Today, I walked outside of my condo in Phuket Thailand and I realized that I could not find where I had last parked my scooter! After a bit of a pause I located the scooter and started thinking about memory and the human processes of varying types of memory. Today I decided to list out the types of memory and offer a summation into what the relevance for the varying types of memory provides to us from a functionality perspective.
We all start with our sensory memory. The sensory memory is a quick responsive process that sends neural information to the CNS and the cognitive domain of the brain regions that are responsible for the motor response or determination of importance. This action takes place instantaneously (less than a second)
We then divide memory into a continuum of Short-Term Memory and Long-Term Memory. The functional anatomical and neurological pathways and structures involved for that process is not the scope of this blog discussion. The purpose here is to identify and inform the reader of the types of memory with a summation of the purposes. The Short-term memory generally is believed to be for quick decision making and/or information processing that was determined to be worth a longer yet brief analysis than the instant use of a sensory memory. The short-term memory generally lasts a minute or two in duration. This is often referred to as the working memory – e.g. what did I write as my last sentence, where is my coffee cup and is my pen near my notepad or is it on the desk, are some examples of a working memory process.
The long – term memory is for storage and retrieval as necessary and the coding process has been embedded these memories for a lifetime. Some memories hold heuristic associations, and others are less easy to recall. However, if the brain has determined that the memory is more useful than just a minute or two needed for a specific working function, then it is retrievable, and it is stored somewhere in that big beautiful mind of yours!
The following happens from that point forward – the determination that a memory is going to be embedded and regulated to a long-term memory designation.
Long-term memory divides into:
Explicit memory: Conscious memories
Explicit memory breaks down into Declarative memory – The facts and events that we can recall and/or articulate. Declarative memory breaks down into:
Episodic memory – Events or experiences that we learned about, witnessed in person or via some form of media, or personally participated in.
Semantic memory – The facts, paradigms, worldviews, perspectives, emotions, concepts, or phenomena that we have learned, feel, opine or understand.
Implicit memory: Subconscious memories
Implicit memory breaks down into Procedural memory – The skills we maintain and the tasks that we perform.
These are the various types of human memory and the purposes for each. As always, we encourage you to take the time to explore the depths and breadth of specificity within all of the constructs or processes that we write about here when we share a small bit of introductory knowledge or opinion with you for your expansions of the information. Thank you for reading! For those of you that want to go deeper – study about memory recall methodology, or how to repress a memory or why persons sometimes lose their memory (types of amnesia).
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