Memory is one of the most important terms in psychology. We use this concept very often in everyday life. Memory in psychology is called mnemonic activity. This name has an interesting origin - after the name of the mother of the nine muses and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne. Ancient Greek mythology also attributes to this goddess the invention of light and speech. This article presents the characteristics of mnemonic processes, describes their forms and types.
Memory value
Memory is the link between the past, present and future of a person. It serves as the basis of mental activity. In addition, the mnemonic process is the most important condition for the life of each of us, our learning and development. It was customary for some peoples to erect monuments not to victories, but to defeats. This gave people a better chance of staying alive in the future.
It should be noted that mnemonic memory processes do not "mine" any new knowledge. They only reconstruct and organize everything that other cognitive processes “extract”. This happens taking into accounthuman needs and interests. A distinctive feature of memory, like the soul, is the orientation to the future, that is, not to what once was, but to what will be applied in the future. Therefore, scientists say that human memory, bringing a diverse experience to unity, creates a unique and inimitable, creates a personality. Indeed, to lose her is to lose everything.
Memory as a general characteristic of matter
Mnemic memory processes are not the exclusive privilege of man. They are found in various organisms at all levels of life. Memory is the general ability of matter to store traces of past impact. For example, our planet keeps "memories" of events, processes and phenomena of the past.
The development of living organisms on Earth has led to the emergence of a qualitatively different ability: not just to preserve, but also to reproduce what once took place. It is difficult to question the fact that such a memory is also characteristic of animals. Nevertheless, as studies conducted by scientists show, in these organisms, mnemonic processes are not separated from the processes of perception. Memory of this kind manifests itself, firstly, as recognition in a collision with one or another object, and secondly, as images of perception, when a certain image continues to be seen, and not remembered. A similar memory, called eidetic, is inherent in peoples who are in the early stages of their development, as well as in children. However, it is sometimes observed inadults.
The specifics of human memory, its study
Gradually, in the course of the formation of man as a social being, the development of mnemonic processes took place. Memory improved more and more, its new features arose. People have developed mnemonic processes that can not only record the events of the past and reproduce them, but also relate memories to a particular moment. This form of human memory appears as they grow older. It is not common for a small child, who is two or three years old, to relate his memories to the past, since such concepts as "tomorrow" or "yesterday" mean nothing to him.
Beginning to study the basic mnemonic processes, psychology became an experimental science. The methodology for conducting the first studies was quite simple. A person was offered various material for memorization: symbols, numbers, words (both meaningless and meaningful), etc. This helped the researchers to determine the patterns of mnemonic processes.
The life and activities of each of us are diverse, so there are quite a few forms of memory. Let's briefly consider the main ones.
Motor memory
This form of memory is the memorization, storage and subsequent reproduction of various movements. This is the earliest kind of mnemonic process, which appears first and disappears later than the rest. Even after a thirty-year break, a person can successfully play the piano, skate or ride a bicycle. The fact is that the main mnemonic memory processes are responsible for these actions.
Emotional memory
It refers to experiences, feelings. Emotional memory is also an early form. What do you think is better remembered: negative or positive emotional? Answer this question yourself, and then ask it to others. The result of this poll will be exactly the opposite answers.
The fact is that the quality of an emotional experience (positive or negative) does not determine how long it will be stored in memory. Here such general regularities are involved, according to which current events related to the future of the individual have a great chance to be preserved in his memory, regardless of what they were. In addition, the psychological characteristics of this person are important. Some of us prefer to keep positive experiences, while others prefer negative emotions.
Image memory
This memory is divided into visual, olfactory, tactile and auditory. Assignment to one category or another is determined by which analyzer is more involved in the perception of the material that needs to be preserved. The creation of figurative memory is based on the following simple connections (associations):
- by adjacency, when two or more phenomena that appeared in the same space or simultaneously are combined;
- by similarity (phenomena that have similar features);
- in contrast (opposite phenomena).
It must be said that connections do not form by themselves. The person must actively participate in this process. Initially, you need to identify them, then fix these connections in the image of perception, and only after that they become images of memory.
Verbal-logical memory
The content of this form of mnemonic process is thoughts that are expressed in symbolic or verbal form and presented in a certain logical structure. It is the orientation towards meaning, that is, towards what is being said, that is characteristic of verbal-logical memory. Orientation to the form, that is, to the way it is said, appears in two cases:
- in mentally retarded children, as they tend to memorize the material verbatim, because they cannot understand its meaning;
- in people with a high development of the intellect, who comprehend the meaning so easily and quickly that they are able to see the beauty of the form behind it.
As for the ways of organizing the mnemonic process, they are secondary. In other words, they first appear as mental operations and actions and only then are fixed (in the process of repetition), after which they become mnemonic actions that serve to organize internal experience and transform it. Therefore, if a person who has already left adolescence wants to improve memory, he must engage in thinking, that is, the formation of various mental actions, for which mnemonic processes are responsible.
Blearning, if the amount of material to be memorized is large or if a significant amount of information needs to be retained, a person resorts to the process of memorization. It is a memorization, the purpose of which is to keep the material in memory. Memorization is semantic, close to the text and verbatim. Researchers have found that it is better to repeat material that needs to be remembered some time after it has been perceived.
There are the following 4 main mnemonic actions:
- material grouping;
- orientation in material;
- establishment of intergroup links (relationships) between the elements of this material;
- establishing intragroup links.
These actions are not aimed at fixing and preserving. They are needed primarily for playback. There are complex semantic associations that verbal-logical memory uses. They connect phenomena that are characterized by a unity of origin, functioning, etc. Such relations of part and whole, type and kind, cause and effect appear that are not given directly in perception. It is necessary to carry out appropriate mental work that will allow us to highlight these connections and fix them.
Other grounds for classification
In addition to the various forms of memory listed above, there are also types of mnemonic processes that are distinguished according to the following criteria: the presence of a goal, methods and means of memorization, as well as the time of storing information. The most common division islast thing. Let us briefly describe the main types of memory according to the time of information storage.
Sensory memory
This is a kind of mnemonic process that is carried out at the receptor level. Information is stored for about a quarter of a second. This is the time it takes for the higher parts of the brain to turn their attention to it. If this does not happen, the information is erased, after which new data takes its place.
Short-term memory
The next type of memory is short-term. This mnemonic process is characterized by a small volume, which is 7 ± 2 elements. Their storage time is also insignificant (about 5-7 minutes). When grouping elements, an increase in the amount of short-term memory is possible: for it it does not matter if it is seven phrases or seven letters. A person, trying to retain information for a longer period, begins to repeat it.
RAM
Random access memory is a mnemonic process related to the current human activity. Therefore, the time and volume of information storage in this case is determined by the need for this activity. For example, when solving problems, a person remembers what its digital conditions are. When he solves it, he forgets about it.
Intermediate memory
Intermediate memory is a mnemonic process necessary to store the information that has been accumulated during the day. The body during a night's sleep "puts things in order." It categorizes the information that has been accumulated, distributes it:The unnecessary is removed and the rest goes into long-term memory. This work requires at least 3 hours, then the intermediate memory is ready for work again. A person who sleeps less than three hours has reduced attention, mental operations are disturbed, errors in speech appear.
Long-term memory
And finally, long-term memory is a mnemonic process, the volume of which and the period of storage of information in it have not yet been determined. A person stores only the data that he needs, and for the period for which it is necessary. Only in long-term memory is there both information to which a person has conscious access, and data to which he does not have access under normal conditions. In order to get it, you need to work hard.
