Memory Types, Models, and Strategies: A Cognitive Psychology Overview

Memory

Learning that persists over time.

Recall

Retrieving info that is not currently in your conscious awareness.

Recognition

Identifying previously learned info.

Relearning

Learning something more quickly when you learn it subsequent times.

Atkinson & Shiffrin's Information-Processing Model

Developed during cognitive revolution.

Sensory Memory

The initial stage of memory that holds sensory information.

Iconic Memory

Lasts half a second.

Echoic Memory

Lasts 3-4 seconds.

Working Memory

7 pieces of info, active processing, problem solving, connections, encoding.

Long-Term Memory

Memories, vocab, seemingly limitless, doesn't equal retrieval.

Explicit Memory

Consciously know, can say, aware you are remembering, facts and experiences.

Semantic Memory

Facts, concepts, general knowledge.

Episodic Memory

Your memory for things that happen to you.

Implicit Memory

Unconscious, skills and conditioned responses.

Procedural Memory

Memory for how to do things.

Priming

Where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to a subsequent stimulus, often without conscious awareness.

Classical Conditioning

Learning association.

Chunking

Grouping info into meaningful units, e.g., remembering phone numbers in 3,3,4 pattern.

Mnemonics

Using devices like acronyms, e.g., roygbiv.

Hierarchies

Organize info into broad categories then narrowing it down.

Distributed Practice

Learning over many days rather than cramming.

Shallow Processing

Encoding info on basic auditory or visual levels based on the sound, structure, or appearance of a word.

Deep Processing

Encoded semantically, based on actual meaning associated with the word.

Making Material Meaningful

A strategy to enhance memory retention.