Memory in psychology

Psychology has dealt with the issue of memory in detail, through one of its branches called cognitive psychology, where it is known as the science that studies the basis of mental processes in its various forms and levels, such as the process of understanding, remembering, learning, assimilation and others, as it deals with the cognitive material and the required procedures of cognitive and mental processes, based on thinking, its types, and its higher levels; It refers to the processes carried out by the brain in order to complete various processes such as memorization, perception, and others, that is, the study of the ways of processing information, storing it, and methods of recalling it to face daily life and various experiences.

Memory definition

Memory in general works to store and recall information, and it is possible to interpret the concept and term of memory according to the field or aspect in which it is used and employed. If necessary.

In psychology, memory has been defined as the ability by which behaviors are adapted to suit the experiences that a person experiences. ; This is for the purpose of retrieval and retrieval when needed, and the work of memory is based on restoring the required information after a period of time, whether it is long or short.

Components of human memory

Through psychological and neurological studies that were applied to patients, it was found that there is a group of them who can perform some activities that stem from a field or category of memory, and in return the patients themselves showed disturbances or failures while performing some activities that concern another part of memory, and also led These studies focus on the abundant cognitive production in defining and segmenting these categories, most notably short-term memory, long-term memory, semantic memory, cognitive memory, procedural memory, habit memory and many others. However, these classifications showed many basic organizational models of memory, and at the end The sixties of the twentieth century emerged the final model, which divided memory according to the time range of information or experience into three main components: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory, which are as follows:

Sensory memory

Sensory memory is the first part that is based on the process of receiving information and sensory input from the outside world, through which a large number of characteristics of external stimuli are received with which a person interacts through the five senses. By receiving sensory experiences, the visual sensory receiver works to receive visual experiences in the form of fantasies, and the auditory sensory receiver works to receive auditory stimuli in the form of echoes, and so on.

As for the primary role of this memory, it is to accurately convey the image of the external world with all its perceptions and contents, that is, it is a process of representation of the external reality in an identical and real way, as what this memory stores are impressions, or images that express a specific external stimulus, and sensory receptors are distinguished in memory. Sensory speed with its great speed in transmitting external images to the outside world, and the ability to form the final image of perceptions of different stimuli, and thus help to achieve speed in behavioral responses that fit these stimuli.

Short term memory

Short-term memory works to record events and facts that occur in an individual’s daily life simultaneously and temporarily, such as saving a phone number heard in a public place, and short-term memory is usually fast disappearing unless a great effort and focus is made to retrieve it, meaning that it is the next station after sensory memory It is considered a temporary storage for storing information for a short period of time between 5-30 seconds.

As for its function, it is based on making some modifications and changes to the information initially. The stimuli and experiences that receive attention in sensory memory are in turn transmitted to the short-term memory to extract the meanings and situations that are associated with them, in addition to determining the level of importance of the data and information and making the decision either to abandon it, or to keep it. It is sent to long-term memory for permanent storage.

Long-term memory

Long-term memory is characterized as the permanent and eternal storehouse of information of its various types, starting with concepts and theoretical knowledge, and goes beyond ordinary daily events and activities. Direct contact, and this memory uses a time matrix based on coding the experience or the situation and encrypting it with simple concepts indicating it, and then working to save and store it, in order to be retrieved when it is provoked by one of the influences that calls for re-remembering and retrieval, and despite the efficiency of this memory in storing and retrieving information However, it may lead to confusion and distortion of some stored ideas, as stored positions may undergo a real change that affects their structure and changes their credibility.

Memory and its stages

Any memory activity goes through three main stages:

Learning stage: This stage includes the process of understanding the situation, analyzing it, realizing it, then imbibing it, and saturating it in understanding and absorbing it.

The stage of information storage: It is the length of time that an individual can keep with different experiences, situations, and stimuli within a short period of time, within short-term memory, or the experiences fulfilling the conditions for their transmission, and their elevation to long-term memory within a long period of time.
The stage of actual use of memory: It is the process of remembering in itself, through memorial cognitive processes, such as recognition and retrieval, that is, the use of previous experiences in retrieving the required information in the form of verbal, kinesthetic, or visual outputs.