I can't remember....(memory)

Let's start with a little memory humor...

Ok today we're going to be talking about memory.
How do i know my memory is working? RRR

Recall can be described as more of a "fill-in-the-blank" action. There is information in your brain that you have already learned and you didn't realize that your brain still stored the information.

Recognition is more of a "multiple choice" action. You have stored data that you compare with the new stimuli that you are offered.

Relearning is what it sounds like. Even if you don't "recall" learning something before, your brain works less to try to comprehend. For example, I've taken psychology in high school so some of the concepts I've covered in my college class are familiar. My brain is going through the relearning stage with some of the psychologists that were discussed in class (Bandura, Freud, Garcia, etc). 

Well then, it's that simple, right? No, no, no. That's only memory function. How does memory WORK?  There's three steps for that, too.

Encode: Certain stimuli and information get into our brain. They take a certain form that allows them to be stored.

Storage: The information that was encoded in our brain is then stored for a certain amount of time. It also is available for retrieval.

Retrieval: This is when we recall (and retrieve, for lack of a better word) the information that has been encoded and storage. 

A famous model that is almost always used when discussing memory is the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model. This model was created by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968. Basically, these two guys said that memory can be broken down into again...THREE parts: sensory memory, working/short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Really, this picture is pretty simple to understand. Let's start with the little blue box on the left. That is any external/outside event that leads to the memory being involved. Next, that external information becomes our sensory memory. REMEMBER when we talked about encoding? Well, that comes next. The external information takes on a certain form and is encoded into our brains. Where does the encoded information go from? Well, I know my psych professor isn't crazy about the term "short-term" memory so we'll call it working memory.  Any interesting fact is that we constantly have rehearsal going on in our working memory. This means that there is a constant repetition of information going in our brain.

A little interesting fact about the working memory. In 1920, George Miller said that our working memory can hold anywhere from 5-9 pieces of information. In today's world, that is seen as the average of what our brain's can handle.

The last part of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model is the long-term memory. This is an extra space where information can be stored. If information from the working memory needs to be put into long-term memory, it has to be encoded again. Once the information is in long-term memory, it is ready to be retrieved at any time.

   A little side note: There is a thing called automatic processing. This is when the external events (the information that goes through encoding, storage, retrieval) go straight to long-term memory storage. (Think of it like Monopoly, DO NOT PASS GO; the information goes straight to "jail" but it's not really jail in any sense). 

Before I end today's blog, I want to go back to Dory from Finding Nemo that I mentioned at the start of the blog. Dory has significant short-term memory loss. What is that? Well, it's what it sounds like. Imagine a hole in the working (or short-term) memory. Any information that needs to go through short-term memory to get to long-term memory is lost. A person with this can remember information from 2 years ago, but not 2 minutes ago. 

A very real (and very sad) example of this can be seen in a man named Clive Wearing. Clive actually doesn't have a short-term memory. Years ago, Clive got a bad headache that developed into a fever and illness that damaged his brain and affected his memory. Watch the video below. 

Well, that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading!

References

H., C. (2007, October 2). Clive Wearing - The man with no short-term memory. Retrieved April 23, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwigmktix2Y

Finding nemo - short term memory loss. (2007, June 30). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvF113uty4