Sensory memory
It is the part in the memory system where there is first communication for stimuli. The sensory memory only stores information for a period that is very short. This memory type allows one to recall images which have been focused on by the eye by giving the eye a vision field that is large. An example is when one touches an ice cube for the first time. One remembers the hardness and coldness of the ice cube. Therefore, when one sees things made of ice, they associate them with their first contact of that ice cube.
Short-term memory
This are the things that one is aware and thinking about currently or at that time. Information stored in short-term memory is only stored for roughly twenty to thirty seconds, but it can be shorter especially if there is distraction or maintenance and rehearsal of information is barred. An example of short term-memory is when one translates simultaneously what the other speaker says.
Long-term memory
It refers to the memories capacity to unlimitedly store and hold information for lengthy periods. Some information is easily recallable while others are difficult to remember. Long-term memories are prone to forgetting. Long-term memories can stay for a number of days to even decades. Examples of this are memories of movies watched on the previous day, how one plays basketball, the time one got their degree, and encyclopedic or academic knowledge.
Think explain and provide an example of the following terms/concepts.
Retrieval cues
These are simply hints that can assist a person in recovering a particular information piece or a specific memory. These cues work as ones mental reminders and they help associate information that is new with things that one already knows. One has to create clear mental images to form retrieval cues. Therefore, retrieval cues are more effective if the mental image is more vivid. An example is when someone is depressed and they remember a situation in which they were depressed.
Implicit and explicit memory
These are the two ways by which information is stored by human beings.
Explicit memory
This are reminiscences that are retrieved consciously. It includes memories of things that have happened in the outside world. It is about things that happened at a specific event, time, and place. It is divided into two episodic memory (memories of things that happened in one’s life) and semantic memory (information that are facts regarding the world we live in). Both of these memories must be recovered deliberately. An example is recalling the cruise one went on the previous summer.
Implicit memory
These are memories that are stored and recovered unconsciously. These memories cannot be used for reasoning or actions. They include memories essential for performing tasks, events, or producing a particular response type. It is best shown when performance on a task is improving. An example is like driving a vehicle, you do not to think on how to do it you automatically just drive, or even when piano playing.
Flashbulb memories
It is a sudden onset of a distinctly, precise, vivid, long-lasting, concrete memory that has emotional significance to a person after the person’s discovery of an event that is shocking. In these memories people recall with clarity the details of when they heard first about the news, this includes the people they were with, the activity they were doing, and the place they were at. The emotions that a flashbulb memory elicits increases the recalling ability of the events details. An example is those people who were adults in the 1960’s have flashback memories of the murder of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy in America.
