Memory

Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval

Information enters memory through the process of encoding. Not everything that one sees or hears is encoded; rather, only information that is relevant and attended to enters memory. For example, Americans have been exposed to the design on the face of a penny thousands of times over their lifespans. Yet when given a set of possible designs, most U.S. citizens cannot recognize the actual face [Page 1003]of a penny. The process of encoding is the first filter on what information is later remembered. In this way, memories are very different from video recordings. If one videotapes an event, he or she can later go back and replay the details, even if one was not paying attention to that information in the moment. However, if a detail is not encoded into memory, then it cannot be remembered later, no matter how important. If an eyewitness does not encode the color of a perpetrator’s shirt during the crime, then he or she will never be able to remember that information.

Once it is encoded, a memory needs to be stored until it is needed. Researchers refer to these stored memories as memory traces. Newly formed memory traces are not yet stable and can be disrupted by new information (retroactive interference) or previously learned information (proactive interference). For example, trying to remember where you parked at the mall can be difficult because of the proactive interference caused by your parking spots on previous trips, whereas remembering what clothes you wore 10 days ago is made difficult because of the retroactive interference caused by your memories of what you wore in the intervening days.

Finally, information is retrieved from memory. Whether a memory can be remembered later depends heavily on the cues that are used to try and retrieve it. One famous example from George Mandler is that it is easy to recognize your butcher when he is in the grocery store, but it is much more difficult to remember who he is if you see him on the public bus. Similarly, one may be unable to recall the name of King Arthur’s sword if asked directly, but when given three options (e.g., Excalibur, Durandal, or Merlin), it is much easier to recognize that the sword was called Excalibur. These examples illustrate the difference between availability and accessibility in memory. A lot more information is available in our memory storage than is accessible at any given time. What information is accessible depends on the retrieval cues used to access the information. According to the encoding specificity principle, the best retrieval cues will be those that were present at encoding. For example, after studying a list of words in a distinctive room, one will remember more of the words if one tries to remember them in that same room, compared with a different setting. In addition, unique retrieval cues are more effective than are common ones. The same demonstration will not work if the study location is a generic room with no distinctive features to help cue the memories at retrieval.

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