Introduction
The human mind entails the sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. They argue that these three types of memory are complementary. They process information in a systemic manner. Information moves from one memory to the second one before moving to the last and the most permanent store. Cognitive psychologists argue that perceived information takes one second in the sensory memory, one minute in the short-term memory and a life-time in the long-term memory. This study aims at ascertaining whether information takes one second in the sensory memory under all circumstances.
Purpose of the Study
Research question: Does information always take one second in the sensory memory even when the circumstances under which stimuli are perceived change?
This research seeks to confirm or refute the argument by cognitive psychologists that information takes a very short and predetermined period in the sensory memory. I will work on this study by dealing with human beings whose sensory memory’s retention rates will be investigated. It will be interesting to determine how much information an individual can store in the sensory memory within a given period under different circumstances. The study will resolve the uncertainty about whether the time information spends in the sensory memory is always constant or not.
Methodology
I will have three students participating in the study. I will then show them differently colored letters of the alphabet; A, B and C. Secondly, I will show them Chinese letters of the same colors. I will then expose them to the letters for only two seconds. The conceptual independent variable is the familiarity of the stimuli while the conceptual dependent variable is the ability to remember. On the other hand, the operational independent variable is the familiarity of the stimuli while the operational dependent variable is the exactness of their description of the stimuli. This study is likely to work because it will show that the duration the sensory memory takes to lose information is not always constant. Rather, it is dependent on some factors.
Possible Results
The students are more likely to remember the letters of the alphabet in the form they use in English compared to the same letters in Chinese. They are more likely to give more precise descriptions of A, B and C as they use them in English. However, they might not be as precise when describing the Chinese alphabets. Therefore, when the stimulus is familiar, it is more likely to stay in the sensory memory longer than unfamiliar information. Another possible result is they might remember everything about the appearance of the English letters and completely nothing about the Chinese letters. The reason for this situation is that the sensory memory might not store unfamiliar information and transfer it to the short-term memory. The sensory memory stores information for short periods, but may not store anything about very unfamiliar and complex information.
Possible Conclusions
The familiarity of the information an individual perceives affects the duration it takes in the sensory memory and the possibility of being stored. When information is familiar, the sensory memory will take a very short period to store it and transfer it to the short-term memory. On the contrary, when the information is unfamiliar, one second may not be enough to store it in the sensory memory. In the second possible outcome, the unfamiliarity of the stimuli can hinder from the sensory memory from storing anything.