What are the 3 memory processes?

1. Encode: processing new information into your brain

2. Storage: preserving the information

3. Retrieval: locating & bringing to the conscious mind stored information

How about the 3 memory systems?

Sensory Memory

The first storage of memory in your senses

While icon (visual) memory lasts only half a second, echo (auditory) memory can last up to 2 seconds.

Since sensory memory can depend on the immediate context in which the memory was created, retracing your steps can help improve your sensory memory to remember what it was you just forgot!

Short-Term Memory

Longer than sensory memory, but still relatively short

The capacity is limited (only around 5-9 pieces of info can be kept at once)

Splitting up the information into smaller pieces, repeating the information over and over, or linking the new information to old knowledge can help you remember things in the short run!

Long-Term Memory

Storing information indefinitely in your brain

The capacity is unlimited both in the sense of time & quantitatively

There are three types of long-term memory: semantic memory includes general information such as facts, procedural memory includes information about processes, and episodic memories include personal experiences like stories

How does memory work, biologically speaking?

Short term memory is stored because of changes in the brain's neurochemistry from neurotransmitters (like glutamate & acetylcholine), such as an increase in synaptic responsiveness.

Long term memory, on the other hand, involves the hippocampus, which includes structural changes in the dendrite. Other regions of the cerebral cortex such as in the temporal lobe are involved in the process of storing memory long term.