Stages of Memory: Encoding Storage and Retrieval
by Saul McLeod
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.
For psychologists the term memory covers 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)
For example, how do you remember a telephone number you have looked up in the
phone book? If you can see it then you are using visual coding, but if you are
repeating it to yourself you are using acoustic coding (by sound).
Evidence suggests that this is the principle coding system in short term
memory (STM) is acoustic coding. When a person is presented with a list of
numbers and letters, they will try to hold them in STM by rehearsing them
(verbally). 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).
The principle encoding system in long term memory (LTM) appears to be
semantic coding (by meaning). However, information in LTM can also be coded
both visually and acoustically.
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 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
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.
LTM is stored and retrieved by association. This is why you can remember what
you went upstairs for if you go back to the room where you first thought about it.
Organizing information can help aid retrieval. You can organize information in
sequences (such as alphabetically, by size or by time). Imagine a patient being
discharged from hospital whose treatment involved taking various pills at various
times, changing their dressing and doing exercises. If the doctor gives these
instructions in the order which they must be carried out throughout the day (i.e. in
sequence of time), this will help the patient remember them.
