Activity 5.1

Here is what I know about information processing prior to reading module five.  The brain is the most complex and fascinating organ in the body and learning depends on how the brain processes information.  Information enters the brain by sensory registers (sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste) and then immediately flows to short-term memory.  After several seconds in the short-term memory it may be lost or move into long-term memory.  If the information makes it to long-term memory, it begins to connect with other experiences in this storage bank of knowledge.  Retrieval is the process of bringing the information back to consciousness.

How does information processing apply to memory?  The memory, since it is a function of the brain, is complex, and scientists continue to study and learn how the brain and memory work together.  In order for learning to occur, one must be able to use the information that has been input into the brain. Therefore, information must be retrieved.  If you cannot remember it does not mean you have not learned, maybe it means you cannot retrieve.  I am speculating that is why we only appear to remember a small fraction of what we have been taught.  To retrieve something may require special connections to stimulate the memory, and until those connections are linked the information stays in the long-term memory bank.  The smell of fresh baked bread may prompt a memory from grandma’s house that was forgotten, the sound of a song triggers a memory of a past event, a picture serves as a reminder of a memory that was forgotten until viewing the picture, or a key word or phrase activates the retrieval of information from a past lecture.  These are all examples of how information may be stored in the memory, but it may be difficult to retrieve (remember) without the appropriate connection.

Verbal recall is only one way of remembering information. For example, one may be able to remember a face, but not recall the name.  Thus, the person was not forgotten just the name.  When something unpleasant is remembered in a vivid way it is because the brain was shocked by that event, experience, or information.  A common illustration is the majority of adults remember exactly where they were on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the day of the terrorists attacks on the United States.  These events created a traumatic emotional shock that the brain will not forget.  Typically, adults will be able to give explicit details of what they were doing at the moment they heard the news for the first time.