Storing Memories
Introduced| English |
|---|
| Sensory memory/ˈsensəri ˈmeməri/ |
| Short-term memory/ʃɔːt tɜːm ˈmeməri/ |
| Working memory/ˈwɜːkɪŋ ˈmeməri/ |
| Long-term memory/lɒŋ tɜːm ˈmeməri/ |
| Maintenance rehearsal/ˈmeɪntənəns rɪˈhɜːsl/ |
| Elaborative rehearsal/ɪˈlæbrətɪv rɪˈhɜːsl/ |
| highly superior autobiographical memory/ˈhaɪli suːˈpɪərɪə ˌɔːtəʊˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪkl ˈmeməri/ |
| Amnesia/æmˈniːzɪə/ |
| anterograde/ænˈtɪərəɡreɪd/ |
| retrograde/ˌretrəʊˈɡreɪd/ |
| Alzheimer's disease/ˈæltsaɪməz dɪˈziːz/ |
| infantile amnesia/ˈɪnfəntaɪl æmˈniːzɪə/ |
Three stores, three very different capacities
- A phone number survives a few seconds unless you do something with it.
- Your name survives a lifetime with no effort at all.
- Those are different stores, and they differ in duration and capacity.
The four stores
- Sensory memory 感觉记忆 holds a very brief, very large trace.
- Short-term memory 短时记忆 holds a few items for a few seconds.
- Working memory 工作记忆 actively manipulates what short-term memory holds.
- Long-term memory 长时记忆 has no known practical limit on capacity or duration.
Which memory store?
Sort each description by the store it describes.
Short-term memory and working memory mean exactly the same thing.
Short-term memory is a store; working memory is the activity performed on its contents.
Two kinds of rehearsal
- Maintenance rehearsal 保持性复述 repeats information to hold it where it is.
- Elaborative rehearsal 精细复述 connects it to what you already know.
- Only the second reliably moves material into long-term storage — repetition holds, meaning transfers.
Which rehearsal reliably moves material into long-term memory?
Elaborative rehearsal connects new material to what you know; repetition alone only holds.
Short-term and working memory are not interchangeable. Short-term memory is a store — how much is held and for how long. Working memory is activity — what the mind is doing with it. Use the term the question is actually about.
Match each store to its characteristic.
Duration and capacity are what distinguish the stores.
Unusually good memory
- Some people show highly superior autobiographical memory 超常自传体记忆.
- They recall the events of individual days across decades.
- The CED's point is that this may indicate biological differences in how memory is stored.
Being unable to form new long-term memories is ____ amnesia.
Anterograde blocks new memories; retrograde blocks access to old ones.
Select all the storage failures the CED names.
The spacing effect is an encoding finding, not a storage failure.
When storage fails
- Storage can be impaired physically or by developmental limits.
- Amnesia 遗忘症 comes in two directions: anterograde 顺行性 (cannot form new memories) and retrograde 逆行性 (cannot reach old ones).
- Alzheimer's disease 阿尔茨海默病 and infantile amnesia 婴儿期遗忘 are the CED's other named cases.
A patient with anterograde amnesia greets the same visitor as a stranger every morning, yet can still recall his childhood in detail. New storage has failed; old storage is intact — which is why the two directions must be named separately.
Sensory, short-term, working and long-term memory differ in duration and capacity. Maintenance rehearsal holds, elaborative rehearsal transfers. Anterograde and retrograde amnesia fail in opposite directions.