memory and information processing

• For computer information is input through a keyboard or external devices.

  For humans information is input through our senses
• The five main senses are:

  • Sight
  • Hearing
  • Touch
  • Taste
  • Smell
• We unconsciously or deliberately store some sensory information, The process requires encoding the sensory input into an electrochemical memory trace that could be stored in the brain
• When the information is encoded the memory system can store memory trace for a few seconds or an entire life time
• Humans have no conscious control over how memory is stored unlike computers
• Three ways of encoding information to be used by our memory system

  • Acoustic encoding
  • Visual encoding
  • Semantic encoding
• Acoustic encoding


  Holding sound information
• Visual encoding


  Holding images
• Semantic encoding


  Holding the meaning of information
• Humans output is a behaviour that is produced. For memory the output in stored information we retrieve (known as retrieval)
• Processing


  The operations we perform on sensory information in the brain
• Input


  For humans memory, this refers to the sensory information we receive from our environment
• Storage


  The retention of information in our memory system
• Encoding


  Turning sensory information into a form thar can be used and stored by the brain
• Output


  For memory, this refers to the information we recall; in the broader sense, output can refer to behavioural response
• Retrieval 


  The recall of stored memories