GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY

Memory Learning

• Learning and memory are closely related

concepts.
• Learning is the acquisition of skill or knowledge,
while memory is the expression of what you’ve
acquired.
• Another difference is the speed with which the
two things happen. If you acquire the new skill or
knowledge slowly and laboriously, that’s learning.
If acquisition occurs instantly, that’s making a
memory.
• These specialists define learning as a process that will modify a
subsequent behaviour.
• Memory, on the other hand, is the ability to remember past
experiences. You learn a new language by studying it, but you
then speak it by using your memory to retrieve the words that
you have learned.
• Memory is essential to all learning, because it lets you store and
retrieve the information that you learn. Memory is basically
nothing more than the record left by a learning process.
• Thus, memory depends on learning. But learning also depends
on memory, because the knowledge stored in your memory
provides the framework to which you link new knowledge, by
association. And the more extensive your framework of existing
knowledge, the more easily you can link new knowledge to it.
• “Memory is the process of maintaining
information over time.” (Matlin, 2005)

• “Memory is the means by which we draw on

our past experiences in order to use this
information in the present’ (Sternberg, 1999).
The Memory Process
FIRST STAGE IS Encoding (or registration): the process of receiving,
processing, and combining information. Encoding allows information
from the outside world to reach our senses in the forms of chemical
and physical stimuli. In this first stage we must change the
information so that we may put the memory into the encoding
process. (FOR EXAMPLE: learning subject general psychology with Ms
Suhada)
NEXT STAGE IS Storage: the creation of a permanent record of the
encoded information. Storage is the second memory stage or AND
process in which we maintain information over periods of time.
(EXAMPLE: Understand the topic OR subject and save it (purposes)
for next uses)
LAST STAGE IS Retrieval (or recall, or recognition):
• The third process is the retrieval of information that we have stored.
We must locate it and return it to our consciousness. Some retrieval
attempts may be effortless due to the type of information.
(EXAMPLE: Retrieved OR USED the information that have been learn
by answering in quiz or examination)
 Types of Memory
• Memory actually takes many different forms. We know that when we
store a memory, we are storing information. But, what that information
is and how long we retain it determines what type of memory it is. The
biggest categories of memory are short-term memory (or working
memory) and long-term memory, based on the amount of time the
memory is stored. Both can weaken due to age, or a variety of other
reasons and clinical conditions that affect memory.

Long-Term Memory
• Long-term memory is our brain's system for storing, managing, and
retrieving information.
Short-Term Memory

• Closely related to "working" memory, short-term memory is the very

short time that you keep something in mind before either dismissing it or
transferring it to long-term memory.
Types of Long-Term Memory
• As you would imagine, long-term memories
are much more complex than short-term ones.
We store different types of information
(procedures, life experiences, language, etc.)
with separate memory systems.
Explicit Memory
• Explicit memory, or declarative memory, is a type of long-term
memory requiring conscious thought. It's what most people
have in mind when they think of a memory.
Implicit Memory
• Implicit memory is a major form of long-term memory that
does not require conscious thought. It allows you to do things
by rote.
Autobiographical Memory
• Most of us have one part of life that we remember better than
others. Find out if you have a "memory bump"!
Memory & Morpheus
• Researchers have come to believe slumber actively helps our
brains consolidate what we learn and remember. Can sleep hurt
or help memory?
• The first is declarative memory: your memory of all those things
that you are aware of remembering and that you can describe in
words, such as your birthday, or the meaning of the word “love",
or what you ate last night. This form of memory is also called
explicit memory, because you can name and describe each of
these remembered things explicitly.
• The other form of long-term memory is non-declarative memory.
It is also known as implicit memory, because you express it by
means other than words. For example, when you ride a bike,
juggle some balls or simply tie your shoelaces, you are expressing
memories of motor skills that do not require the use of language.
Such "motor memories" are just one type of implicit memory
Step to Enhance Your Memory
 Psychologists are finding strategies to help people adapt to memory
problems, including:

• Take mental snapshots. Good memory is

actually good learning, say rehabilitation
experts. That means forming a strong
association with new information as you learn
it.

Systematically take note of things. EX: When you

put down your keys, for instance, take a mental
snapshot of them lying next to the fruit bowl on
the kitchen table.
• Train your brain to remember. People in the early stages of
memory loss can benefit from simple memory training,
research suggests.

To learn a new name, for example, use "mnemonic devices"

that link the new information with familiar information. If you
meet someone named "Mr. Brown," picture him drenched in
that color as you're introduced.

Another training technique is one called "vanishing cues." If

you can't remember a name, write down any letters of it that
you can remember. Then fill in more and more until your
recall kicks in. This training works by bypassing the faulty
areas of the brain. Instead, you're training new areas of the
brain to take over.
• Take advantage of technology.A paging system, for example,
can help people remember appointments or other important
dates. And a specially programmed personal digital assistant
can help guide users through complex tasks. FOR EXAMPLE,
USE YOUR PHONE CALENDAR OR CAMERA OR NOTES OR
ALARM TO REMIND YOU ABOUT SOMETHING.

Technology does have its limits, of course. For one thing, you
have to remember how to use it or even that it's there for
you to use in the first place.

• Keep your spirits up. Memory problems can affect mood.

Exercise and mentally stimulating activities can help.

Adapted from “Mending memory” APA Monitor on Psychology

• Memory and learning go hand and hand with one
another. One’s memory is like a storage unit where
everything one has learned is kept secure but easily
unlocked to remember the material.
• Whereas learning, is the ability to filter through new
information and is learned through one’s
experiences and knowledge obtained through those
experiences.

• Without learning and memory together, it would

become incredibly hard to function on a day to day
basis. For example, we would not recognize our
family, home, or place of work. We might also forget
how to do a simple thing like tie our own shoe.
• Learning has a most significant impact on the brain. When most
are young they learn how to eat, get dressed, etc.
• It is our memory in which we can store this information to keep
and teach us how to live our lives efficiently and so called
politically correct. However, there can be traumatic experiences
that we hold in our memory hindering one from doing a specific
task due to those haunting thoughts.
• For example, if a women was raped, she might become a sex
addict or completely become celibate because of the horrifying
experience. For her, she learned that men are a certain way and
her memory will not let her forget. Learning and memory both
affected that woman. There is no learning without memory.

Wickens, A. (2005). Foundations of Biopsychology (2nd ed.). :

Prentice Hall, Inc. A Pearson Education Company