Describe some key psychological theories regarding human memory.

Consider the implications for the

memory of medical students, doctors, and patients
I.
The accepted theory regarding memory is a division between short-term and long-term
memory,
a. Initially
thought
that
sensory
messages encoded information in the
short term memory which over time
would make its way to long-term (see
right)
i. Suggested that the longer an item
was in short term memory the more
likely it was to transfer
II.

Short term memory

a. Problem with theory was it appeared
that the type of processing involved
was what predisposed a memory to
transfer from short to long-term
i. For example recognition of words
and letters by acoustics was more
likely to transfer to long-term than
visual recognition of words
ii. Best form of recall by far was
semantic, where the subject of study
contemplated the meaning of the
word, or related it to prior
experience
b. Further studies on patients with STM
problems also showed that their LTM functioned properly, indicating that LTM is
somewhat independent of the short-term, although interaction does occur. This leads to
the idea of Short-term memory as working memory
c. The concept of working memory has
been theorized as a central executive
which controls the attention of the
subject (recently considered to be quite
separate and varying in different people)
i. The person then has two subsidiary
systems,
the
phonological
loop
(responsible for recognizing acoustic
stimuli, and utilising subvocal speech),
and
the
visuo-spatial
sketchpad
(responsible for recognizing visual and
spatial information)
ii. A recent fourth edition to this theory is that of the episodic buffer, which integrates
new information with previously learned information to improve memorization (ie:
1492 1776 1945 are more easily memorised in that order that in other random ones)
iii. Keep in mind that these theories do well to explain the observations made, but there is
minimal hard-scientific evidence for these distinct features of the brain
III.
Long-term memory
a.