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“Memory is the process of maintaining information over time.” (Matlin, 2005)
Memory is the term given to thestructuresandprocessesinvolved 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.
For psychologists, the term memory covers three important aspects ofinformation processing:
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 that 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):
Visual (picture)
Acoustic (sound)
Semantic (meaning)
Rehearsal is a verbal process regardless of whether the list of items is presented acoustically (someone reads them out), or visually (on a sheet of paper).
Memory Storage
This concerns the nature of memory stores, i.e., where the information is stored, how long the memory lasts (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 betweenShort Term Memory(STM ) andLong 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 thought 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.
Memory Retrieval
This refers to getting information out of storage. If we can’t remember something, it may be because we are unable to retrieve it. When we are 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 is 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.
If the doctor gives these instructions in the order that they must be carried out throughout the day (i.e., in the sequence of time), this will help the patient remember them.
Criticisms of Memory Experiments
A large part of the research on memory is based onexperimentsconducted in laboratories. Those who take part in the experiments – the participants – are asked to perform tasks such as recalling lists of words and numbers.
Both the setting – the laboratory – and the tasks are a long way from everyday life. In many cases, the setting is artificial, and the tasks are fairly meaningless. Does this matter?
Psychologists use the term ecological validity to refer to the extent to which the findings of research studies can be generalized to other settings. An experiment has high ecological validity if its findings can be generalized, that is, applied or extended to settings outside the laboratory.
It is often assumed that if an experiment is realistic or true-to-life, then there is a greater likelihood that its findings can be generalized. If it is not realistic (if the laboratory setting and the tasks are artificial) then there is less likelihood that the findings can be generalized. In this case, the experiment will have low ecological validity.
Many experiments designed to investigate memory have been criticized for having low ecological validity. First, the laboratory is an artificial situation. People are removed from their normal social settings and asked to take part in a psychological experiment.
He was especially interested in the characteristics of people whom he considered to have achieved their potential as individuals.
Often, the tasks participants are asked to perform can appear artificial and meaningless. Few, if any, people would attempt to memorize and recall a list of unconnected words in their daily lives. And it is not clear how tasks such as this relate to the use of memory in everyday life.
The artificiality of many experiments has led some researchers to question whether their findings can be generalized to real life. As a result, many memory experiments have been criticized for having low ecological validity.
References
Matlin, M. W. (2005).Cognition. Crawfordsville: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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.
Sternberg, R. J. (1999).Cognitive psychology (2 nd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
