Memory is defined as "an internal record or representation of some prior event or experience." (Purdy, Markham, Schwartz, &Gordon, 2001, p.9) This record may be frail. A simple fact that may help you later down the road: The more you know the easier it is to learn, so don't worry about overfilling your brain!
There are three research models on memory: Traditional three-stage memory model, Encoding, storage, and retrieval approach, and the biological approach. It seems that the AP Exam stresses the first two models, however a basic understanding of the biological approach couldn't hurt.
In the traditional three-stage memory model there is a separate memory system that differs in duration, capacity, and function.
Next-in-line effect
Echoic memory
Iconic memory
Maintanance rehearsal
Elaborative rehearsal
Chunking
Spacing effect
Serial position effect
Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval
Encoding happens either automatically and encoding also takes effort. Encoding explains how information gets into our memory. We capture much of knowledge of space, time, and frequency with little to no effort. This is called automatic processing and we have a hard time keeping it from happening. A good example is that reading a reversed sentence at first takes effort:
.citamotua emoceb nac gnissecorp luftroffE.
After practice this becomes more automatic, much as reading from right to left becomes easy for students who read Hebrew (Kohlers, 1975).
So while some knowledge is retained without any attention given to it, vast amounts are retained through effort and attention. To boost our ability to remember through concious effort we use rehearsal (conscious repetition).
Be able to understand the research of Herman Ebbinghaus. His findings state that the amount remembered depends on the time spent learning.
Encoding Imagery: Research suggests that we remember better words that produce picture images than those low-imagery words. Rosy retrospection is the tendency for people to recall events more favorably than they evaluated it at the time. One of the most popular imagery aids are mneumonics. The two main devices are acoustic and visual codes.
Storage: When the brain is making a memory their is much activity in the hippocampus, as well as in the frontal lobes. When asked to recall information, again a PET shows great activity in the hippocampus. Storage is the ability to hold information
We store information in long-term memory based on meaning and importance. Is psychology meaningful and important? I sure hope so!
The Clark Nutcracker pictured to the left may have the best memory of all time. It can bury 6000 pine cone seeds and return the next year to find them all.
Retrieval: We know more than we can recall. This is because it is easier to retrieve information by using recognition than recall. To retrieve a specific smemory, you first need to identify one of the strands that leads to it, a process called priming. Often, according to William James, our associations are activated, or primed, without our awareness.
Two other memory phenomena are context effect and mood-congruent memory. With context memory we are simply better able to retrieve information if back in the same context in which we learned it. Mood-congruent memory is the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.
It must also be stated that forgetting does occur. The AP Exam has questioned forgetting through retroactive and proactive interference. Proactive interference occurs when something you learned earlier disrupts your recall of something you experience later. Retroactive interference occurs when new information makes it harder to recall something you learned earlier.