Someone remembers better if he hears, and someone needs to see or touch. Why is this happening and is there a data retention period? Why do we remember emotions for a long time and remember them by association? These questions are answered by many classifications of an important process. About what types of memory exist and how they are characterized, we read further.
The main types of memory: psychology and description
Memory as the ability to perceive, store and reproduce information is classified according to different characteristics.
By storage time
Depending on how much we are ready to store, data is distinguished:
- Instant Type Memory - information is saved only for the time it is played (fraction of a second).
- Short term - the material lasts longer than for a moment, but the time frame is still insignificant (30 seconds). The volume of short-term memory is up to 10 units of data - words, images or objects. When new information arrives to us, requiring the use of a short-term type, the old one is automatically erased.
Short-term type is divided into iconic and logical memory. The first corresponds to post-memorization. For example, if you close your eyes, then open and close again, without thinking about your actions, we will remember the image of what you see for a split second. The logical one is also built on the postoperative perception, but it retains a general idea of the object for two or three seconds after being heard or seen.
- Operational It is common for a type to store information in a predetermined period. After the expiration date (from a couple of minutes to several days) the material is forgotten.
- Long term memory is aimed at long-term data storage. Sometimes, to remember them, efforts are needed, as well as will and thinking. The type is considered to be the main one, because thanks to him we remember the name of the first teacher and what is the germ.
- Genetic memory transfers information by inheritance, storing it in the genotype. This phenomenon has not been studied thoroughly, there are only a number of theories, how this happens and what the genetic database carries.
According to the content and principles of perception
Depending on which of the organs counted and remembered the information, the following types of human memory are distinguished:
- Visual memory - the most developed way of memorization, which is based on the visual perception of images. Native house, faces of dear people, diary cover.
- Auditory - what we memorize thanks to the organs of hearing - music, speech, other sounds. Important for musicians, vocalists, interpreters. So we remember the voice of the grandmother, the sound of the surf and so on.
- Motor - based on memorizing movements. For its development, time must pass. Most often revealed in athletes and those who perform repetitive physical activities - massage therapists, carpenters, and so on.
- Tactile - associated with tactile sensations that we memorize, feeling objects. For example, the cold of the window in winter, the smoothness of silk, the soft paws of a kitten. Based on visual memories, tactile create a holistic and accurate image of the object.
- Olfactory called memory, fixing odors. Usually it is inherent in man from birth, but for the development in full it should be developed. Plays an important role for perfumers.
- Verbal logic - based on our thoughts, speeches, their interconnections. If the information has been processed by thinking, it is remembered logically, otherwise - mechanically. This type is actively used by teachers. Telling a new lesson, they recall the knowledge learned in the previous lesson.
- Taste memory well developed by tasters and cooks of the highest rank. At its core is the memorization of tastes (sweet, bitter, salty).
- Emotional memory called the ability to store sensations caused by emotional experiences. From the power of the experienced emotions depends on the strength of data fixation. A good memory for emotions is found in poets, writers, actors, and creative personalities.
All these types belong to the figurative memory. Each of them has different capabilities.
Studies have shown that only after listening to the information, we can reproduce 10%. If we managed to see the object, the percentage rises to 30. The combined interaction (stories and clarity) allows the figure to grow to 50%. Practical work based on theoretical and visual training provides 90 percent success.
Types of memory depending on will participation
Parbitrary type of memory - we are aware of what we remember. It requires concentration of will, thinking, and some effort.
Involuntary - uncontrolled, free process of assimilation and reproduction of the material. We make no effort to remember what is happening, but the important points remain in the "archive" themselves. Thanks to this type, we involuntarily learn new things, constantly interacting with the world.
According to the degree of awareness
Depending on the degree of awareness of the information that we remember, we distinguish implicit and explicit types of memory.
Implicit - it is a memory for unconscious material, that is, the process of mastering the material occurs covertly, it can not be observed or controlled.
For this process to be activated, there must be a need to solve an important task. In this case, we do not recognize the degree of ownership of our own knowledge. Everything happens as if by itself.
TO explicit we deliberately address, using previously obtained information, recalling or recognizing it.
Based on scientific goals
Depending on the purpose of the study, there are several types of human memory.
Episodic memory - the recording of information obtained during a particular situation in a specific place, time, circumstances. For example, a person remembered a commodity point, fixing the faces of sellers and the location of stores.
Reproductive - remembering a sequence of actions. So, a furniture assembler without a scheme will assemble a complex structure.
Associative - based on associations, that is, in functional relationships between objects. For example, a person walking past a fish shop recalls that relatives asked to buy his fish food.
Autobiographical - characterized by a clear memorization of the situation from his own life. It is similar to the episodic, but requires self-identification and deep self-analysis.
By memorizing
Depending on the means used for memorizing, there are three types of memory.
Direct - technical memorization of events, characterized by primitive process.
Indirect memorization is the recording of information at the stage of human development, requires effort. Memories need certain stimuli: notes in a notebook, hand-marks and so on. They stimulate memory and organize.
Internal direct memory is the highest level, when a logical person perceives information and masters its main role for a successful process. Speech and thinking play a role
There is also the so-called phenomenal memory. Its uniqueness lies in the ability to remember a lot of complex or incoherent information: dates, facts, names, chronology of events. She possessed F. Dostoevsky, V. Mozart and other prominent personalities.
All kinds of memory are somehow connected. Each of them a certain period of life can prevail, and then, conversely, fade away. Ideally, when several types are involved in the perception of objects. Learn how each one works to better understand yourself and your natural abilities. And in order not to get confused and remember everything, save the article.
