Psychologists have many models and theories to help explain how we form and access our memories, and have discovered a variety of different types of memory. These exercises will help you to discover some of the many different aspects of your memory.
Working Memory
Explore the separate audio and visual stores in your working memory.
- Have a go at drawing a picture while listening to the radio. You should find this easy because the auditory memory and the visual memory do not conflict.
- Now, try to hold a conversation with someone else while listening to people talking on the radio. You will find the two sets of auditory information interfere, making comprehension of both at the same time almost impossible.
How Memory Fades
See how echoic (auditory) memory fades more slowly than iconic (visual) memory.
- Get a partner to write down a string of nine numbers on a card and hold it in front of your eyes just long enough for you to see it clearly. Then, try to recall the numbers by visualizing them. How many numbers can you see in your mind’s eye? Try the test three times with three sets of numbers.
- Now, ask your partner to recite stings of nine numbers to you and try to access their echo instantly in auditory memory.
- You probably won‘t remember all the numbers in either case, but your accuracy with the spoken numbers will probably be higher.
Iconic Memory
Iconic memory is the way in which the brain holds visual images briefly in your mind’s eye before allowing them to fade.
- Draw a dot just beneath the head of a matchstick, then draw an identical dot on the other side of the match just a little further down from the head. Twirl the match between thumb and finger, gradually getting faster and faster.
- At slow speed, you will see the two dots succeeding each other. At a faster speed, however, it will appear that there is one dot moving up and down the match. This is the optimal movement – the frequency of the twirling equals the speed of fade of the iconic image.
Memory for Skills
Some skills, like riding a bicycle, endure even if they are not practiced for years. Others, such as playing an instrument, quickly become ‘rusty’ if they are not used.
- Try picking up on some skills that you once had. Check the following list for ideas: ballroom dancing, solving puzzles, swimming, drawing, knitting, speaking a foreign language, making cakes, rowing, and playing the Piano.
Which ones do you still find easy? Which do you find harder? ‘Closed-loop’ skills – like riding a bike – in which each action prompts the next, are easier than ‘open-loop’ skills, in which the nature of the task keeps changing.
Memory for Events
Memories are more easily retrieved, the more dramatic they are. This comes into play in your episodic memory.
- Search your memory of specific events from your life, such as Christmases, holidays, and birthdays. How many of the ones that come to mind are the best and worst examples?
The chances are that most of the episodes you remember clearly stand out for some exceptional reason. Ordinary examples tend to merge.
Memory for Facts
Does your brain record facts accurately, or do they become altered in memory? Investigate your semantic memory.
- Find a bookoftalesfromthe the mythology of acultureyouare not familiar with, such as Chinese, Indian, or native North American. Read through one story carefully. A few hours later, write down the story as you remember it, then compare it to the original.
You will almost certainly find that your version is shorter and more straightforward than the original. In addition, some of the details, particularly exotic items or magical ideas, may have been unconsciously changed by your mind to fit your understanding of the world.
