Memory P1

• 3 processes of memory are: encoding, storage, retrieval


  Encoding - information being translated into a form to be held in the brain.

  Storage - the period of time information is kept in the brain.

  Retrieval - information being located and brought back out of the brain.
• Types of encoding: visual, acoustic, semantic


  Visual - things we see are encoded visually.

  Acoustic - things we hear are encoded acoustically.

  Semantic - the ability to understand and use words and concepts.
• Mnemonic - memory trick that relies on making meaningful associations
• You can retrieve memory by: recognition, cued recall, free recall


  Recogniton - being able to identify something/someone that was known to you previously

  Cued recall - being given a clue to help you remember something

  Free recall - retrieving information without any cues
• Long term memory types: episodic, semantic, procedural


  Episodic - memories for events/episodes of your life

  Semantic - memories for meanings of everything you know

  Procedural - remembering how to do things
• Amnesia - a partial or total loss of memory, usually to do with brain damage
• Pre-frontal cortex:

  • Located behind the forehead, the brain's control centre
  • Role: being able to recall memories
  • Stores episodic and semantic memory
• Hippocampus:

  • Located in the middle of the brain, horseshoe shaped
  • Role: involved in making new memories
  • Stores semantic and autobiographical memory
• Cerebellum:

  • Located at the back of the skull
  • Role: involved in learning sequences of movements
  • Stores procedural memory
• Coding - refers to the format in which information is stored in various memory stores
• Factors affecting memory: culture, interference, context, false memories
• Effort after meaning - focusing on the meaning of event, then after, making an effort to interpret the meaning in more familliar terms.
• Culture - the beliefs and expectations that surround us
• Reconstructive memory - fragments of stored information are reassembled during recall
• Interference - forgetting may occur if two memories compete with each other
• Context - the situation in which something happens and can act as a cue to recall information