"Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action."
Processes involved in acquiring, storing, and retrieving information.
Neuroanatomy: This is an important aspect of the brain and behavior psychology that deals with the study of the structure and function of the nervous system.
Neurophysiology: This is the study of how the neurons in the brain work together to produce various physiological processes.
Memory Systems: This topic explores the various systems and processes that the brain uses to store and retrieve information.
Brain Plasticity: This refers to the ability of the brain to change and adapt in response to various environmental stimuli.
Learning Processes: This involves the study of how individuals acquire new knowledge and skills, including cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes.
Cognitive Neuroscience: This interdisciplinary field focuses on understanding the brain basis of cognitive processes.
Brain Imaging: This is the study of how the physical structure and function of the brain can be visualized and measured using various imaging techniques.
Conditioning: This is the process through which an organism learns to associate a particular behaviour with a specific stimulus.
Memory Disorders: This is the study of various forms of memory impairment, including amnesia and dementia.
Sleep and Memory: This involves an exploration of how sleep affects memory consolidation and learning.
Stress and Memory: This involves an exploration of how stress can impact memory and learning processes.
Emotion and Memory: This explores how emotional experiences can influence the formation, retention and retrieval of memories.
Episodic Memory: This refers to the ability to recall specific events and experiences.
Semantic Memory: This is a type of long-term memory that deals with the storage of general knowledge and facts.
Working Memory: This is the ability to remember and manipulate information in the short term.
Memory Retrieval: This involves the process of retrieving stored memories, including factors that influence retrieval.
Forgetting and Repression: This involves an exploration of mechanisms of forgetting and the controversial concept of repression in psychology.
Memory Accuracy: This explores the accuracy of human memory and factors that can influence it.
Mnemonic Techniques: This involves the study of various techniques and methods to improve memory performance.
Neurological Basis of Memory: This topic explores the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the various processes involved in memory formation and retrieval.
Declarative Memory: This type of memory is used to store information that can be consciously recalled, such as facts or events.
Procedural Memory: This is the type of memory that is used to store information related to skills and processes, such as riding a bike or tying your shoes.
Working Memory: Also known as short-term memory, this type of memory is used to hold information temporarily while it is being used or processed.
Episodic Memory: This type of memory is used to remember specific events or experiences, such as a vacation or a family gathering.
Semantic Memory: This type of memory is used to store general knowledge or common facts, such as the name of the capital city of a particular country.
Flashbulb Memory: This type of memory is used to recall important or emotionally significant events, such as a natural disaster or a major personal achievement.
Associative Memory: This type of memory is used to store relationships between different pieces of information, such as the name of a restaurant and the type of cuisine it serves.
Motor Memory: This type of memory is used to store information related to movement and muscle function, such as the coordination required to play a musical instrument.
Spatial Memory: This type of memory is used to store information related to the layout of the physical environment or the location of objects, such as the layout of a city or the positions of pieces on a chessboard.
Implicit Memory: This type of memory is used to store information that is not consciously accessed, such as skills or habits that have been learned through repetition.
"If past events could not be remembered, it would be impossible for language, relationships, or personal identity to develop."
"Memory loss is usually described as forgetfulness or amnesia."
"Memory is often understood as an informational processing system with explicit and implicit functioning that is made up of a sensory processor, short-term (or working) memory, and long-term memory."
"The sensory processor allows information from the outside world to be sensed in the form of chemical and physical stimuli and attended to various levels of focus and intent."
"Working memory serves as an encoding and retrieval processor. Information in the form of stimuli is encoded in accordance with explicit or implicit functions by the working memory processor."
"Finally, the function of long-term memory is to store through various categorical models or systems."
"Declarative, or explicit, memory is the conscious storage and recollection of data."
"Under declarative memory resides semantic and episodic memory. Semantic memory refers to memory that is encoded with specific meaning. Meanwhile, episodic memory refers to information that is encoded along a spatial and temporal plane."
"Non-declarative, or implicit, memory is the unconscious storage and recollection of information."
"An example of a non-declarative process would be the unconscious learning or retrieval of information by way of procedural memory, or a priming phenomenon."
"Priming is the process of subliminally arousing specific responses from memory and shows that not all memory is consciously activated, whereas procedural memory is the slow and gradual learning of skills that often occurs without conscious attention to learning."
"Memory is not a perfect processor, and is affected by many factors."
"Pain, for example, has been identified as a physical condition that impairs memory."
"The amount of attention given new stimuli can diminish the amount of information that becomes encoded for storage."
"Also, the storage process can become corrupted by physical damage to areas of the brain that are associated with memory storage, such as the hippocampus."
"Finally, the retrieval of information from long-term memory can be disrupted because of decay within long-term memory."
"Normal functioning, decay over time, and brain damage all affect the accuracy and capacity of the memory."