Memory is the ability to retain, store, and retrieve information over time. Although we often think of memory as a single process, psychologists have shown that it consists of several different systems, each serving a unique purpose.
Memory enables us to recognise faces, remember names, recall facts, solve problems, and learn new skills. Without memory, learning would be impossible.
One way of understanding memory is by looking at how information is remembered. Another is by examining how information flows through the different memory systems.
Ways of memorising
Recall
Recall is probably the best-known way of remembering information. It involves retrieving information without being given the answer. Remembering a telephone number you have just heard, recalling a shopping list, answering an examination question, or remembering dates learned in history are all examples of recall.
Because recall requires information to be retrieved without prompts, it is generally more difficult than recognition.
Recognition
Recognition occurs when you identify information that you have encountered before. It is usually easier than recall because the correct answer is presented among other possibilities. For example, a history teacher may provide four dates and ask learners to select the one associated with a particular historical event.
People often underestimate how powerful recognition memory really is. In one classic study, psychologist Roger Shepard showed adults hundreds of photographs of faces. Later, participants were presented with pairs of faces and asked to identify the ones they had previously seen. Even after viewing hundreds of photographs, most participants achieved recognition accuracies of between 90 and 100 percent.
Paired associates
Another way of learning and remembering information is known as paired-associate learning. It involves remembering pairs of related items, such as names matched with faces, countries matched with capitals, pictures matched with words, or vocabulary words matched with their meanings.
This way of memorising plays an important role in language learning, reading, spelling, and many classroom activities.
Memory as the flow of information
One of the most influential models of memory describes learning as the flow of information through three broad memory systems:
- The sensory register
- Working (short-term) memory
- Long-term memory
Each system plays a vital role in learning.
Sensory register
The sensory register briefly holds information received through the senses. It lasts for only a fraction of a second. For example, if a line of print is flashed before your eyes for one-tenth of a second, the image that lingers momentarily after it disappears forms part of the sensory register. Likewise, a sound may continue to “echo” briefly after it has ended.
Only a small amount of this sensory information receives sufficient attention to move into working memory.
Short-term memory and working memory
When you remember a telephone number long enough to dial it, recall the name of someone you have just met, or keep the beginning of a sentence in mind while reading the end, you are using working memory.
Working memory temporarily stores and manipulates information while we perform mental tasks. It allows us to follow instructions, solve mathematical problems, understand language, and reason through new information. To calculate (3 × 3) + (4 × 2) mentally, for example, you must temporarily remember that 3 × 3 = 9 while calculating 4 × 2 = 8, before combining the two answers.
The distinction between short-term memory and working memory remains a topic of discussion among researchers. Some use the terms interchangeably, while others make an important distinction. Many psychologists reserve the term short-term memory for the temporary storage of information only. Working memory, on the other hand, not only stores information temporarily but also allows us to manipulate and use that information while thinking.
Psychologist Nelson Cowan suggests that short-term memory has a limited storage capacity of about four items when rehearsal is prevented. When attention is actively directed towards the information and rehearsal is allowed, working memory enables us to process considerably more information.
Regardless of the terminology used, working memory is fundamental to learning. Weak working memory often makes it difficult to follow instructions, understand reading passages, solve problems, organise information, and complete classroom tasks.
Long-term memory
Long-term memory stores information for extended periods—from minutes to decades. It contains our knowledge of language, mathematical procedures, historical facts, personal experiences, and the countless skills we acquire throughout life. Everything from riding a bicycle to remembering your childhood home depends on long-term memory.
Learning is successful only when information moves from working memory into long-term memory and can later be retrieved when needed.
Our senses are involved too
Visual memory
Visual memory is the ability to store and retrieve information that has been seen. It allows us to remember letters, words, faces, symbols, diagrams, and visual patterns after they are no longer in view.
Many researchers estimate that approximately 80 percent of classroom learning occurs through vision, making visual memory one of the most important cognitive skills for academic success.
Learners with weak visual memory often struggle to remember the appearance of words, making reading and spelling particularly difficult. Addie Cusimano explains this well in her book Learning Disabilities: There is a Cure:
Children who have not developed their visual memory skills cannot readily reproduce a sequence of visual stimuli. They frequently experience difficulty in remembering the overall visual appearance of words or the letter sequence of words for reading and spelling. They may remember the letters of a word but often cannot remember their order, or they may know the initial letter and configuration of the word without having absorbed the details, that is, the subsequent letters of the word. As a result, these students fail to develop a good sight vocabulary and frequently experience serious writing and spelling difficulties.
Auditory memory
Auditory memory is the ability to store and recall information that has been heard. It enables learners to remember spoken instructions, classroom explanations, conversations, vocabulary, and information presented during lessons.
Children with weak auditory memory often remember only fragments of what a teacher has said. As a result, they may struggle to understand new concepts, follow instructions, or remember important information presented orally.
Auditory memory also plays an important role during reading. Even when we read silently, we mentally “hear” the words. If we cannot effectively process this internal speech, reading comprehension suffers. Neurodevelopmentalist Cyndi Ringoen points out that auditory short-term memory is especially important for phonics instruction because phonics is fundamentally an auditory learning system.
Don’t forget sequential memory
Sequential memory refers to the ability to remember information in the correct order. Remembering the alphabet, the days of the week, the months of the year, a telephone number, or the steps in a procedure all depend on sequential memory.
Visual sequential memory
Visual sequential memory is the ability to remember visual information in the correct sequence.
Reading depends heavily on this skill because every word consists of letters arranged in a specific order. Changing the order of the letters in name produces mean or amen, creating entirely different words. Learners with poor visual sequential memory often struggle with reading accuracy and spelling because they have difficulty remembering the correct sequence of letters.
Auditory sequential memory
Auditory sequential memory is the ability to remember sounds or spoken information in the correct order.
Weaknesses in this area may cause learners to confuse the order of syllables in longer words such as preliminary or statistical, making pronunciation, spelling, and language learning more difficult.
Edublox improves memory
Memory is not a fixed ability. Like many other cognitive skills, it can be strengthened through systematic training.
Edublox is an educational approach that integrates cognitive training, reading and mathematics intervention, and sound learning principles. Rather than teaching learners to compensate for weak cognitive skills, Edublox aims to strengthen the underlying abilities that make learning possible.
Our programmes improve a wide range of memory skills, including:
- Iconic memory
- Working memory
- Long-term memory
- Visual memory
- Auditory memory
- Visual sequential memory
- Auditory sequential memory
By strengthening these foundational cognitive skills, learners become more efficient readers, better spellers, stronger problem-solvers, and more confident learners.
If you would like to find out how Edublox can help you or your child, contact your closest Edublox branch for an assessment.
