Chapter 8: MEMORY

Memory is considered to be one of the most basic, important and complex cognitive systems
of human beings. We all have the ability of memory with the help of which we can remember
things, people, incidents, occasions, etc.

Definition of Memory: According to Tulving, “Memory is the means by which we draw on

our past experiences in order to use that information in the present. It is the structured system
of encoding, storage and retrieval of information.”

The mechanism of Memory consists of three stages: Encoding, Storage and Retrieval.

1.​ Encoding/Acquisition: Encoding means the process of registering information from

the environment with the help of our senses- visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and
tactile. This is the first and the most important stage as only the information registered
properly in this stage can be stored and further retrieved.
2.​ Storage: The information that is acquired by the senses properly further enters into
the storage system. Storage can be short-term or long-term depending upon several
aspects. Storage ensures that the memory can be used for further purposes.
3.​ Retrieval: It means bringing back the stored information back into our awareness or
consciousness for using it in the present situation. For example, recollecting the
answers learned during studying for writing them in the exam. If we encode and store
the information properly then our retrieval can be stronger or better.

Types of Human Memory:

1.​ Sensory memory: Sensory memory is the shortest memory span with the capacity of
just a few seconds. It holds information registered by our senses for only a few
seconds or even just 1 second.
2.​ Short-term memory: Short-term memory has a capacity to hold information for about
30 seconds up to 1 minute; however, it can only store a few units of information. All
kinds of stimuli are constantly entering into our senses. But we do not pay attention,
 store or remember everything. We only pay attention or consciously attend to
significant information. This significant or actively attended information goes into
STM. If the information from STM is not rehearsed or practised then it will be lost or
forgotten. STM has a magical number for saving information i.e. 7 +/- 2. This
number was given by George Miller in 1956. According to this number, our STM can
hold items or units of information between 5 and 9.

So, for any memory, the information from the environment first enters our senses
which is called sensory memory. Some or the other information is continuously entering our
senses but all of it does not get stored. If we pay proper attention to this information, it further
enters into our STM where it remains for a minute. If we practise or rehearse this information
several times, it is then transferred to the LTM where it remains for a long time.

WORKING MEMORY -
Definition: “Working memory is a limited capacity system which is capable of briefly storing
and manipulating information and is involved in performing complex cognitive tasks such as
reasoning, comprehension and learning”.
While STM only stores the information, working memory is a limited capacity store
for retaining information for a brief period of time while performing other mental operations
on that information. STM as compared to working memory holds limited information for
short periods with relatively little processing. Thus, STM is a unitary system whereas
working memory is a multi-component system which has different systems for different types
of information. Thus, STM is considered as a component of working memory.

WORKING MEMORY MODEL: Working memory includes - Central executive,

visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop and episodic buffer.

1.​ Central Executive (CE): It is the “boss” of the working memory model as it allocates
data to other members (slaves) of the model. When any information first enters into
our senses, CE decides which information needs to be attended and where the
information must be sent. It is the versatile and most important component of the
working memory.
2.​ Phonological loop (PL): It is the part of the working memory that deals with the
spoken and written material. It is further divided into 2 subsystems-
 a.​ Phonological store: This is linked to speech perception. It is also called the
“inner ear” and holds information in a speech-based form. For instance, in a
lecture, you are listening to the teacher and trying to understand the
concept/topic with the help of the speech used by the teacher and understood
by you.
b.​ Articulatory control process: This is linked to speech production. It acts as
an “inner voice”. It helps in rehearsing the information registered by your
phonological store. For instance, when you are listening to a lecture, you are
also trying to mentally rehearse the information and trying to make sense of
that topic.
c.​ Episodic buffer: It combines information from the phonological loop and
visuospatial sketchpad to form and maintain an integrated, detailed
representation of a given stimulus or event that can be deposited into the LTM.
Episodic buffer is used to explain why memories can be experienced as a
coordinated sequence of events rather than discrete segments. Thus, it is
considered to be a link between working memory and LTM.

3. Visuospatial Sketchpad (VSSP): It is the component of the working memory that is

responsible for handling visual and spatial information. It temporarily stores information
about how things look and allows us to manipulate images in our mind such as rotating a
shape to see how it might appear from a different angle or remembering the place of objects
or memorising directions. It is the “inner eye” of the working memory.
Visuospatial sketchpad also allows us to create images based on either something that
we are currently seeing or something that we have already seen in the past. For example,
while drawing a picture of a flower, you may keep looking back at an actual flower or keep
retrieving an image of a flower from your LTM. VSSP is divided into two parts:
a.​ Visual cache: It helps in recognising information about colour, form and shape.
b.​ Inner scribe: It helps in understanding spatial information such as locations,
directions, movement representation and planning.

LONG TERM MEMORY -

When we rehearse the information, it is more likely to enter our long-term memory
storage. Information stored in the LTM is available for use for a lifetime. We can recollect the
memories from LTM and bring them back to our awareness whenever we want it.
Elaborative rehearsal is very important for a particular information to be stored in the LTM.
Once the information enters the long term memory it is more or less available permanently.
Thus, the capacity of the LTM is unlimited. There are different types of Long-term memories.

1.​ Explicit memories: They are conscious memories. Memories that require a
conscious effort to be formed and recollected are called Explicit memories. For
example, learning and remembering information such as mathematical formulas,
passwords, important dates, etc. Explicit memories are stronger and long-lasting when
they are linked to a strong emotional response. They are also considered as
Declarative memories.
2.​ Implicit memories: They are unconscious or automatic memories. They refer to the
information that we do not store purposely and is unintentionally memorised. They
are also considered as procedural memory. These memories do not require a
conscious effort to be memorised because we have been doing them for a long time,
for instance, reading a book or recalling how to ride a bike. Thus, these memories are
a result of repetition of the tasks or practice.
3.​ Episodic memories: It is the memory of episodes and events that are unique,
emotionally charged, shocking or surprising. We can recall these events as they
happened, step by step along with the time, place and associated emotions. These
memories can be of your own life (autobiographical) or other events. For example,
you might remember the 26/11 bombings of Mumbai with all the details.
4.​ Semantic memories: These are the memories about concepts, rules of logic, facts,
meanings, etc. They have a personal context attached to them. For example, your own
ideas about the concept of feminism, global warming, etc.
5.​ Autobiographical memory: These are the memories about unique, special and
distinct incidents from a person’s own life. Autobiographical memories are also
considered to be episodic memories but episodes of the person’s life himself. For
instance, a memory about your first vacation, a memory about your convocation day,
etc.

MEASUREMENT OF MEMORY -
Memory has to be measured in order to understand our memory capacities and in
order to improve our memory. There are various methods of measurement of memory.
 1.​ RECALL: Recall means retrieving or bringing back the information from your LTM
with few or no cues at all. For instance, recalling the material learned in the class to
write your answers in the exam. Here, you simply have to go back and try to bring
back the material previously learnt by you and no help or cues are provided to you.
Thus, the material you are trying to recall is not currently or physically present in
front of you. Recall can be given in written or verbal form.
There are three aspects to the Recall: Primacy effect, Serial position effect
and Recency effect. According to Murdock (1962) when we remember the initially
exposed information (first few units) during the recall phase, it is a primacy effect.
When we remember the latest exposed information (last few units) during the recall
phase, it is a recency effect. In most recall phases, the material that is exposed in the
middle order is unattended or easily forgotten. This is called the serial position effect.
For instance, look at the series of names of different food items below-

Pumpkin potato lime cherry avocado ginger basil chilli mustard cucumber tomato
garlic peru

=== Primacy effect (first few)

=== Serial position effect (middle order)
=== Recency effect (last few)

Recall can be measured in two types - Free recall and Serial recall
In Free recall, subjects are asked to recall the items or the information in any random
order. Thus, there is no determined order preferred in Free recall and hence, the performance
on free recall is always better than the performance on serial recall. It is effective in studying
primacy and recency effects where the subject can randomly recall the items without giving
importance to the order in which the words or information was presented initially.
In Serial recall, the material must be recalled in the same serial order as it was
presented initially. This type of recall is more challenging and requires a lot of attention and
memory potential because along with the information, the subject must also remember the
order in which the information is presented.
Both types of recalls are greatly influenced by the emotions, mood, and motivation of
the person at the time of learning and at the time of recalling. For instance, if you are
motivated and in a good mood to study a new chapter today then you will be able to recall
that chapter in a better way during the exam.

2.​ RECOGNITION: In this method, the individual simply has to recognise/identify or

point out the previously learnt material which is again presented to him/her but in a
different context. Thus, the already learnt material is exposed to the individual again
and he/she has to simply recognise it. The performance on recognition is always better
than the performance on recall.
3.​ RELEARNING: Relearning is measured by the number of trials one takes to learn a
new material for the first time as compared to the number of trials taken to relearn that
same material after an interval of time. For instance, if an individual takes 10 trials to
learn something for the first time and after an interval of time, if the individual takes
only 5 trials to relearn the same material, that means the score is 5 (10-5=5). Thus, 5
trials are saved. This is also called the savings method. In this method, the same
material is learnt by the same individual on two different occasions separated by
some time interval. In this method, memory performance of the same task is
compared on two different occasions.

SOME PHENOMENA RELATED TO MEMORY -

1.​ Flashbulb memories: This term was first coined by Roger Brown and James Kullik.
Flashbulb memories are vivid in nature and are a detailed recollection of what we
were doing, where we were, how we reacted etc about an emotion provoking incident.
Thus, they are also considered as autobiographical memories in considerable detail.
They are filled in illumination, brevity and small details. Major historical events,
traumatic events, extremely happy events (connected with strong emotional
responses) can be considered as flashbulb memories.

FORGETTING -

Why do we forget?
We forget because over a period of time, the memory disappears or the material is still stored
in the memory but for some reason it cannot be retrieved. The major reasons for forgetting
are memory decay and interference.
DECAY: A new memory trace is created every time a new memory is formed. But as time
passes and we age, these memory traces begin to fade away and gradually disappear as new
information and memories are stored. So, if the previously stored information is not utilised
or retrieved, it will be eventually lost. According to research, our brain actively prunes the
memories that are unused for a long time. Thus, according to Trace Decay theory, the longer
the time passes the more our memories will fade away. And if we do not retrieve our old
memories then too our memories will fade away.

INTERFERENCE: According to this theory, it is assumed that memory can be disrupted or

interfered by what we will learn in the future or what we have learned previously. This means
that our long-term memory may become confused or get combined with other information
during the encoding phase thus, creating disruptions in the memory. There are mainly two
types of interferences-

1.​ Proactive interference: “Pro” means forward. It means partial or complete forgetting
of the newly learnt material because the old information is interfering with new
information. It happens when what we already know interferes with what we are
currently learning. Proactive interference is more likely to occur when the memories
or information are similar, confusing or overlapping.
2.​ Retroactive interference: “Retro” means backward. It means partial or complete
forgetting of the previously learnt material due to the new memories or information
getting mixed up with the old ones. In other words, it means later learning interferes
with previous learning.
Eliminating interference completely is impossible. But it can be minimised. Elaborative and
constant rehearsal of information can improve memory. Overlapping or confusing
information must be avoided. Studying different material rather than similar material can help
improve our memory.

MOTIVATED FORGETTING: Motivated forgetting is when we try to forget some

unwanted memories either consciously or unconsciously. According to Sigmund Freud, it
means we push down the unwanted memories as they are painful or disturbing. It is an
intentional process of forgetting memories. It is used as a coping strategy but must not be
used as a defence mechanism.
​ Conscious forgetting is called suppression and unconscious forgetting is called
repression. Friedrich Neitzsche believed that suppression was the “mind’s way of moving
ahead in life”. It means consciously or deliberately trying to let go of the negative memories
and going ahead in life. However, when we consciously try to forget a memory, we end up
thinking more about it. Thus, suppression can be difficult and time consuming.
​ The term repression was given by Sigmund Freud and states that we tend to repress
memories which as too disturbing such as memories of abuse or incest into our
unconsciousness. We think that these memories are forgotten but they create disturbances in
other areas of life. However, repressing memories is not a healthy way to cope with stress or
anxiety.