Memory - Dictionary of Psychotherapy

Memory

Memory is the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information (117), an ability to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information.

Information processing: There are three main stages in the formation and retrieval of memory: encoding or registration (processing and combining of received information); storage (creation of a permanent record of the encoded information); retrieval or recall (calling back the stored information in response to some cue for use in a process or activity).

There are three distinct types of memory: sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory.

Sensory memory is associated with a second of observation. Some of the information in sensory memory is transferred to short- term memory.

Short-term memory allows one to recall something from several seconds to as long as a minute without rehearsal; it is associated with the frontal lobe (especially dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and the parietal lobe, and the hippocampus which is involved in the consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory.

Long-term memory can store large quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration, associated with neural connections spread throughout the brain.

Encoding is the processing of physical sensory input into one's memory. During memory encoding, information may be processed about space, time, and frequency through automatic processing or effortful processing. There are Visual, Acoustic, and Semantic encoding (processing of meaning).

Storage is the information retained in the sensory memory, the short-term memory or the long-term memory. In STM/short-term memories the information is normally stored acoustically. In LTM/long-term memories the information is normally stored semantically (as meaning). The storage in sensory memory and short-term memory generally has a strictly limited capacity and duration.

Retrieval is the process of obtaining memory information from storage.

Memory depends on getting sufficient sleep (sleep improves consolidation of information), the hippocampus replays activity from the current day while sleeping. Memory also depends on repetition.

If you have memory related issues Counselling and Psychotherapy may be provided via Skype and FaceTime in the comfort of your home, office or any place of your choice.

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