The entire processing of remembering information starts with sensory memory.

Sensory
memory itself can be divided into iconic memory and echoic memory. Iconic memory being
defined as a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli ; a photographic or picture-image
memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second; echoic memory being defined as a
momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere sounds and words can
be recalled within 3 to 4 seconds. Both iconic and echoic memories have limited duration in
short term memory before they are forgotten or transferred into long term memory.
When one stores memories, we are storing both implicit and explicit memories. Implicit
memory is the retention independent of conscious recollection (procedural memory); explicit
memory is the memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”
(declarative memory).
People usually can either recall or recognize information when they retrieve it. Recall is a
measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-
the blank test. However, recognition and relearning reveal that many people remember more than
they know. Recognition can be defined as a measure of memory in which the person need only
identify items previously learned as on a multiple choice test. Relearning is a memory measure
that dissects the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time.
Memory Failures can be failures of encoding, storage decay, or retrieval failure. Daniel
Schacter enumerated seven ways our memories fail us in the seven sins of memory. These sins
divided into three sins of forgetting: absent mindedness, transience, and blocking; absent
mindedness being the inattention to details that provides encoding failure; transience being
storage decay over time; blocking in the inaccessibility of stored information. Then he defined
three sins of distraction: misattribution, suggestibility, and bias; misattribution being ones
confusion of the source of information; suggestibility being the lingering effects of
misinformation; bias being belief colored recollections. Lastly, he defined one sin of intrusion,
persistence; persistence was defined as the unwanted memories.
Professor Markus’s difficulty remembering student names is most likely affected by a
combination of encoding failure, storage decay, and retrieval failure.
Encoding failure describes the effect of new information that was never encoded properly
into long term memory to begin with. Age can effect ones encoding efficiency. Brain areas that
are keen to encode new information in younger adults tend to lag as one ages. This helps explain
why older adults recall less than younger adults. Also, many new memories need effortful
processing in order to be processed into long term memory. For many new memories, without
effort, they will never be remembered.
Storage decay can help explain why one can still later forget memories even after
successful encoding. Experiments and observations have led to a “forgetting curve” that is
defined for al ages. This curve proves the fact that everyone will forget sooner or later.
Memories can also fade because of accumulation of other learning that disrupts the
retrieval process. Retrieval failure consists of interference and motivated forgetting (repression
of unwanted memories). Professor Markus is more likely to be suffering from interference of
memories in the given prompt.
Learning sometimes may interfere with the retrieval of other information, especially
when new items and old items are similar. Proactive interference occurs when something you
learned earlier disrupts your recall of something you experience later. Proactive interference is
basically defined as the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
Proactive memory helps explain why if you buy a new combination lock or get a new phone
number, the old one may interfere.
Retroactive interference makes it harder for one to recall something you learned earlier.
Retroactive interference is defined as the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old
information. As in this example, learning new students’ names typically interfere with a teacher’s
recall of the names of previous students.
One could minimize interference by reducing the number of interfering events. For
instance, one way to limit interference is to go on a walk after learning new information.
Experiments have confirmed that the hour before bedtime is the prime time to commit new
information into memory. Even though interference is an important cause of forgetting,
sometimes old information can facilitate our learning of new information. This phenomenon is
known as positive transfer. it is when old and new information compete with each other that
interference occurs.