Language, Memory and Thought, Essay Example

Introduction

It is clear that modern-day people appear to be surrounded by many voices, sounds, images, symbols and other data in this world. However, one should take into account the fact that there are many failing to successfully use the information they tend to receive from various sources. Obviously, although the human memory occurs as the natural ability of every individual to store, retain and recall the information and experiences, not all of us strive hard to improve it in order to accelerate the processes of remembering, encoding, effective recalling, maintaining our happiness and monitoring our emotions. In any way, as for this paper, it is aimed at communicating the three critical phases of memory, the maintenance of memory over time as well as the differences between long-term and working memory; and, to be precise, the focus here lies in arguing that human memory can be characterized by being mostly unexplored even though the psychologists conducted numerous surveys. Furthermore, as for the differences between long-term and working memory, it is possible to emphasize certain distinctions.

Principles of Human Memory

Basically, there are three types of memory: sensory memory, short-term (working) memory and long-term memory. All of these respective types are linked to each other. Incoming information enters the sensory memory. If the information is perceived attentively, it can get into working memory. Finally the information can reach the long-term memory by means of encoding process. Apparently, in view of many psychologists, there exist many types of information encoding. Notwithstanding this fact, it becomes evident that visual, acoustic and semantic encodings are most frequently used. During any type of encoding, the raw and external data are converted into information that can be stored in memory. Once willing to effectively encode information, first of all, it is necessary to be attentive, since the incoming data is directly connected with information processing, imagery and elaboration.

What is more important, it is mandatory to apply the selective attention, which is responsible for concentrating on specific information while ignoring the unnecessary facts; the aforementioned mechanism proves to assist people to succeed in converting the data into effective and accurate information. Before the initial stages of encoding, it tends to be necessary to attend the data itself. One more way to encode information is to use imagery. Many modern scientists believe that the representation of information in mental pictures is the key to remarkable memory. If the information is perceived from the book, we should pay attention either to the visual information or just perceive a page as a whole, remembering the precise location of the text.

Memory Manipulation

One of the most complicated processes is moving information into long-term memory. It can be explained by the complex structure of the long-term memory; one should be aware that it is divided into declarative facts and procedural skills; as for the procedural skills, they are supposed to rely on declarative knowledge structures (Anderson, 1976). The declarative facts, for their part, can be semantic (denoting some meaning) and episodic (denoting events). The procedural skills of the long-term memory are responsible for some repeated actions like playing guitar or riding a bike. The transformation of information from short-term (working) memory into long-term memory can be achieved in many ways. In case people repeat the information enough times, they will definitely manage to remember it for a long period of time. Another way to transfer information into long-term memory is to think about it deeply. In other words, people elaborate on the information, striving to link the facts that are already familiar to them with the information they are attempting to remember.

Recall (or in some cases retrieval of information) refers to re-accessing of information from the past experience, which was previously encoded and stored in the brain. One has to be conscious that most of information is done by direct retrieval. Basically, there are two main methods of accessing the information: by means of recognition and recall. If an individual wants to recall the information effectively, he/she should use recognition, based upon the association of certain objects with previously experienced ones, both of which together denote the process of comparison of information with memory. Although recognition involves the comparison, it is considered to be mostly unconscious process. In case people succeed in direct uncovering of the information from the memory, they can state that they succeed in recall. Recall is more conscious process than recognition. Recall stands for remembering certain facts, events and objects. In terms of recall, people use their mental images and concepts in order to remember some specific facts. All in all, recognition requires only simple familiarity decisions, whereas full recall implies the search and retrieval of familiar items, which are supported by the respective familiarity decision. If both correlated processes are correctly applied, then people can be precisely sure that the correct information is chosen from the memory and the effective recall occurs.

Emotional Constituent of Memory

In view of some psychologists, emotion basically incorporates psychological arousal and empirical awareness (Myers, 2004). When dealing with information from emotional modules, it is important to sort it out properly. First of all, one should separate emotions from the message that is conveyed. Remembering the exact fact or event is much easier than remembering the whole emotional set of events. In some cases, the emotional information can depend upon certain mental disorders of certain individuals. In case people have bias towards someone, they can hardly succeed in remembering his/her message. In accordance with numerous surveys, it becomes apparent that people have to avoid prejudice despite various aspects such as, for instance, sex, age, and race so as to make their minds clear enough to perceive the information correctly after the data conversion. One more barrier to overcome is to successfully recognize stimulus: either good or bad. In case people consider this, their cognitive processes and emotion information perception will be effective.

The Maintenance of Memory over Time

The brain’s ability to memorize everyday’s thing relies on the hippocampus, which is a structure located deeply inside the brain. However, is the hippocampus continuing to maintain the memory of such events, as, for instance, the commencement address at the university graduation some 15 years ago? On the basis of the aforementioned rhetoric inquiry, one should understand that the issue of maintaining memory still appears to be the matter of great concern due to a little insight into this field of studies. In view of a number of scholars, the activity within the hippocampus emerged to have declined as a subjects learned occasions, which proved to be up to more than 10 years old. All in all, looking into the entity of the maintenance of memory over time, it is necessary to indicate that the biology behind the way people’s brain tends to keep memories still remains only partially understood.

Long-Term Memory and Working Memory

Considering the relationship between long-term memory and working memory, it is worth saying that it has been an issue of numerous disputed since the time immemorial. The point is that, in view of many widely-acknowledged scholars, one should come to understanding that despite a close relationship between the abovementioned two phases of memory, there are precise differences. Inevitably, it is necessary to distinguish between “…information stored temporarily in working memory and information stored in long-term memory but directly accessible through retrieval cues stored in working memory.” (Ericsson & Kintsch, 1991, p. 18) What is more, one has to admit that long-term memory is likely to work absolutely independently of any kind of short-term (working) memory activation. In addition, one should draw special attention to a number of dimensions of long-term memory that have nothing to do with working memory. Among the most straightforward aspects, it is possible to distinguish such as, for example, motor skills as well as some other procedural memories. All in all, in accordance with some experts on human memory, one cannot but encounter the fact that any episodic memory proves to rely on the issue of personal experience; as a result, it demands activating the episodic buffer. Analyzing the importance of memory research, one should highlight the fact that it “… can be used to study more effectively, no matter what the subject is.” (Santrock, 2003, p. 17)

Conclusion

To sum up, it is worth making mention that human memory despite numerous surveys conducted still remains the issue of debates, since one can emphasize absolutely different interpretations of certain phases of memory among the outstanding scholars; a peculiar thing is than brain’s ability to form memories proves to have a complex mechanism of performance. As a result, it is hard to provide a unanimous opinion on this matter. For all that, the differences between long-term and working memory emerge to be quite obvious.

References

Anderson, J. R. (1976). Language, Memory and Thought. Mahwah, New Jork: Erlbaum.

Ericsson, K. A., and Kintsch, W. (1991). Memory in Comprehension and Problem Solving: A Long-Term Working Memory. Institute of Cognitive Science Technical Report #91-13, University of Colorado at Boulder.

Myers, D. G. (2004). Theories of Emotion. Psychology: Seventh Edition, New York, NY: Worth  Publishers.

Santrock, J.W. (2003). Psychology, 7^th ed. New York: McgGraw-Hill Education.