2.1. Memory Encoding
Encoding begins with perception.
Encoding happens when information comes into your memory system, it has to be changed into a form that system can recognize it and then store it. Think of this as translating words from a foreign language into your native language.
Most memory failures occur in the stage of encoding. We learn things every single day of our life. We are constantly relying on our learning memory system. We may have to remember how to get to the store, series of to do items, learning new names, learning a new process that we might have to perform at work.
Three main ways in which information can be encoded :
1. Visual (picture)
2. Acoustic (sound)
3. Semantic (meaning)
This means that we take information, either as a picture or a sound or that we give the information meaning.
For example:
You would like to call your teacher for some
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Now try again with this one:
MTV-CNN-ABC-FOX
The material in this string could be chunked into four sets of three letters each, you would only have to remember the names of four television stations.
Chunking changes the number of items you have to remember from 12 to only four.
Chunking can be very helpful when you need to process complex information. It helps your brain run more efficiently.
After that first sight, the data is stored in short-term memory, for an only limited period of time, 20 to 30 seconds, holding not more than seven items at the time. This capacity can be increased somewhat by using various memory strategies.
For example, a ten-digit number such as 3855246052 may be too much for your short-term memory to hold.
If you divide a telephone number into chunks, as in 385-524-6052 it may actually stay in your short-term memory long enough for you to dial the telephone or to write it down. If you keep repeating the number to yourself, you are actually resetting the short-term