Basic Memory Processes

209
The Nature of Memory
FIGURE
6.1
Basic Memory Processes
Remembering something requires, first,
that the information be encoded—put in a
form that can be placed in memory. It
must then be stored and, finally, retrieved,
or recovered. If any of these processes
fails, forgetting will occur.
Encoding
Code and put
into memory
Types of
memory codes
• Acoustic
• Visual
• Semantic
Storage
Maintain in
memory
Types of longterm memory
• Episodic
• Procedural
• Semantic
Retrieval
Recover from
memory
Types of
retrieval
• Recall
• Recognition
times as much information as can be found in all the volumes of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica (Hunt, 1982). Keep in mind, however, that although we retain a great deal
of information, we also lose a great deal (Wixted, 2004). Consider Tatiana Cooley. She
was the U.S. National Memory Champion for three years in a row, but she confesses
that she is so absent-minded that she relies on Post-it Notes to remember everyday
errands (Schacter, 2001). Obviously, our memory is made up of many different abilities, some of which may be better than others from person to person and from time
to time.
Memory plays a critical role in your life. Without it, you wouldn’t know how to shut
off your alarm, take a shower, get dressed, recognize objects, or communicate. You
would be unaware of your own likes and dislikes. You would have no idea of who you
are (Craik et al., 1999). The impressive capacity of human memory depends on the
operation of a complex mental system (Schacter, 1999).
Basic Memory Processes
encoding The process of putting information into a form that the memory
system can accept and use.
acoustic codes Mental representations
of stimuli as sounds.
visual codes Mental representations
of stimuli as pictures.
semantic codes Mental representations of experiences by their general
meaning.
storage The process of maintaining
information in the memory system over
time.
In February 2002, prison warden James Smith lost his set of master keys to the Westville Correctional Facility. As a result, 2,559 inmates were kept under partial lockdown
for eight days while the Indiana Department of Correction spent $53,000 to change
locks in the affected areas. As it turned out, the warden had put the keys in his pocket
when he went home, forgot he had done so, and reported the keys “missing” when they
were not in their usual place in his office the next day (Associated Press, 2002). What
went wrong? There are several possibilities. Memory depends on three basic processes:
encoding, storage, and retrieval (see Figure 6.1). Our absent-minded warden might have
had problems with any one of these processes.
First, information must be put into memory, a step that requires encoding. Encoding is a process that puts information to be remembered into a form that our memory system can accept and use. We use memory codes to translate information from the
senses into mental representations of that information. Acoustic codes represent
information as sequences of sounds, such as a tune or a rhyme. Visual codes represent information as pictures, such as the image of your best friend’s face. Semantic
codes represent the general meaning of an experience. So if you see a billboard that
reads “Huey’s Going-Out-of-Business Sale,” you might encode the sound of the words
as if they had been spoken (acoustic coding), the image of the letters as they were
arranged on the sign (visual coding), or the fact that you recently saw an ad for Huey’s
(semantic coding). The type of coding we use influences what we remember. Semantic coding might allow you to remember the fact that an unfamiliar car was parked in
your neighbors’ driveway just before their house was robbed. If little or no other coding took place, however, you might not be able to remember the make, model, or color
of the car.
The second basic memory process is storage. Storage refers to the holding of information in your memory over time. When you recall a vacation you took in childhood