What Exactly is Memory?
Written by Ayebamiebi Yousuo
I have always thought memory has nothing to do with the now a second ago or even a minute ago. I thought when we talk about memory it had to be like an event that occurred 5 minutes ago, but there is more to memory than just recalling events and facts over time.
So what exactly is memory?
Psychologists have defined memory as the faculty of encoding, storing and retrieving information.
Types of Memory
The answer to the question, “What exactly is memory?” is in the types of memory.
There are 3 broad types of Memory:
Sensory Memory: have a vehicle ever passed you and in that instant of time you were certain you saw a familiar face, but were not sure who the person was, or have you ever looked at a screen and was certain it was a series of 4 numbers you saw and not letters but you don't just know the numbers the next second. That's simply sensory memory that wasn't stored in your short-term memory. Sensory memory is just our initial sensory experience of the world within a fraction of a second (< 1 sec). Information from our sensory memory, if given attention to over seconds (<1min) can then be stored in our short-term memory. So what is short-term memory?
Short-term memory: this is simply the storage and retrieval of information for less than a minute. You know those one-time passwords that you just store in memory to input onto your computer within a minute? Yes! That's short-term memory, a unique type called working memory. A short-term memory is termed working memory when it is used to plan, work and solve problems. Therefore we can say that all working memories are short-term memories, but not all short-term memories are working memories.
Long-term Memory: this is memory lasting a few hours, days, weeks or even a lifetime. There are 2 types:
Explicit (Declarative or Conscious): this is the memory that takes conscious effort to recall, it could be Semantic(stating of facts) or Episodic(events and life experiences). This is the memory that normally comes to mind when we hear the word “memory”.
Implicit (Non-Declarative or Unconscious): this has to do with Procedural memory, for example, writing or Classical conditioning to stimuli that elicit strong emotions, for example, people who are afraid of thunder or Priming.
References
https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/8-1-memories-as-types-and-stages/
Written by Ayebamiebi Yousuo from MEDILOQUY