The ability to memorize, save and reproduce information is one of the key cognitive skills of a person, the degree of development of which largely determines what he can achieve in life.
There are a vast number of types of memory in psychology, the main of which are motor memory, visual, auditory, imaginative, verbal-logical. Classification and purpose different types of memory will give in the article.
What is memory?
In short, memory - is the ability to memorize, store and reproduce information, refers to cognitive functions.
Thanks to memory, a person has the ability accumulate experience, improve skills, learn about the world.
Many species of animals have memory in its various manifestations, but it is most perfect in humans.
Each person's memory is developed differently. The degree of memory development depends on such conditions as:
- genetic features, lack of pronounced genetic disorders;
- general brain health (no damage of different nature);
- food quality (not only after birth, but also during pregnancy);
- the level of the efforts made to develop the child’s abilities, the quality of upbringing and education;
If they are actively engaged with him, his memorization skills will be more perfect.
- ecological situation;
- stress level;
- sleep quality;
- mental and physical health;
- level of physical activity (regular exercise improves memory, according to research);
- the age of a person (with time, the ability to memorize information deteriorates);
- the level of effort applied by a person to maintain memory (memorization exercises, special games);
- features of a person’s life (if a person seeks to learn and remember as much as possible during his life, his memory will be more perfect than those who don’t do this, even in old age).
Therefore, each person in one degree or another can influence his ability to memorize information, save and reproduce it.
Main memory processes:
- memorization;
- preservation;
- reproduction;
- forgetting.
Best of all, a person remembers what he considers meaningful for himself and what he will use regularly. If he constantly uses certain skills and abilities, the information associated with them will be remembered very easily.
What types exist?
What is the memory of a person?
Reasons for the classification of types of human memory - table:
| By the time of saving information | According to the main analyzer |
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The memory structure consists of the following 3 levels:
- Sensory. Information is stored for a very short time (less than a second) and is quickly replaced by a new one. Preservation at a deeper level occurs only if the information was deemed valuable.
- Short term. This memory level is intended to store information intended for direct use. For example, information that a person uses throughout the day to perform work duties is stored at this level.
- Long term This is a large library in the head of a person, in which everything that can be useful to him throughout his life is carefully preserved: experience, valuable knowledge, skills, abilities, impressions, memories. At the same time, it is also imperfect, and information that a person does not use is gradually erased from it. Information can be stored in it for decades.
As an additional level, allocate tertiary memory.
It is part of the long-term memory and is designed to permanently store information. It contains, for example, words from a language that a person uses daily.
Also exists operational or, in other words, working memory. It is similar to short-term, but the differences between them still exist.
Like the computer's RAM, this memory is designed to memorize and interact with the short informational passages needed to perform life tasks in the “here and now” mode.
There are several additional types of sensory memory:
- Iconic. It receives visual information that a person keeps for a very short period of time (from 0.1 to 0.5 seconds). The specific feature of iconic memory is that a person memorizes information holistically, in the form of a kind of “portrait”.
- Echoic. A person, hearing an extremely short sound image, remembers it for two or three seconds, and this allows him to analyze it, recognize it, understand where the source is.
Memories of memory:
| Title | Description |
| Mechanical | Information is assimilated in the form in which it was provided, no adjustments are made to it, and the person practically does not analyze it and applies it in its original state. For example, a student who hastily prepares for a session and painstakingly memorizes a synopsis, without thinking about the content and thinking only about how to pass the exam quickly and painlessly, uses mainly mechanical memory. In most cases, a vast amount of information that has not been properly analyzed and revised is quickly forgotten. At the same time, mechanical memory is an important tool in those cases when you need to memorize words in their correct form, therefore, they are actively involved in learning new languages. |
| Logical | The exact opposite of verbal: memorization is largely based on analysis. A person analyzes information, creates strong associative chains, connects it with his past experience, and as a result information is remembered better and more reliably. If, for example, to take another student who diligently studied during the semester, analyzed each piece of information issued by the teacher, and used them in practical work, then it is obvious that he used logical memory. If he needs to give out the information, it will look revised, but the basic information will be preserved and may even be multiplied. |
The memory, in which the senses are involved, is divided into:
- Visual. Information comes through the organs of vision: a person remembers what he sees. This can be a read text, images of what he saw - the faces of people, plants, animals and much more.
Visual memory is especially well developed by artists and sculptors.
- Eidetic. A special kind of memory that gives a person the opportunity to reproduce certain images in the smallest detail. Most often, eidetic memory is associated with visual images, but they can be auditory, gustatory, and so on. Refers to long-term memory.
- Hearing. Information comes through the organs of hearing. It can be any sounded text, nature sounds, noise, music, and so on. The highest development of auditory memory is observed in blind people.
- Motor (motor). A person gets the opportunity to memorize and reproduce the movements that he perceived. This type of memory is closely related to motor skills, and if a person repeats the same movements for a long time, they will become automatic. Developed by athletes and dancers.
- Tasteful. Information flows through organs that capture taste. Thanks to the taste memory, a person can reproduce the tastes of different products in his head, and is able to recognize a spoiled product. Developed by people who are fond of cooking.
- Tactile. Information comes through the organs of touch. A person gets the opportunity to analyze tactile sensations, reproduce them in the head, recognize only with the help of touch certain surfaces and objects.
Developed by blind people. Thanks to the advanced tactile abilities, the blind are able to read texts written in Braille.
- Olfactory. Information comes through the organs of smell. Thanks to it, a person can analyze smells, reproduce them, memorize and recognize those that are associated with a threat (toxic substances, spoiled products) and in time. Developed from perfumers.
- Painful. Associated with the ability to remember pain. If the pain is familiar to the person, he can understand what he needs to do to help himself.
Depending on the presence or absence of the goal of memorization, there are:
- Arbitrary. The person purposefully remembers something, makes efforts.
- Involuntary. The person did not set himself the goal of remembering information, but it is still saved.
By level of development, memory is divided into:
- Motor (motor). As mentioned earlier, motor memory is the ability to memorize and reproduce certain movements. This type of memory develops in humans the very firsttherefore, it is important for parents to pay enough attention to developing the motor skills of a small child.
- Emotional. Information that is closely associated with any vivid emotions (both positive and negative) is kept for a long time by a person precisely because of emotional memory.
According to research, adrenaline and norepinephrine are involved in the formation of memories.
- Figurative. It is the ability to memorize, preserve and reproduce images that are closely associated with the senses. For example, the ability to remember and reproduce your favorite song in your head is associated with a figurative memory.
- Verbal-logical. Supreme memoryclosely associated with verbal-logical thinking. It is the ability to memorize words and thoughts. Also called semantic.
Genetic memory - This is a special kind of memory that does not have a direct relationship to the processes of memorizing, saving and reproducing information.
This definition is used to denote the genetically determined propensities of a person, the formats of his behavior.
These behaviors are not conscious and are reproduced unconsciously.
Depending on the means, the memory is divided into:
- Mediated. If a person has analyzed and connected new information with previously acquired through logical, associative links, this is called mediated memory.
- Directly. This is the ability to capture and hold a small amount of information for a short period of time. Features of direct memory are taken into account when determining the optimal length of phrases in the material, in test tasks.
Also exists social memory - the ability to memorize information related to the people around them. A person remembers their faces, voices, information from life, and this gives him the opportunity to interact comfortably with them.
Spatial memory allows a person to easily find the way to familiar objects, navigate in a familiar space.
Varieties of forgetting:
- Complete. Information is completely forgotten, and it is impossible to restore it without re-studying.
- Incomplete. A person remembers some information, but they are either not large enough or not accurate enough.
Varieties of playback:
- Arbitrary. A person makes efforts to remember information, looking for logical connections.
- Involuntary. Information appears in the head itself, usually due to the appearance of a stimulus (word, smell, sound). For example, after seeing a friend, a person can automatically remember an event that is connected with him. Or, having heard a piece of a song, he may involuntarily recall the circumstances in which he heard it before.
Forms of memory does not include intuitive memory.
How to determine the type?
Each person has a variety of memory that is developed more than others. Usually the high development of certain types of memory is associated with the activities in which he is engaged (musician, dancer, artist), or with its features (lack of vision, hearing).
In psychology, there are many tests that allow a person to understand what type of memory he has developed most strongly.
Also, psychological tests allow time to identify violations of certain types of memorythat may indicate the presence of somatic or mental pathologies.
The most effective are tests in which a person does not just answer questions in the style “How easy is it for you to memorize numbers?”, But tests his own memory directly: he remembers the words he has read or heard, draws a picture from memory and so on.
Tests created by By Alexander Luria, the founder of neuropsychology, is most suitable for determining the state of different types of memory.
One of the most popular is known as “10 words” and can be used to test memory even in children.
So that the memory does not deteriorate for a long time, it is important to give the brain as much as possible to remember. This will not only save the memory, but also prevent the development of Alzheimer's syndrome.
About the types of memory in this video:
