The Memory Process

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Recommended: Essay on long term and short term memory

The process of using memory is as natural as breathing yet there is a great deal of processing that occurs to keep us functioning properly. The journey information takes as it is processed into memories is complex and has many stages. This paper will look at concepts for short-term and long-term memory. The two concepts generally agreed upon as existing are short-term memory and long-term memory. As the names suggest, these stores will contain memories for a short period either of time, or on more of a long-term basis.

Long-term memory is the store of experiences and knowledge we gain through our lives. The store is thought to be unlimited in space and memories stored within it are much more durable than those stored in short term memory. Long-term memory is believed to store remembered information in episodic or semantic memories. Episodic memories would be those in which the individual remembers events. The sights and smells of Christmas, or remembering the events when he or she played a crucial role for a sports team would both be episodic. Semantic memories, on the other hand, would not have as much contextual information involved with them. A person’s memory of multiplication tables or the knowledge needed to drive a car would be semantic memories. By using both types of memory, we can store important moments in our lives in a vivid, way those memories that form our knowledge do not contain too much extraneous information (Terry, 2009).

The short-term memory store is in storage capacity and length of storage. Capable of storing a few characters for roughly fifteen seconds it allows us to investigate information we process and decide on its greater worth. Items like a phone number for a support line we may onl...

... middle of paper ...

...author. Over time, the author has discovered that when working to encode text based information there needs to be audible information in the background to allow better focus of the text-based material. In this test, the information that was successfully encoded was recalled easily.

By seeing the stages and segments involves in long-term and short-term memory it becomes easier to see how struggles can occur in encoding, processing, or storage of memories. As relatively easy as remembering may seem, it is quite an intricate process in the end.

Works Cited
Sarkar, S. (2007). Memory, Phonological Loop and Language Perception. Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/365065/memory_phonological_loop_and_language.html?cat=4

Terry, W. S. (2009). Learning and Memory: Basic Principles, Process and Procedures (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon

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