How Memory Works

Encoding

the process of converting information from one format or medium into another so it can be efficiently stored, transmitted, or understood

Storage

It is how your brain holds onto information so you can use it later.

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage and back into your conscious awareness.

Parallel Processing

The brain’s ability to process many different parts of a situation at the exact same time.

Automatic Processing

THe brain memorizes things without you even trying or realizing.

IMPLICIT MEMORY

When you remember how to do something, but you can’t easily explain it in words.

EXPLICIT MEMORY

Information you can clearly state, explain or declare in words.
EX: when you are trying to remember a fact for a school test.

PROCEDURAL MEMORY

A specific type of implicit memory that holds your unconscious knowledge of how to perform physical actions and skills.
EX: once you learn the procedure, your body just does it without haveing to think about the individual steps.

EPISODIC MEMORY

A specific type of explicit memory that stores the “episodes” of your own life.
These memories always include details about what happened, where it happened, and when it happened.
EX: what you ate for dinner last night, first day of high school, your 16th birthday party.

SEMANTIC MEMORY

A specific type of explicit memory that stores general knowledge, word meanings, and concepts about the world
Unlike episodic memory, these are the things you just know, without remembering the exact time or place you learned them.
EX: Knowing that 2+2=4, Word definitions and general trivia.

PROSPECTIVE MEMORY

It is “remembering to remember” Instead of loking backward at the past, your brain is looking forward to make sure you perform an action at the right time.
EX: remembering to take ur medications at 8:00pm, remembering to buy milk when you walk past the grocery strroe after school, or remembering to turn in your homework before the bell rings.