Introduction
According to scheier (2001), information processing in humans deals with the ability of the human mind to take, store, retain and recover information from its memory system. Information which serves as the stimuli moves from the sensory memory to the short term memory and finally to the long term memory for permanent storage.
Memory system
Every sensory channel has got its sensory memory. Visual stimuli is received in iconic memory, auditory stimuli as received at the echoic memory and haptic memory is sensitive to touch.(Higbee 2001) Visual stimuli looks like a snapshot that fades away after 0.5 seconds. Visual memory is visual spatial. Auditory stimuli last for 4 seconds and it contains an echo of the sounds we hear. Information is acquired through paying attention.
The information relayed is an exact replica of the stimuli. The sensory memory receives input from the environment such as light, heat, pressure, sound, smell, and touch among others. These physical stimuli are converted into neural messages which travel to the brain where they are registered and cause a sensation. The sensory register is bombarded with information at all times (Scheier,2001). Therefore, information that is attended to is processed and moves to the short term memory while unattended information is discarded because of its limited memory.
The short time memory is considered the conscious memory because thinking occurs here. Short term memory is a temporary store of information under process. It receives all the information that is attended to at the short term sensory storage (Squire,1992) At this memory level information is processed on the basis of what it looks or sounds like or what it means. Short term memory has a limited capacity and information can last between 20-30 seconds. It can memorize 7-9 pieces of information at a time.
Information is stored acoustically and semantically. (Higbee, 2001) Two things happen to information at this point. Sometimes we get information that we do not intend to store for long. Rehearsing for information that we do not intend to keep for long is called maintenance rehearsal. Information intended to be kept for long is in the long term memory is processed by the elaborative rehearsal. It involves repetition of information and memory search by looking for information related to the incoming information from the memory. Attention and rehearsal is very important for information to be retained and processed further.
Long term memory is the permanent store house for information. Information processed from the short memory comes here after a few seconds. This memory bank has unlimited memory capacity and only information processed through elaborative rehearsal is stored here. Long term memory is divided into the declarative memory for things that can be expressed in words. Semantic memory is for general facts, information and meaning of things. Episodic memory is for personal experiences. Procedural memory for action and skills organized in categories.(Squire, 1992) To minimize forgetting one should have increased attention and rehearse information.
Forgetting
Learners sometimes forget because learning content interference with already learnt content. Old content can also hinder learning new content by interfering with the memory. This is called proactive and retroactive inhibition.(Squire, 1992) Proactive inhibition is forgetting that occurs when old information makes it difficult to remember new information. For instance a teacher gives learners a list A of words to study for a minute and a list B to study for a minute too.
The learners will remember some words from list B and forget some while they will mention some words in list A in list B. Retroactive inhibition is when new content is interfering with the memory of the old content. Learners presented with two lists of words A and B List A is studied first and then list B. Some of the words in list A will be remembered while others will be replaced by words from list B. To minimize forgetting caused by interference learning should be made clear to bring out similarities and differences. Learning tasks should be practiced until they are mustered.
Other kinds of forgetting include trace decay which occurs in the short and long term memory. Memories have trace that decays with time. The longer information stays in either of the memories it decomposes and other parts of it are lost. Cue-dependent forgetting is also another type of forgetting. This happens when one remembers a lot of information but lacks the exact clue leading to this information. Once you get the cue then you are able to remember. (Higbee, 2001)
Conclusion
In conclusion, the conversion of signals from the environment into input through the sensory memory to the long term memory occurs automatically. Retaining or loss of information depends on the attention s paid as well as how much the information was rehearsed.
References
Scheier, C. (2001).Understanding Intelligence. MIT Press.
Higbee, K.L. (2001).Your Memory: How It Works and How to Improve It. Da Capo Press.2nd Edition.
Squire, R. L. (1992). Encyclopedia of learning and memory. Macmillan.