| The Classification and Nomenclature of Memory |
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Yong Sook Park |
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Department of Neurosurgery, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Seoul, Korea |
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| Abstract |
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One of the most important conceptual developments in cognitive theorizing is the subdivision of memory into three separate processes of encoding, storage and retrieval. Another important conceptual development is the division of memory into three different
stages of sensory, short term and long term memory. Sensory memory serves to briefly hold stimuli in a raw (sensory) form so that
one can register and attend to it. Short term memory is a limited capacity store that can be assessed with a digit span task. Most
people can hold between five and nine items in short term memory. Without rehearsal, this memory trace fades over the course of
minutes. Long term memory is a more permanent, apparently limitless store, containing all our knowledge of the world and memories of the past. Working memory is the memory system that allows us to hold and manipulate stored information ‘on-line’. Declarative memory is memory that we are conscious of and can verbalize. It can be subdivided into episodic memory and semantic. Nondeclarative (or implicit) memory includes classical conditioning and procedural memory (motor skills and habits such as tying up
shoelaces). These forms of memory are difficult to describe verbally – they can be ‘encoded’ and ‘retrieved’ with little or no conscious awareness of it. Unlike declarative memory, nondeclarative memory is inflexible and bound to the modalility of the original response systems. |
| Key Words:
Memory, Cognition, Encoding, Storage, Retrieval, Declarative. |
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