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| Some Basic Properties of Memory |
Some Basic Properties of Memory
No one knows exactly how the interactions of signals flowing through a network of neurons in your brain actually lead to the formation of memories. Still, daily experience and experiments in psychology do reveal some of the basic properties of human memory.
In describing memories the concept of a ‘memory item’ is very useful. A memory item is defined as all the neural information that corresponds to a simple event or a simple description that you might store in memory. With this terminology, your complex memories can be regarded as collections of items.
Accuracy of memories
Memories of an experience are not precise records of reality. Eyewitness accounts in criminology suggest that a memory is often intuitive and incomplete. When a memory is created, we first use our existing knowledge to establish a reasonable mental framework for what is happening, then we add observed details, and finally we search our memories for related experiences to fill in the fine brush strokes. The result of this creative process is then stored as a memory item.
Your first encounter with a new phenomenon can only be interpreted in terms of what you already know. So the more you know, the easier it is to comprehend new experiences. Your ability to learn new material today is dependent on the information that you stored in your memory yesterday.
Remembering and forgetting
You can make deliberate mental efforts to remember some information. This is what learning and studying is all about. It is difficult to deliberately forget something that you have already learned, but when a memory is ignored it tends to fade with time.
Memory recall
Consider the analogy of your memory as sets of recipe cards suspended in a vast fishing net. Each card contains a memory item. The strings of the net correspond to links among your memories. Once a stimulus, internal or external, causes you to jump into your memory net, you can start moving along the strings looking at the recipe cards for the information you want. Note that you cannot recall items at random from your memory. Some stimulus has to provide a starting point for a memory search.
Once you have a starting point you can move from that point to other memories that are linked to it along any string in the net. You can only access a specific memory item by moving along a string that leads to it. Fortunately, you are able to zip along the strings, and can rapidly search through a wide range of memories while seeking a particular memory item.
Have you ever wondered, ‘Why did I think of that just now?’ An external stimulus – something you saw, heard, tasted, smelled, or touched caused you to jump somewhere into your memory network. Perhaps you saw a popcorn vendor, and that led you to the memory of a childhood experience, and that led to the last time you talked to your mother, and that led to your need for a new telephone, and that led to the fact you had bills to pay, and that reminded you to check your wallet to make sure you hadn’t lost your credit card.
As you search through your memories, it is relatively easy to lose track of your initial chain of thought and become side-tracked while examining other interesting items.
No one knows exactly how the interactions of signals flowing through a network of neurons in your brain actually lead to the formation of memories. Still, daily experience and experiments in psychology do reveal some of the basic properties of human memory.
In describing memories the concept of a ‘memory item’ is very useful. A memory item is defined as all the neural information that corresponds to a simple event or a simple description that you might store in memory. With this terminology, your complex memories can be regarded as collections of items.
Accuracy of memories
Memories of an experience are not precise records of reality. Eyewitness accounts in criminology suggest that a memory is often intuitive and incomplete. When a memory is created, we first use our existing knowledge to establish a reasonable mental framework for what is happening, then we add observed details, and finally we search our memories for related experiences to fill in the fine brush strokes. The result of this creative process is then stored as a memory item.
Your first encounter with a new phenomenon can only be interpreted in terms of what you already know. So the more you know, the easier it is to comprehend new experiences. Your ability to learn new material today is dependent on the information that you stored in your memory yesterday.
Remembering and forgetting
You can make deliberate mental efforts to remember some information. This is what learning and studying is all about. It is difficult to deliberately forget something that you have already learned, but when a memory is ignored it tends to fade with time.
Memory recall
Consider the analogy of your memory as sets of recipe cards suspended in a vast fishing net. Each card contains a memory item. The strings of the net correspond to links among your memories. Once a stimulus, internal or external, causes you to jump into your memory net, you can start moving along the strings looking at the recipe cards for the information you want. Note that you cannot recall items at random from your memory. Some stimulus has to provide a starting point for a memory search.
Once you have a starting point you can move from that point to other memories that are linked to it along any string in the net. You can only access a specific memory item by moving along a string that leads to it. Fortunately, you are able to zip along the strings, and can rapidly search through a wide range of memories while seeking a particular memory item.
Have you ever wondered, ‘Why did I think of that just now?’ An external stimulus – something you saw, heard, tasted, smelled, or touched caused you to jump somewhere into your memory network. Perhaps you saw a popcorn vendor, and that led you to the memory of a childhood experience, and that led to the last time you talked to your mother, and that led to your need for a new telephone, and that led to the fact you had bills to pay, and that reminded you to check your wallet to make sure you hadn’t lost your credit card.
As you search through your memories, it is relatively easy to lose track of your initial chain of thought and become side-tracked while examining other interesting items.
