In psychology, an important fundamental is memory and the functions within memory. Memory is defined as the mental capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information (Gerrig, 2013). The three function process of memory, encode, store and retrieve impact the way of remembering or forgetting something. Encoding or the processing of information into memory is one of three parts. The structure of encoding converts into a way that is remembered and than stored into the brain for later recall of short or long term memory. Encoding is the first important task into creating a new memory. The process of memory is the perception, or way you internally or externally perceive something. Different types of encoding are used such as visual encoding, which is visually converting new …show more content…
As information is processed in the brain it is needed to be stored in either in long term memory (LTM) or short term memory (STM). Long term memory is storing information for retrieval at any time over a long period of time. Short term memory is storage for a short period of time with limited capacity. The way we store information affects the way we retrieve the amount and kind of information that is held. A process that allows for more storage in the STM is called chunking, the process of putting single information together that is similar into bigger recognizable pieces.
The last process in the 3 stages of memory is retrieval. Once the information has been encoded and stored in memory it is than retrieved in order to be used. Retrieval cue is a way that internally or externally generates similar ideas to help with the retrieval of a memory. The type of retrieval cue that are available impact the way information is retrieved. Memories that are unable to be retrieved cannot be used. The retrieval cues that have the most efficient way are the strongest memories that are able to be