What is Memory?
Memory
is the storing of information over time (Matlin, 1998.p.66).
Human memory defines who we are and impacts what we believe.
People can categorize human
memory according to the amount of time it is stored in the brain. There are
three different categories of memory in this Atkinson-Shiffrin
Model
(Matlin, 1998.p.67):
Computers are often used in analogies to the human brain because of the similar memory functions of information storage and retrieval and of parallel processing.
Not all human memory occurs in the brain.
- Immune System - produces memories to fight returned infection.
- Genetics - memory passed on from one generation to the next.
Humans aren't the only ones to remember.
- Animals' memories - Varying levels of sophistication: Instinctual memory, Conditioned learning, Intelligence.
- Geological preservation of the earth's memory - Fossils, Plants, Rock layers, Oceans.
