Memory

Memory is the vital tool in learning and thinking. We all use memory in our everyday lives. Think about the first time you ever tied your shoe laces or rode a bike; those are all forms of memory, long term or short (Cowan 97-185). If you do not remember anything from the past, you would never learn; thus unable to process. Without memory you would simply be exposed to new and unfamiliar things. Life would be absent and bare of the richness of it happy or sorrow. Many scientists are still unsure of all that happens and what and how memory works. They are certain, though, that it is involvement of chemical changes in the brain which changes the physical structure (Mattioli 195-206). It has been found after many research, that new memory is stored in a section of the brain called the hippocampus(Russell 45-89). Memory is acquired by a series of solidifying events, but more research is still needed to discover and fully understand (Cowan 97-185).

Memory is broken down into three systems or categories. These different systems are sensory memory, short-term, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is the shortest and less extensive of the others. It can hold memory for only an instance(Mattioli 195-206). Suppose you see a tree, the image of the tree is briefly held by the sensory memory and quickly disappears unless you transfer it to your short-term memory(Russell 45-89). The next level is called short-term memory. The image or fact can be held as long as the brain is actively thinking about it (Cowan 97-185). For example, if you look up a number in the phone book and repeat it to yourself until you dial it, that is a form of short-term memory. Short-term memory lasts roughly half a minute unless it is transferred to long-term memory. Long-term memory is the last and final stage of memory. It is so large and limitless it can hold nearly anything (Loftus p. 392). Long-term memory can hold something that is only a few moments old to many, many years.

Memory can be measured in three ways. These techniques include recall, recognition, and relearning (Mattioli 195-206). Suppose someone asks you who was at a party. When you try to list everyone you saw, that is known as recall. The other form is recognition, which contains recall. For example, the person asking you a list of names. The list contains names of people who were at the party and names of those who were not at the party. ' In relearning you would memorize the guest list after apparently forgetting it ' (Russell 45-89).

There are many questions to why people forget. Scientists still do not know exactly how people forget. Not surprisingly, people forget more and more as time progresses. The chief explanations for forgetting include interference, retrieval, failure, motivated forgetting, and constructive processes (Cowan 97-185). ' Interference occurs when the remembering of certain learned material blocks the memory of other learned material '(Mattioli 195-206). Retrieval failure is the inability to ...