Memory

Memory is a mental process of storage and retrieval of information and experiences in the human brain. In a more physiological or neurological term, memory is, at its simplest, a set of encoded neural connections in the brain. It is the re-creation or reconstruction of past experiences by the synchronous firing of neurons that were involved in the original experience (Mastin). Three processes are involved in memory: encoding, storage and retrieval. All three of these processes determine whether something is remembered or forgotten.

Encoding allows information that is from the outside world to reach our senses in the forms of chemical and physical stimuli. In short, it is the receiving, processing and combining of received information (Wikipedia). There are four main types of encoding: acoustic encoding is the processing and encoding of sound, words and other auditory input for storage and later retrieval; visual encoding is the process of encoding images and visual sensory information; tactile encoding is the encoding of how something feels, normally through the sense of touch; and semantic encoding is the process of encoding sensory input that has particular meaning or can be applied to a particular context, rather than deriving from a particular sense. It is believed that, in general, encoding for short-term memory storage in the brain relies primarily on acoustic encoding, while encoding for long-term storage is more reliant on semantic encoding (Mastin).

The second process, storage, is the creation of a permanent record of the encoded information. It concerns the nature of memory storage, 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. To describe this process, many psychologists use the three-stage model proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. According to this model, information is stored sequentially in three memory systems:...