What constitutes the memory process? Just like every other function, memory is a series of things happening one after the other.
There are three fundamental questions related to the memory process.
How are memorizes formatted?
Through the process of “Encoding”.
How are memories retained?
Through the process of “storage”.
How are memories recalled?
Through the process of “retrieval”
The process of remembering can actually be divided into four easy steps:
- Attention and selection.
- Encoding
- Storage
- Retrieval
Attention and selection:
It has already been established that attention plays a very important role in memory. In fact, the frost process of memory is attention. There is much more information in your environment that you can process at any one time. All our sources and all this needs to be processed. At any given time, our brain is exposed to hundreds of messages that need its attention. But it can’t process al these messages at the same time.
Encoding:
Once something is attended to, it must be encoded to be remembered. Basically, encoding refers to translating incoming information into a mental representation that can be stored in memory.
You can encode the same information in a number of different ways. For example: you can encode information according to its sound, what it looks like or what it means.
Storage:
Storage is the process of holding information in your memory. A distinction is often made between short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory is just that, brief and transient. Think about looking up a new phone number in the phone book and making a call. You may remember it long enough to make the call, but do not recall it later. This is your short-term memory, which can hold a small amount of information for a short period of time. Once you stop attending to the number, perhaps after you make the call and move on to the another task, you are likely to forget it. In order to remember the number of a longer period of time (and after attending to other things), you would need to store it in your long-term memory.
Retrieval:
In terms of memory improvement, it can help to understand how the retrieval process relates to encoding and storage. Conceder the relationship between retrieval and encoding. If you have encoded something visually, but are trying to retrieve it acoustically, you will have difficulty remembering it. Like encoding, information can be retrieved through visualizing it, thinking about the meaning or imagining the sound etc.,
Tip --> Attention --> Encoding --> Storage --> Retrieval.
These are the steps of memory discussed thus far. First, you select the information to which you will attend. You then encode the information for storage (where it can be practiced and processed more deeply). Later, when needed, information is retrieved by using a search strategy that parallels how the information was encoded and stored.
