How does Memory Work

1. Explain the concept of sensory memory.
Sensory Memory is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimulus has ceased. there are two types : Ionic and Echoic memory.

2. Give an example of sensory memory.
Echoic Memory: sensory memory related to hearing, it last less than four seconds.

3. What is the capacity of our sensory memory?
The capacity of sensory memory is very short it last about four seconds.

4. Describe the concept of short-term memory.
The capacity of holding a small amount of information in mind in an active readily available state, for a short period of time.

5. What is the "magic number" as it relates to short-term memory and who conducted the experiment which established this measurement
The capacity of the sensory or short term memory is measured in seconds, the is an estimate that this capacity is seven, plus or minus two units. This is known as the Miller Law.

6. What is chunking?
Chunking is a strategy for making more efficient use of short-term memory by recoding information or organizing items into familiar manageable units.

7. What has been determined to be the ideal size of "chunks" for both letters and numbers?
the ideal size has been referred as two, three, and six as the ideal size of "chunks" for both letters and numbers.

8. Which mode of encoding does short-term memory mostly rely on, acoustic or visual?
Short-term memory is believed to rely more on acoustic coding than visual coding.

9. Explain the duration and capacity of long-term memory.
Long-term memoey can las as little as day or as long as decades. The capacity of the long term memory acn be decades and then begin to fade over time. it can store lts of information for lots of time.

10. Explain in detail the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory.
This model is a proposal of the memory structure, it proposes that human memory iinvolves a sequence of three stages, Sensory Memory: retain information in a sort of unprocessed way trough a stimulus for less than a second, Short-Term Memory: allows us to remember information long enough to use it, Long-term memory: provides the lasting retention of information.
11. Identify three criticisms or limitations of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory.
Something that is criticized of this model is the it does not include any subdivision in the stages of memory, because it has a linear structure. The model does not acknowledge the asynchronous of the neural activity.
This model deals with the forms of memory, but it does not take into account which information is presented can then be seen as a form of a power check that could not be disrupted.
12.Explain the Levels of Processing Model of memory.

13. What is maintenance rehearsal - give an example.
Maintenance rehearsal is a type of rehearsal proposed by Craik and Lockhart  in their Levels of Processing Model of memory. Maintenance rehearsal involves rote repetition of an item's auditory representation. Different to elaborative rehearsal, this type of rehearsal does not lead to stronger or more durable memories.


14. What is elaborative rehearsal - give an example.
Elaborative rehearsal is a type of rehearsal proposed by Craik and Lockhart  in their Levels of Processing model of memory. Elaborative rehearsal involves deep sematic processing of a to-be-remembered item resulting in the production of durable memories.
For example, if you were presented with a list of digits for later recall (4968214), grouping the digits together to form a phone number transforms the stimuli from a meaningless string of digits to something that has meaning.


15. Who developed the Levels of Processing Model and the concepts of maintenance and elaborative rehearsal?
Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart

How Does Our Memory Work?

The brain interacts with your physical environment. Cells of your brain record things that give you memory. Autobiographical memories are the most important memories because they are about us.

We gain the ability to time travel through our minds at the age of 9. We begin to day dream, remember, and distinguish time periods, like day weeks and months.  We later develop Abstract thought which is the ability to plan ahead. Your memory system helps you survive, and develop, you language and problem solving. Your memory reaches its fullest power at the age of 25, by the age of 27 it begins to fade, by the age of 40 it is partially gone, and later one you can lose it completely.  Memory loss can be devastating. Events cannot be deleted by will, and this causes negative effects because the events you may want to delete can be traumatizing. The emotions you feel when you remember something makes this memory a lot stronger. 

Post-traumatic stress:  may happen when you have an encounter with death, it is almost impossible to make it fade away, because the memory will stay fresh. A certain drug exists that may help you erase this memory but this is not good because memory shapes your character and your identity. Without memories you wouldn’t be yourself.