniques that have been used since ancient Greece.
Given that the brain discards the majority of data it receives daily, understanding how the brain processes the information it does retain can be helpful in managing learning and memory. By realizing that the encoding process encourages short-term memory to “stick” in long-term memory by introducing meaning and attaching emotional, sensory or contextual elements, it’s easy to see how this multi-faceted network of associations provides the brain with more options for finding a memory.
And while significantly reducing the number of experiences that pass through the brain “sieve” each day may not be entirely possible, applying attention, rehearsing and then associating what happens with something meaningful or important can help one choose, organize and store the new information so that it is less likely to be forgotten.
Sources:
Schacter, Daniel L. Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind, and the Past. NY: BasicBooks,1996.
Wolfe, Pat. Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice. Alexandria: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2001.
"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. 27 Jun. 2009.
“Memory Expansion Channel.” Brain Channels.com. n.d. Web. 27 Jun. 2009.
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