Essay on Processes and Stages of Memory

Memory is the word scientists use to describe the processes and structures involved in the storage and retrieval of information. Memory is a major part of our everyday lives, we have to process and memorize information to succeed in things like school and any job. Many people have no idea how our memory functions, even though we use it every second of our lives.

Each step of memory processing works together in order to recall certain events or information. The three-step process of memory is encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding information is the beginning of learning new information. Storing information would be one's ability to maintain the information throughout time. Retrieving information is referred to as the ability to retrieve information from memories when you need it. When the information fails to make it to the retrieval stage, it becomes forgotten. The brain will also forget information through motivated forgetting and when memories collide with each other. I think that the brain becomes too overwhelmed in many situations which causes many interferences that affect the information collected in the retrieval process.

There are three stages of memory. Information begins in the sensory memory, then moves to short-term memory, and eventually gets to long-term memory (Introduction to Psychology). Information in sensory memory only lasts for a short period of time and is forgotten unless it is processed more, then it is moved onto short-term memory. In short-term memory, only small amounts of information can be kept for more than a few seconds like a lot of information that is said at once by a person, but usually, you can only remember that information for less than one minute unless that information gets passed into our long-term memory. In our long-term memory, memories that we can remember from weeks or even up to years and stay with us for a long period of time. Most people forget most of the information that they encounter but there is no limit to what we as humans can remember in our long-term memory.

A flashbulb memory is learning about an event after it happened (Admin). The feelings attached to the memory are what make an event more likely to become a flashbulb memory. Some examples of such remembrances include a school shooting, college graduation, the 9/11 attack, the birth of one's child(Better Help). The terror and fear are more attached to the school shootings and 9/11 because it involved the murders and death of many innocent people that had no reason to die. The birth of a newborn baby or graduation is more exciting than emotionally distressing, causing people to not remember them in as much detail but still remembering them somewhat vividly because they are big steps and life-changing events. Mothers will always remember the birth and pregnancy of their child because in most cases they will see the child almost every day, and the mother will always feel a close connection because the child was formed inside the mother’s body and the mother nursed and cared for the child.

All memories have some sort of emotion and feelings attached to them. The stronger feelings and emotions that one has towards the event, the longer the person will remember and the more vivid the memory will be.

Works Cited

Admin. “Flashbulb Memory In Psychology.” Education Is Around, 8 Dec. 2020, https://educationisaround.com/flashbulb-memory/#:~:text=A%20flashbulb%20memory%20is%20a,one%20type%20of%20autobiographical%20memory

Better Help. “What is a Flashbulb Memory?” Advice, 3 March 2020, https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/memory/what-is-a-flashbulb-memory/

Introduction to Psychology, “8.1 Memories as Types and Stages.” University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition, 2015, https://open.lib.umn.edu/intropsyc/chapter/8-1-memories-as-types-and-stages/#:~:text=Stages%20of%20Memory%3A%20Sensory%2C%20Short,Term%2C%20and%20Long%2DTerm%20Memory&text=According%20to%20this%20approach%20