Sensory Memory
What is sensory memory?
- When information comes in from the senses it needs to be stored for a very small amount of time until the body's processing systems can decide what to do with it
- Just think about the many pieces of information that your senses provide you with every second of the day: looking at this revision note, the noises going on around you, the smells and even the feel of the chair which you may be sitting on
- Your brain has to process all of this even though the bulk of it (around 99%) will be discarded as it is simply not needed
- The processing of this information is carried out in Sensory Memory (SM)
- The duration of SM is around 1/2 a second, up to several seconds at the very most
- The capacity of SM is between 12 to 16 items
- The SM encodes using all 5 modalities (senses)
What are the five types of sensory memory?
- Iconic memory: retaining information that comes from sight or light stimulus
- Example: You remember how the theatre or cinema looked as the light went down
- Echoic memory: retaining information that comes from sound or auditory stimulus
- Example: You can recall a song you just heard in your head
- Haptic memory: retaining information that comes from touch
- Example: You can recall how it feels when rain hits your skin
- Olfactory memory: retaining information that comes from smell
- Example: The smell of fresh bread may make you feel happy as it reminds you of something pleasant
- Gustatory memory: retaining information that comes from taste
- Example: The taste of something may remind you of your childhood, like fish fingers and chips
Exam Tip
Sensory Memory usually comes up as part of the Multi-Store Model but the examiner could still ask a question worth 2 or 4 marks on it. You need to be able to discuss duration, capacity & encoding. As for encoding, you will need to be able to refer to Iconic and Echoic memory at the very least.