Components of long term memory

Single Process Approach
Some psychologists do not agree with the idea of three sequential stages of memory; they had a single process
approach i.e., levels-of- processing theory.
 

Levels-of- Processing Theory
•  What is most important in the process of memorizing or learning material is the degree to which the material is mentally analyzed.
•  How much of new information will be remembered will be determined by the extent or amount of information processing that takes place when new material is encountered.
•  The information will be more and more likely to beremembered as the initial processing becomes more and more intense.

Information that is paid little attention will not be processed thoroughly, will remain at the shallow level of memory, and will be forgotten soon.
On the other hand information that receives greater attention is processed thoroughly; such information enters the deeper level of memory.

Shallow Level Memory
This is the physical and sensory aspect of information.
 

Deepest Level Memory
•  Meaning of information is considered important in analysis of information.
•  A wider context, rather than a limited or restricted, perspective may be taken.

•  Associations between what this information means, and the already existing and known broader networks of knowledge, may be drawn
 

Recall and Retrieval of Long-term Memory
•  Why do we remember certain events very vividly even after a very long time?
•  Why can’t we remember something that we thought we know very well?
•  Are the memories that we can recall very clearly, really exact reproductions or distorted, or may be exaggerated?

Flashbulb Memories
•  The memories that are as clear and vivid as a snapshot.
•  Such memories are of events that are important for us, are specific, or surprising or astonishing e.g., an interview room, an accident, first day at class.
•  Although flashbulb memories are vivid, clear and detailed, still they may be lacking many important details.
•  At times the recall may be very different from the actual event whereas the person believes he is remembering right.
•  Many elements may be missed and many added.

Tip-of-the-tongue Phenomenon
Inability to recall events, details, or information that we thought we knew very well.
 

Causes of the Tip-of-the-tongue Phenomenon
•  Information overload
•  Accumulation of pieces of similar and confusing information
•  Preoccupation]
 

Retrieval Cues Are Helpful!!!
Autobiographical Memory: The Episodic Aspect of Long-term Memory
•  Autobiographical memories are recollections of past life events, circumstances, episodes, and happenings.
•  These memories, although they seem perfect to us, may also be distorted, exaggerated, changed.
•  Schemas:According to Bartlet information is remembered in terms of schemas i.e., general themes in memory that contain relatively little specific detail.
•  Irrelevant or unimportant details are discarded.
•  People’s understanding of the situation, their expectations, and awareness of others’ motivation affect memory and recall.

Forgetting

Forgetting is the inability to retrieve or recall information from the long- term memory.
Forgetting may occur due to a number of factors such as:
•  Information discarded / decayed due to the non- use of the learned material.
•  At times we know something, but are unable to access and retrieve it properly.
•  Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, was the first one to study the phenomenon of forgetting by using himself as a subject for his own experiments.
•  Used non- sense syllables; in sets of three; one vowel in between and the two consonants at the ends e.g. FIW, BOZ etc. His experiments, indicated thatforgetting occurred systematically; in the initial stages (the first hour and, in all the first nine hours) forgetting was most rapid, but then, the rate of forgetting decreased and sloweddown and did not change muchwith the passage of time.

•  Forgetting should not be understood as a problem alone, since it has some advantages too: it helps us discard irrelevant information and enables us to learn new things.