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Decoding and Encoding of Memory

Memory involves the storage and retrieval of information from our senses. It is essential for living as it allows us to remember the past, function in the present, and plan for the future. There are three main aspects of information processing: encoding, where incoming information is converted into a storable form; storage, where information is held either in short-term memory for seconds or long-term memory potentially for life; and retrieval, the process of accessing stored information. Short-term memory can hold 5-9 items sequentially while long-term memory has unlimited capacity.

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Erwin James Grageda
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148 views

Decoding and Encoding of Memory

Memory involves the storage and retrieval of information from our senses. It is essential for living as it allows us to remember the past, function in the present, and plan for the future. There are three main aspects of information processing: encoding, where incoming information is converted into a storable form; storage, where information is held either in short-term memory for seconds or long-term memory potentially for life; and retrieval, the process of accessing stored information. Short-term memory can hold 5-9 items sequentially while long-term memory has unlimited capacity.

Uploaded by

Erwin James Grageda
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Memory is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the

storage and subsequent retrieval of information.


Memory is essential to all our lives. Without a memory of the past, we cannot
operate in the present or think about the future. We would not be able to
remember what we did yesterday, what we have done today or what we plan to
do tomorrow.  Without memory, we could not learn anything.
Memory is involved in processing vast amounts of information. This
information takes many different forms, e.g. images, sounds or meaning.
And there are three important aspects of information processing:

1. Memory Encoding
When information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it
needs to be changed into a form that the system can cope with, so that it can
be stored.
Think of this as similar to changing your money into a different currency when
you travel from one country to another.  For example, a word which is seen (in
a book) may be stored if it is changed (encoded) into a sound or a meaning
(i.e. semantic processing).
There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed):
1. Visual (picture)
2. Acoustic (sound)
3. Semantic (meaning)

2. Memory Storage
This concerns the nature of memory stores, i.e., where the information is
stored, how long the memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at
any time (capacity) and what kind of information is held.
The way we store information affects the way we retrieve it.  There has been a
significant amount of research regarding the differences between Short Term
Memory (STM ) and Long Term Memory (LTM).
Most adults can store between 5 and 9 items in their short-term memory. 
Miller (1956) put this idea forward and he called it the magic number 7.  He
though that short-term memory capacity was 7 (plus or minus 2) items
because it only had a certain number of “slots” in which items could be stored. 
However, Miller didn’t specify the amount of information that can be held in
each slot.  Indeed, if we can “chunk” information together we can store a lot
more information in our short-term memory.  In contrast, the capacity of LTM
is thought to be unlimited.
Information can only be stored for a brief duration in STM (0-30 seconds), but
LTM can last a lifetime.

3. Memory Retrieval
This refers to getting information out storage.  If the person remember
something, it may be because he or she are unable to retrieve it.  When the
person asked to retrieve something from memory, the differences between
STM and LTM become very clear.
STM is stored and retrieved sequentially.  For example, if a group of
participants are given a list of words to remember, and then asked to recall the
fourth word on the list, participants go through the list in the order they heard
it in order to retrieve the information.

McLeod, S. A. (2013, Aug 05). Stages of memory – encoding storage and retrieval. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/memory.html

Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some
limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63
(2): 81–97.

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