Storing Memories
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sensory memory/ˈsensəri ˈmeməri/ | Very brief retention of sensory information after the stimulus is no longer present. |
| Short-term memory/ʃɔːt tɜːm ˈmeməri/ | A *store* — how much is held and for how long. |
| Working memory/ˈwɜːkɪŋ ˈmeməri/ | A limited-capacity system for temporarily holding and manipulating information during a task. |
| Long-term memory/lɒŋ tɜːm ˈmeməri/ | Long-term memory |
| Maintenance rehearsal/ˈmeɪntənəns rɪˈhɜːsl/ | Repeating information to keep it active in short-term memory without necessarily adding meaning. |
| Elaborative rehearsal/ɪˈlæbrətɪv rɪˈhɜːsl/ | Elaborative rehearsal |
| highly superior autobiographical memory/ˈhaɪli suːˈpɪərɪə ˌɔːtəʊˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪkl ˈmeməri/ | An unusually strong ability to recall personal life events and their dates. |
| Amnesia/æmˈniːzɪə/ | Amnesia |
| anterograde/ænˈtɪərəɡreɪd/ | anterograde |
| retrograde/ˌretrəʊˈɡreɪd/ | retrograde |
| Alzheimer's disease/ˈæltsaɪməz dɪˈziːz/ | A progressive brain disease that damages memory and other cognitive abilities and is a common cause of dementia. |
| infantile amnesia/ˈɪnfəntaɪl æmˈniːzɪə/ | The lack of conscious memories from the first few years of life. |
Three stores, three very different capacities
- A phone number survives a few seconds unless you do something with it.
- Your name survives a lifetime with no effort at all.
- Those are different stores, and they differ in duration and capacity.
The four stores
- Sensory memory 感觉记忆 holds a very brief, very large trace.
- Short-term memory 短时记忆 holds a few items for a few seconds.
- Working memory 工作记忆 actively manipulates what short-term memory holds.
- Long-term memory 长时记忆 has no known practical limit on capacity or duration.
Long-term memory systems: explicit (episodic, semantic) and implicit (procedural, priming)
Which memory store?
Sort each description by the store it describes.
Short-term memory and working memory mean exactly the same thing.
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Short-term memory is a store; working memory is the activity performed on its contents.
Two kinds of rehearsal
- Maintenance rehearsal 保持性复述 repeats information to hold it where it is.
- Elaborative rehearsal 精细复述 connects it to what you already know.
- Only the second reliably moves material into long-term storage — repetition holds, meaning transfers.
Which rehearsal reliably moves material into long-term memory?
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Elaborative rehearsal connects new material to what you know; repetition alone only holds.
Short-term and working memory are not interchangeable. Short-term memory is a store — how much is held and for how long. Working memory is activity — what the mind is doing with it. Use the term the question is actually about.
Match each store to its characteristic.
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Duration and capacity are what distinguish the stores.
Unusually good memory
- Some people show highly superior autobiographical memory 超常自传体记忆.
- They recall the events of individual days across decades.
- The CED's point is that this may indicate biological differences in how memory is stored.
Being unable to form new long-term memories is ____ amnesia.
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Anterograde blocks new memories; retrograde blocks access to old ones.
Select all the storage failures the CED names.
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The spacing effect is an encoding finding, not a storage failure.
When storage fails
- Storage can be impaired physically or by developmental limits.
- Amnesia 遗忘症 comes in two directions: anterograde 顺行性 (cannot form new memories) and retrograde 逆行性 (cannot reach old ones).
- Alzheimer's disease 阿尔茨海默病 and infantile amnesia 婴儿期遗忘 are the CED's other named cases.
A patient with anterograde amnesia greets the same visitor as a stranger every morning, yet can still recall his childhood in detail. New storage has failed; old storage is intact — which is why the two directions must be named separately.
Sensory, short-term, working and long-term memory differ in duration and capacity. Maintenance rehearsal holds, elaborative rehearsal transfers. Anterograde and retrograde amnesia fail in opposite directions.
Write from 3 lost years
- After an injury a person cannot recall the 3 years before the injury, but learns a new clinic route this week.
- Name the amnesia.
Someone cannot recall the 3 years before an injury, yet learns a new route this week. Which amnesia is this, and which rehearsal helps store the new route?
The lost period is before the injury. New learning shows storage in that direction still works.
Which amnesia fits the lost 3 years?
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Old memories are lost and new ones can form. That direction is retrograde. Other options — Anterograde amnesia (the lesson patient who cannot form new memories); Working memory (because the route is long).