CAI - Information Processing Lesson

 

Information Processing

Memory is learning that persists over time. Some ideas or images stick in our memories and others don't seem to stick there at all. What is it that makes us remember one unimportant thing and forget something else that we meant to remember?

One way to understand memory is to consider memory a three-part process, starting with encoding, proceeding through storage, and ending in retrieval.

In the encoding stage, a person is getting information into memory. If I'm not paying attention when my mother tells me what to get at the store, I won't encode that information. Psychologists call this an encoding failure - failing to put information into the memory system leads to an inability to remember the information later.

If information is encoded, then it can progress to the storage phase. This is when we tag the information to keep it safely so we can find it again. If the information isn't tagged correctly so it's accessible, we have a storage failure.

Finally, the retrieval stage is when a person attempts to access a memory that they encoded and stored. In this stage, a person could experience a retrieval failure if they hadn't thought about it in a long time and therefore lost access to the information.

Psychologists are interested in the details of memory processing, and so they created the information-processing model to better understand the way that information typically enters the memory system.

According to this model, incoming information is initially housed in sensory memory, a split-second holding tank that accommodates incredible amounts of information. For about half a second after closing your eyes, you retain a complete image of everything you just saw. For about 2 seconds after you heard a sound, you retain a complete record of exactly what you heard. If you are not paying attention and your teacher says, "What did I just say?" you are typically able to repeat her last sentence back to her because your sensory memory is still holding that last two seconds of sound.

Most of the information from sensory memory is disposed. Only the most vital information makes it to the short-term memory stage. A person's short-term memory holds approximately 7 pieces of information for 30 seconds. That 30 seconds resets for as long as we keep rehearsing the information. If you've ever tried to remember a phone number long enough to dial it, you were working with short-term memory.

Finally, the most important information is saved in long-term memory, which has no limits in number of items or length of time. Frequently, people retrieve information from long-term memory and mix it with newer information in short-term memory before restoring that information. In that way, old information helps us learn new information because it gives a starting point for how to tag and store the memories.

Information in long-term memory can become more difficult to access because of storage decay. If you remember the information about neural connections that we learned in the Biopsychology Unit, you'll understand that any routes in the brain that we don't use frequently get less strong. If you learned some facts early in the year, but you don't think about them again, it will be harder to access those memories. We call this storage decay.

Usually, stored information makes it easier to learn new information through the short-term memory process. If we have memories already stored, it makes it easier to store and retrieve other memories. Sometimes, though, other information interferes in the storage or retrieval of memories. Have you ever found that it's tough to remember your old locker combination after you learn your new one? Or that it's hard to remember your new address because you always think of your old one? This is called interference, when memories conflict with one another.  

The information-processing model is an imperfect model for memory in at least one way though. Do you have any memories of trivial information that you didn't mean to remember? Maybe you remember what you wore on the first day of kindergarten or the mean thing the bully said to you in first grade or exactly what happened on your first date. These flashbulb memories seemed to have skipped the middle stage of short-term memory and gone straight to long-term memory.

 

IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS OR OPENSOURCE