Memory Stages In Psychology Essay

628 Words2 Pages

Memory Stages
Valerie Foster
GS/110
March 20, 2014
Patrick Norman

The first stage of memory is the sensory memory. Sensory memory holds sights, sounds, smells, textures, and other sensory impressions for only a few seconds, and it operates on an unconscious level. (Zimbardo, P., & Johnson, R. (2013). Memory. In Psychology: Core Concepts With Dsm-5 Update (pp. 177-179). Pearson College Div.)This stage of memory is the shortest element of memory. Sensory memory has the ability to retain impressions of different sensory information. Sensory memory is the ultra-short term memory and it retains brief impressions of the sensory stimuli after the stimulus has ended. It holds the shortest impression of sensory information and even when the sensory system does not send information the sensory memory still holds the shortest impression. There are many different issues and characteristics of the sensory memory; it has a high capacity to form memory registration of visual data, and the information that’s stored is un-interpreted, and the it the visual information fades away after less than a second. In order to use the information in your sensory memory, you must encode the information quickly. The sensory memory is the hardest memory to grasp and most of what we sense is forgotten. Sensory memory allows the eye to have a larger field of vision by remembering images that your eye has already focused on. The sensory memory, in general, allows us to maintain incoming sensory information long enough for us to screen it and determine if it is important. (Zimbardo, P., & Johnson, R. (2013). Memory. In Psychology: Core Concepts With Dsm-5 Update (pp. 177-179). Pearson College Div.)
The second stage of memory is the working memory...

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...ormation that we know we'll need to use later, we try to memorize it by sending it to the long term compartment. Sometimes it stays there, and sometimes it dissolves. By understanding memory you will also know how you learn best. It will also help you to understand how your memory and how to make the best use of your memory. (How Memory Works. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://homeworktips.about.com/od/enhanceyourmemory/a/How-Memory-Works.htm)
Once we have learned something I believe that we will always remember it, we may forget about it at a certain time, but if we ever came across the information again, it will be retrieved from our long term memory. Just because we do not use all the information we learn it is still stored in your memory, so in all actuality we never really forget anything. If information isn’t stored in our memory then learning would be pointless.

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