Hey..! as you know memory in psychology is divided into three types
- sensory memory
- short-term memory (STM)
- long-term memory (LTM)
Three storage systems of memory.
Storage is the creation of records of information. for memory to go into storage it has to pass through different stages, like Sensory Memory, Short-Term Memory, and then Long-Term Memory.
As you can see in the above diagram memory has to pass through 3 different levels to go into storage.
sensory memory
is an initial stage of passing memory to storage. it stores the sensory information for a second or less than a second. To encode memory in sensory it requires systems like visual, acoustic, and semantic. It extends the duration of the perception of stimuli long enough so that they can be recognized and transformed.
short-term memory (STM)
This type of memory is also known as Working Memory. it stores the information for 20-30 seconds. It takes information from sensory memory and sometimes connects it to long-term memory. The capacity of Short-term memory is a “magical number” (7 and +/-2).
Example:
- It is useful for tasks like dialing a phone number.
long-term memory (LTM)
As its name indicates it stores memory for a long period starting from an hour to a lifetime. it has a large capacity to hold a large amount of memory, it is virtually limitless. It is the largest part of memory.
It is divided into two types:
- Explicit: This type of memory which consciously tries to remember and recall.
- Implicit: This type of memories that is not part of our consciousness.
By learning three storage systems of memory you get to know how information is processed, stored, and retrieved.