When a person is presented with a list of numbers and letters, they will try to hold them in STM by rehearsing them (verbally). There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed):įor example, how do you remember a telephone number you have looked up in the phone book? If you can see it then you are using visual coding, but if you are repeating it to yourself you are using acoustic coding (by sound).Įvidence suggests that this is the principle coding system in short-term memory (STM) is acoustic coding. For example, a word which is seen (in a book) may be stored if it is changed (encoded) into a sound or a meaning (i.e. Think of this as similar to changing your money into a different currency when you travel from one country to another. When information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it needs to be changed into a form that the system can cope with, so that it can be stored.

images, sounds or meaning.įor psychologists the term memory covers three important aspects of information processing: This information takes many different forms, e.g. Memory is involved in processing vast amounts of information. Without memory, we could not learn anything.

We would not be able to remember what we did yesterday, what we have done today or what we plan to do tomorrow. Without a memory of the past, we cannot operate in the present or think about the future.

Memory is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the storage and subsequent retrieval of information. “Memory is the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order to use this information in the present’ (Sternberg, 1999). “Memory is the process of maintaining information over time.” (Matlin, 2005)

What is visual encoding in psychology