memory psychology

• Cognitive psychologist approach


  Interested in internal mental processes - how we think, perceive the world, and how our memories are formed
• Cognitive psychologists


  • Test ideas scientifically
  • Research often takes place in a lab under controlled conditions
  • Controlling for extraneous variables to establish causal effect
• Cognitive psychology research in a lab compromises the ecological validity of some of the results
• Stages of information processing

  • Input
  • Encoding
  • Storage
  • Retrieval
  • Output
• Information processing


  1. Input

  2. Encoding

  3. Storage

  4. Retrieval

  5. Output
• Input


  Information enters the brain through the body's senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
• Encoding


  Information is changed from one format to another
• Storage


  Information is held in the brain so it can be retrieved later
• Retrieval


  Information is recalled from memory
• Output


  The information retrieved is used in some way, e.g. saying someone's name, writing something down, performing an action
• Applying information processing to memorizing information read

  • Visual input (words on paper)
  • Encoding (light waves changed to nerve/electrical impulses)
  • Storage (words held in brain)
  • Retrieval (words recalled for test)
  • Output (writing words in exercise book)
• When applying the 5-step information processing to an example, use specific terms relevant to the context