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HOW LEARNING AND

MEMORY WORK
TOGETHER
Posted on: January 31, 2022
by David Diaz

According to the American Psychological

Association, ‘learning is the acquisition of skill or
knowledge, while memory is the expression of
what you’ve acquired’.
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Whilst learning and memory are closely related
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concepts, learning is the process of studying
something and committing it to memory, and
memory is the cognitive process that encodes,
stores, and retrieves prior learnings as well as past
experiences.

THE THREE MAIN

PROCESSES IN HUMAN
MEMORY
There are three main processes which influence
human memory functions and our ability to retain
information.

1. ENCODING

The first process the human memory puts into

operation is encoding – an active and selective
process which dictates the efficiency of learning
based on a number of factors. These include:

Content factors

The volume of the material, how well organised

the material is, how familiar the material is, and
the nature of the material all affect the encoding
process. The structure of the content also plays a
part, as information at the beginning and end
tends to be committed to memory at a higher rate
than the material in the middle.

Remembering information presented at the

beginning is called the primacy effect. The causes
of this include attention span, and people being
more likely to pay attention at the beginning, and
memory limitations, as early information is likely
to be rehearsed and thus stored in long-term
memory.

Environmental factors

The environment in which learning occurs can

affect how well information is transmitted to
memory. Factors within this include temperature,
humidity and noise.

In a study examining the impact of cumulative

heat exposure on cognitive skill development by
Harvard Kennedy School Associate Professor
Joshua Goodman, data from ten million American
students from high school classes of 2001 to
2014 found that students scored lower when they
had just experienced a hot school year than when
they had just experienced a cool school year. They
also found that low-income and minority students
were impacted by heat more than others, and that
air conditioning completely eliminated the impact
of the heat on learning outcomes.

Subjective factors

A learner’s state of rest or fatigue, health and

illness can all affect the encoding process in
memory.

Scientists measuring the impact of sleep

deprivation on cognitive performance found that
sleep deprivation leads to lower levels of alertness
and concentration, making it more difficult to
focus and pay attention to information which
affects the human learning process.

2. STORING

The second memory process which makes it

possible to preserve encoded information is
storing – though storing information may also be
subject to a time limit and inaccuracy.
There are two levels of memory:

Short-term memory (STM) (or working

memory) – which is relatively brief and limited
in the capacity and duration in which
information is retained
Long-term memory (LTM) – which has a
seemingly unlimited capacity for storing
information which can last years

Both short-term and long-term memory act as a

filter to protect the human brain from the huge
amount of information presented to us on a daily
basis. The more often a piece of information is
presented to us, or the more likely a new skill is
practised, the more likely for retention in long-
term memory occurs.

3. RETRIEVAL

The third memory process is retrieval which

accesses stored information through recognition or
recall.

Recognition is when we experience a familiar

event or an object and involves a process of
comparison against the information in our
memory. For example, seeing a face we recognise,
knowing if something is true or false, or having an
answer presented to us within a multiple choice
question all act upon the process of recognition.

Recall involves remembering a fact, event or

object and requires the direct uncovering of
information from memory. For example,
remembering the name of the familiar face, and
answering blank questions.

Recognition memory is simpler, because it only

requires one step, whereas recall requires two –
the search and memory retrieval of information
and choosing the correct information from the
multiple items that have been retrieved.

HOW DOES THE BRAIN

WORK WITH MEMORY?
Memory is complex, and neuroscientists are still
working to uncover how memory formation occurs
within the human brain. Within neuroscience, the
three basic approaches to finding where memory is
located is through: modern imaging techniques
like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
or positron emission tomography (PET), where
subjects are placed in a scanner and given a
memory test and brain activity is assessed;
experimental procedures where small parts of the
brain of mice or rats are removed or chemically
inactivated and they are examined to see if the
lesion causes an impairment to memory systems;
and studies on individuals with brain disease or
injuries where memory performance is linked to
the area of the brain that has been damaged.

Memory is generally divided into two categories:

explicit memory (or declarative memory) and
implicit memory (or non-declarative memory).
Different types of memory are stored in different
areas of the brain.

IMPLICIT MEMORIES

The skills, habits and behaviours that we exhibit

without conscious awareness are defined as
implicit memories. These are the behaviours that
we do on auto-pilot, such as getting dressed. Once
we learn these skills, they are easy to do but
difficult to explain how we do it as it’s an
unconscious action.

There are two areas of the brain which are

involved in these behaviours – the basal ganglia
which is involved in the formation of them, and
the cerebellum which is involved in the timing and
execution of these learned motor movements.

EXPLICIT MEMORIES

Explicit memories are the ones which can be

verbally expressed, and they include the episodic
memory of everyday events and past personal
experiences, as well as the semantic memory of
facts and general world knowledge that is
accumulated throughout our lives. The two main
brain regions associated with explicit memories
are the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

The hippocampus, which is located above the

amygdala and is also known as the emotion
centre, plays an important role in short-term
memory encoding into long-term memories.
Hippocampal damage can result in a loss to
declarative memories, causing amnesia.

The prefrontal cortex has a central role in

cognitive functions and is essential for the
formation of short-term memories. It holds
information for short periods, but is key to
planning behaviours and responses to immediate
situations.

HOW DOES STRESS

AFFECT LEARNING AND
MEMORY?
Prolonged stress can affect our everyday memory
and cognitive skills. Since 2020, the Covid-19
pandemic has affected everyone across the globe,
which has caused stress, social isolation and
disruption to many people.

Professor of Psychology and Director of the

Schacter Memory Lab at Harvard University is
quoted in this article as saying: ‘If we’re under a
lot of stress, sometimes it can very negatively
impact retrieval of information’. One effect of this
is ‘blocking’, which is where information is
available in memory but we can’t retrieve it when
we want to – when something feels as though it’s
on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t quite
reach the information. Absent-mindedness and
forgetting to do things because you’re not focused
could also happen under prolonged stress,
especially if someone is worrying a lot about
Covid-19. All of these factors are also disruptive to
the learning process.

There are, however, various coping mechanisms

people can adopt to reduce prolonged stress and
sharpen memory skills. These include writing a to-
do list to avoid becoming overwhelmed, looking
ahead to the future rather than focusing on the
here and now, and adding meditation to your daily
routine.

COMMIT YOUR LEARNING

OF PSYCHOLOGY TO LONG-
TERM MEMORY
If you’re looking to get ahead in your career by
taking a psychological approach to learning and
memory, the University of Sunderland’s 100%
online MSc Psychology is for you.

In the Learning and Memory module, you will

delve into different theories of learning and
evaluate how they can be applied in education
and training, whilst exploring different types of
memory in more detail and learning how they can
be impaired or enhanced.

This master’s degree is studied part-time and at

your own pace, so you can apply what you learn to
your current role. Applicable to any sector, having
a deep knowledge of psychology can help you
progress in the workplace.
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