Three Stage Model of Memory

The Three Stage Model of Memory – Module 6.1

Fill in the following boxes by identifying and defining the memory stages (which is different from the information processing system) outlined in the text book. Save this document and type directly onto the document and boxes. The boxes will expand to accommodate what you write. Submit as an attachment to the appropriate drop box.

Identify the Memory Stage Description of Memory Stage Significant Fact About Memory Stage

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory is the shortest-term component of our memory. It provides us the ability to retain impressions of sensory information briefly (from a fraction of second to a few seconds) after the original stimuli have ended (p. 218). Sensory stimuli from our five senses strike our sensory receptors forming impressions which are briefly stored in our sensory register.

Visual stimuli are encoded into our iconic memory (type of photographic memory) as mental images.

Eidetic imagery is a form of visual memory where individuals can recall a previous visual image in detail (p. 218).

The sensory register called echoic memory holds our encoded auditory stimuli (sound). Sound creates an echolike impression on our mind for a few seconds after the original stimuli have ended. Sound impressions usually last a few seconds longer than visual images.

While these impressions fade fairly quickly, some will enter into our short-term memory (p. 219).

Short-Term Memory

Short- term memory is our minds “Post-it note” storage system for processing and remember small amounts of newly acquired knowledge for up to about 30 seconds. While short-term memory mostly relies on acoustic coding, it also relies on visual coding (p. 219).

The term working memory is often used interchangeably with short-term memory because it is a kind of “blackboard” in our memory system that we use to work on information for a short period of time....