Memory encompasses the retention of information over time, classified into sensory, short-term, and long-term systems. Explicit memory involves deliberate recall, while implicit memory includes unintentional recollections, such as procedural memory for skills and habits, and priming, which aids in identifying stimuli based on prior experiences.
When we recall something we actively reconstruct our memories using cues and the information available to us as opposed to passively reproducing our memories. This is why we rarely ever produce exact replicas of our memories as opposed to what is really juts our best hunch of what went down.
Memory is defined as the retention of information over time.
There are 3 systems of memory; Sensory memory, Short term memory and Long Term Memory which vary in 2 distinct ways: Span- How much information as system can hold. And Duration- For how long each system can hold information.
Sensory memory: Is the "First factory worker in the assembly line" of memory. Sensory memory is the brief storage of perceptual information before it is passed on to short term memory.
It is believed that each sense has its own type of sensory
memory, however only three have been studied extensively;
Iconic: The mental representations of visual stimuli which only last for about 100 milliseconds, Echoic: Hold auditory information but only for 3-4 seconds and Haptic memory which is related to the sense of touch and only holds on to information for about 2 seconds.
Short Term Memory: Is the second part of the memory assembly line. It is useful for retaining information in our memories for brief periods of time. Short-term memory is closely related to what psychologists call working memory, which refers to our ability to hold on to information we’re currently thinking about, attending to, or processing actively. It is believed that the duration of short term memory is only about 20 seconds.
There are 2 two man reasons for memory loss in short term memory; Decay and Interference.
Interference: Is the loss of information
from memory due to competition from new information.
Decay: Is the fading of information
from memory over time.
There are two different types of memory when it comes to recalling information, explicit and implicit memory.
Implicit Memory: The process of recalling information we don’t remember deliberately.
Another subtype of implicit memory is priming which is our ability to identify a stimulus more easily when we've already encountered a similar stimulus before.
One sub type of implicit memory is procedural memory
which refers to memory for motor skills and habits, such as how to ride a bike or ice skate etc.
Explicit Memory:The process of recalling information intentionally.
Long Term Memory: Is defined as relatively enduring retention of information regarding our facts, experiences and skills.
There are many different types of long term memory including
semantic memory, (our knowledge of facts about the world) and episodic memory which is recollection of events in our lives.
