Read an essay on psychology: “Memory as a mental cognitive process” Page 1

Introduction

Psychology is the science of the human psyche, studying the patterns of mental phenomena.

All mental phenomena are conventionally divided into three groups: mental properties, mental states and mental processes [2; 3; 5]. These groups of mental phenomena differ from each other, first of all, in their duration and stability in a person’s mental life. Mental processes function directly at a given current moment in time, mental properties are the most stable psychological characteristics of a person, and mental states are short-term and occupy an intermediate position between mental processes and mental properties.

All mental processes , in turn, can be divided into cognitive, emotional and volitional [2; 3]. Cognitive mental processes include mental processes associated with the perception and processing of information. These include perception, memory, thinking, attention, etc. The functioning of cognitive mental processes allows a person to receive information about the world around him and operate with it in his consciousness. Emotional mental processes are associated with a person’s needs: information coming from cognitive mental processes, depending on the correspondence or non-compliance with his needs and desires, becomes significant or not significant for a person, causing mental processes such as affects, feelings, emotions, etc. . They determine a person’s attitude to individual phenomena of the surrounding reality. In conditions of the need to make decisions and overcome difficulties, volitional mental processes appear that are associated with a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior.

This test is devoted to the study of one of the cognitive mental processes of a person - the study of memory.

Memory training

Training happens when people don't even notice it. Memorizing the list of products needed in the store, the names of new acquaintances, dates of birth - all this is training for a person. But there are more specific exercises for development; they promote much better memorization and concentration on the specific development of these abilities. If memory develops, then other mental processes (thinking, perception, attention) also develop simultaneously.

There are exercises for developing this process, the most common ones will be briefly described below.

Developing memory in adults, exercises can be very different. A very popular exercise is Schulte tables. They contribute to the development of peripheral vision, attention, observation, speed reading and visual memory. When looking for sequential numbers, vision fixes only a few cells, so the location of the desired cell and the cells of other numbers is remembered.

An exercise to develop photographic memory using the Aivazovsky method. Its essence is to look at an object for five minutes. Afterwards, close your eyes and restore the image of this object in your head as clearly as possible. You can also draw these images, this will help improve the effectiveness of the exercise. It must be performed periodically so that visual memory develops well.

The exercise of playing matches helps train visual memory. To do this, you need to put five matches on the table and look at their location, then turn away, take five more matches and try on another surface to recreate the location of the matches that were memorized.

The Roman room exercise helps develop the ability to structure stored information, but with its help it also trains visual memory. It is necessary to remember the sequence of objects, their details, color, shape. As a result, more information is remembered and visual memory is trained.

There are also exercises to train auditory memory.

Development of memory in adults, exercises must obey certain rules. The first exercise is reading aloud. When a person voices memorized material, he develops his vocabulary, improves diction, intonation, and improves the ability to attach emotional coloring and brightness to his speech. The auditory components of what is read are also better remembered. You need to read easily, take your time, read as you speak. There are some rules: pronounce words clearly, with appropriate placement, pronounce each word expressively, do not “eat up” the ending, pronounce the text as if it were the speech of a diplomat or speaker expressing his own thoughts on some serious issue. If you read for at least ten or fifteen minutes every day, adhering to all the rules, you can notice results in speaking abilities and auditory memory within a month.

Regular study of poems is a good and easy way to practice memorization. When studying a verse, it is necessary to understand its meaning and highlight the techniques that the author used. Divide it into semantic components, highlight the main idea. When learning a poem, it is important to repeat it all the time, saying it out loud, using intonation, conveying the mood of the author, thus further developing diction. You need to repeat it many times, and over time the number of repetitions will decrease. When pronouncing a verse in your head or out loud, the articulatory apparatus is activated. Studying a poem is used for long-term memorization of abstract information. Such memorization occurs, for example, in studying the multiplication table, or memorizing the number Pi.

Auditory memory develops through eavesdropping. When you are among people, in transport or on the street, on a bench, you need to focus on the conversation of other people among themselves, comprehend the information, try to remember it. Then, when you come home, speak out the conversations you heard with the appropriate intonation and remember the expressions on people’s faces at the time of the conversation. By practicing this very often, a person will be able to learn to perceive text fluently by ear and will become much more attentive and sensitive to intonation and tone.

An effective method is the development of memory using the methods of special services. This is a training program that is based on techniques used in intelligence agencies. The effectiveness of such a program has been verified by intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers. This method is presented in the book by the author Denis Bukin, which is called “Development of memory according to the methods of the special services.”

In the modern world, almost everyone is accustomed to the fact that they always have a phone, tablet, or organizer at hand, which stores the necessary information and can always be seen there. Routine work, overloading the memorization process with unnecessary information, and the inability to systematize this information leads to a weakening of mnemonic processes. The book describes a profession in which a well-developed memory is the key to success, or rather, it is vital - this is an intelligence officer. He cannot save the operation plan or map on his phone, he does not have time to leaf through a notepad. All important information should be stored only in the head, all the details, so that they can be clearly reproduced at the right time. Each chapter of the book describes each stage of an intelligence officer's career. Each stage contains techniques, exercises and instructions for them.

The concept of memory in modern psychology

Memory is a cognitive mental process, thanks to which information about the surrounding world and oneself, obtained by a person as a result of sensations, perception, thinking, etc., does not disappear from his consciousness, but is consolidated, stored and can be reproduced in the future. According to the definition of A.V. Petrovsky and M.G. Yaroshevsky (1998), “memory is the process of organizing and preserving past experience, making it possible to reuse it in activity or return to the sphere of consciousness” [4, p. 56].

Thanks to memory, individual and social experience is accumulated and the integrity of the human personality is ensured. About the importance of memory in human life, the outstanding figure of Russian psychological science S.L. Rubinstein wrote: “Thanks to this, the possibilities of reflecting reality are significantly expanded - from the present it extends to the past. Without memory we would be creatures of the moment. Our past would be dead to the future. The present, as it passes, would irrevocably disappear into the past. There would be no knowledge or skills based on the past. There would be no mental life, closing in the unity of personal consciousness, and the fact of essentially continuous teaching, passing through our entire life and making us what we are, would be impossible” [6, p.258]. Thus, memory connects a person’s past with his present and underlies the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities and, thus, the basis of human development and learning.

Memory is a complex cognitive process, consisting of several private processes associated with each other - memory processes, or mnemonic processes . Mnemonic processes include memorization, preservation, reproduction and forgetting [2; 4].

Memorization (fixation) is a mnemonic process that imprints and consolidates something new, usually by associating something new with something previously acquired [1; 4; 7]. Based on the degree of human activity in carrying out this process, it is customary to distinguish two types of memorization [3]:

1. Unintentional (involuntary) memorization is memorization without a predetermined goal, without the use of any techniques or manifestation of volitional efforts.
2. Intentional (voluntary) memorization is, on the contrary, purposeful, conscious memorization of this or that information.

The basis of memorization is mental associations , reflecting connections between objects and phenomena. “The existence of associations is due to the fact that objects and phenomena are actually captured and reproduced not in isolation from each other, but in connection with each other (in Sechenov’s words, “in groups or rows”). The reproduction of some entails the reproduction of others, which is determined by real objective connections between objects and phenomena. Under their influence, temporary connections arise in the cerebral cortex, which serve as the physiological basis for memorization and reproduction” [3, p. 249]. Thus, the physiological basis of associations is the formation of conditioned reflex connections in the human central nervous system.

There are the following types of associations that underlie memorization, as well as subsequent reproduction [1; 3; 6]:

1. Simple associations:
   Associations by contiguity, in which images of perception or any ideas evoke those images and ideas that were experienced in the past simultaneously with them or immediately after them;
2. Associations by similarity, in which images of perception or certain ideas evoke in consciousness images and ideas that are similar to them in some way;
3. Associations by contrast, in which images of perception or certain ideas evoke in consciousness images and ideas that are in one way or another opposite to them, contrasting with them.
4. Complex associations:
   Structural associations are associations generated by combining individual parts of material into a structural whole through its rhythmization (for example, rhymes in poems), establishing spatial relationships (for example, symmetrical arrangement, arrangement in the form of a figure), etc.
5. Semantic associations are associations of meaning that reflect the internal logic of cause-and-effect and other connections between objects and phenomena.

Complex associations play a more important role in the functioning of memory (especially its higher forms) than simple ones [6]. In the process of memorization, as a rule, the perceived information is included in a broad semantic context and finds its place in the structure of a given person’s ideas about the world around him and himself. Thus, human memory is predominantly meaningful in nature: the work of memory is closely related to thinking.

Preservation (retention) is a mnemonic process consisting of retaining imprinted material for a more or less long time in a form accessible for reproduction [1; 7].

Despite the apparent simplicity of the essence of the preservation process, “this is not passive storage of material, not simple conservation. Preservation is a dynamic process that occurs on the basis and under conditions of a certain way of organized assimilation, including some more or less pronounced processing of material, involving the participation of various mental operations (generalization, systematization, etc.). This process has its own dynamics, which are different under different conditions” [6, p.258]. Thus, retention involves not only retaining memorized information, but also its mental processing.

Forgetting is a mnemonic process opposite to the process of preservation - loss, loss, impossibility of restoring in consciousness material previously imprinted in memory [3; 4; 7]. Forgetting can be complete or partial.

As a rule, not any information is forgotten, but only that which is not required by a person in the process of his life: “forgetting turns out to be deeper, the less often certain material is included in the activities of the individual, the less significant it becomes for achieving current life goals. Forgetting has great biological value, as it frees up space in the central nervous system for the formation of new conditioned reflex connections” [4, p. 56]. This reveals one of the most important features of memory - its selective nature, the functional principle of its work [6] - the correspondence of memory processes to the goals and objectives of human life.

Reproduction is a mnemonic process consisting of updating previously fixed material by extracting it from long-term memory and transferring it to operational memory [1; 4; 7]. The reproduction of a particular image, as a rule, is accompanied by the actualization of a person’s emotional attitude towards this image [6].

The following types of reproduction are distinguished, which vary in degree of complexity and can be considered as levels of reproduction [1; 3; 6]:

1. Recognition is recognition, reproduction of an image in conditions of repeated perception of the object. Recognition is manifested in a person’s awareness that the object or phenomenon being perceived at the moment has already been perceived in the past. Recognition processes differ in the level of certainty.
2. Reproduction itself is the reconstruction in the mind of images of objects or phenomena (including thoughts, experiences, fantasies, etc.) previously perceived, but not perceived at a given moment in time.
3. Memory is the most complete reconstruction of images of the past, localized in time, space, and in a semantic relationship. The ability to remember is the basis of the integrity of the human personality [6].

Reproduction of information, just like memorization, can be involuntary (untargeted) and voluntary (purposeful) [3]. Reproduction, as well as memorization, is usually based on associations. Reproduction is often accompanied by transformation, transformation in consciousness, and rethinking of the information recalled by a person [6].

Thus, memory is a complex cognitive mental process that includes closely interconnected processes of memorizing, storing, reproducing and forgetting information by a person and is based on simple and complex associations that reflect the relationships between individual parts of this information. Memory allows a person to use information received in the past in the present and future, accumulate experience and learn.

Processes

Memory is located in different parts of the brain and is directly related to the senses. All information received through hearing, vision, and touch is stored in memory.

Memory activity is limited to four processes:

• memorization is the main process in which received information is retained in memory;
• storage – long-term process of retaining information;
• reproduction – voluntary or involuntary updating of information;
• Forgetting is the process of erasing “extra” information that has lost its meaning.

Rice. 1. Memory centers.

Types of memory

In modern psychology, there are several different classifications of types of memory, based on different criteria. Let us consider these classifications in detail.

Based on the content of the information being remembered, the following types of memory are distinguished [3; 4; 7]:

1. Figurative (visual-figurative) memory is the memorization, preservation and reproduction of information coming from the senses. Its varieties are visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and taste memory. As a rule, visual and auditory memory play a leading role in the process of human life and professional activity.
2. Emotional memory is the memory of experienced feelings, emotions of joy, sadness, anger, fear, etc. Emotional memory plays a big role in the self-regulation of human behavior: “Feelings experienced and stored in memory act as signals either prompting action or restraining from actions that caused negative experiences in the past. Emotional memory is characterized by significant strength of traces” [7, p.285]. Emotional memory also underlies a person’s ability to empathize and sympathize with other people.
3. Motor memory is the memorization, storage and reproduction of various movements and their systems. The significance of this type of memory is that it serves as the basis for the formation of practical and work skills, as well as walking, writing, etc. skills.
4. Verbal (verbal-logical) memory is the memory of thoughts and their verbal expression. This type of memory plays a leading role in humans and occupies a major place among other types of memory.

The highest level of development of figurative memory is the so-called eidetic memory: “with developed eidetic memory, a person “sees” an absent object down to the smallest detail. Eidetic images... arise in the absence of an object, but are characterized by detailed clarity" [4, p. 57].

According to the criterion of the duration of information storage in memory, the following types are distinguished [1; 2; 3; 5; 7]:

1. Short-term (primary) memory - characterized by a short duration of storage and, as a rule, functions in conditions of one-time and short-term perception of information.
2. Long-term (secondary) memory is characterized by the duration of storage and, as a rule, operates with repeated repetition of information. The storage time of information in long-term memory is theoretically unlimited. Long-term memory “is associated with the selection, imprinting, storage and possibility of voluntary reproduction in the future of some information that first enters short-term memory, which is, as it were, a stage in the formation of long-term memory. The following is transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory: information that is recognized by the subject as important and useful for him; very vivid impressions; impressions on which the subject's attention is fixed for a long time and continuously; sequentially repeating events, phenomena, facts. Long-term memory is stable, inert and not always accessible to consciousness” [1, p. 71].
3. Working memory – functions at the current moment of mental activity and occupies an intermediate position between short-term and long-term, because contains information retrieved from both long-term and short-term memory. RAM is designed to accompany an activity or other type of activity carried out by a person.

Depending on the presence or absence of a purpose for memorizing information, voluntary and involuntary types of memory are distinguished. If the goal to remember information is present, then such memory is called voluntary and involves the use of volitional efforts to remember information; if there is no goal and the information is remembered “by itself,” then the memory is called involuntary. Most of a person’s life experience is formed on the basis of involuntary memory [2; 3; 7].

According to the method of storing information, memory is divided into mechanical and logical [2; 3; 6]. Mechanical memory is realized automatically on the basis of associations by contiguity and stereotypical repetition of information; its characteristics are pattern and - normally - accuracy in reproduction. Logical memory is based on preliminary comprehension of the memorized material and is more effective than mechanical memory.

All of these types of memory function in close interrelation with each other.

Different types of memory are developed differently in different people. “There are people who, for example, have difficulty remembering, but they reproduce well and store the material they remember for quite a long time. These are individuals with developed long-term memory. There are people who, on the contrary, quickly remember, but also quickly forget what they once remembered. They have stronger short-term and operational types of memory [5, p. 219]. Therefore, in each individual case it is impossible to say whether a person has a “good” memory or a “bad” one: one type of memory in a given person can be developed to a high degree, another to a low degree, etc.

Depending on which type of memory a given person has developed to the greatest extent, the individual type of memory of a person is determined, which can be determined by the four listed criteria, corresponding to the basis for classifying types of memory. According to the criterion of the content of memorized information, the most common types of memory are mixed: visual-motor, motor-auditory, visual-auditory, etc. For most people, the dominant type is the visual type of memorizing objects and the verbal-motor type of memorizing verbal material [6].

Memory in psychology

Memory in psychology is the definition of a person’s ability to remember, retain, reproduce and forget information from his own experience. This property helps a person move in space and time. There are different psychological theories that have their own view of this concept.

In associative theory, the key concept is association. In memory, it connects parts of the perceived material. When a person remembers something, he begins to look for a connection between these materials and those that need to be reproduced. The formation of associations has patterns: similarity, contiguity and contrast. Similarity is manifested in the fact that the material that is memorized is then reproduced through connection with similar material. Contiguity occurs when incoming material is remembered in relation to previous material. The contrast is expressed in the fact that the material that should be remembered is different from that which is retained.

According to behavioral theory, special exercises help memorize material. Such exercises help to better and faster fix attention on objects and episodes. Several factors influence quality memorization: age, individual characteristics, interval between exercises, volume of material and others.

In cognitive theory, this process is characterized as a certain set of blocks and processes of transformation of information material. Some blocks ensure recognition of the expressive features of the material, others create a cognitive orienting map of information, with the help of others, information is retained, and the fourth block transforms the material into a specific form.

Activity theory considers this process as an active component of the connection between a person and the world. This occurs through the processes of analysis, synthesis, grouping, repetition and identification of features; with their help, a mnemonic image is also created, a unique form of material in which a person’s personal attitude lies. Memorization is also influenced by external stimulus signs, which later become internal and the person, guided by them, controls this process.

Efficiency and memory training

One of the main factors influencing the efficiency of memory functioning is its individual characteristics characteristic of a given person. Individual characteristics of memory , which vary from person to person, include the type of memory described in the previous paragraph, as well as its following features [2; 6; 7]:

1. Short-term memory capacity is the number of objects that a person can remember after perceiving them. If the volume of long-term memory is not limited, then the volume of short-term memory varies and on average in people it is 7±2 (from 5 to 9) objects [3]. The volume of short-term memory characterizes a person’s natural memory and is retained, as a rule, throughout life.
2. Memory speed is measured by the amount of time required for a given individual to remember information.
3. The strength (duration) of information storage is defined as a value inversely proportional to the rate of forgetting information.
4. Reproduction accuracy is the degree of coincidence between the results of reproduction and the objects of memorization, in other words, the correctness and completeness of the reproduction of information.
5. Readiness, or speed of recall, is a person’s ability to remember what is required in a timely manner.

The listed individual characteristics of memory are influenced by both biological (mostly congenital, related to the characteristics of the body’s nervous system) and social (acquired, related to the characteristics of a person’s upbringing, training, etc.) factors. Due to its susceptibility to the influence of social factors, memory is one of the trainable properties and can be developed to certain limits in each person.

The main means of training and improving memory is “the formation of special mnemonic actions, as a result of mastering which a person is able to better remember the material offered to him due to the special, conscious organization of the very process of its cognition for the purpose of memorization” [5, p. 254].

In the process of conscious organization of memory work, it is necessary to take into account conditions for the effectiveness of memory work that do not depend on individual characteristics, which can be divided into conditions for the effectiveness of memorization, storage and reproduction of information.

Factors influencing the effectiveness of memorizing information include:

1. A person’s attitude towards the information perceived and to be remembered: the higher the level of a person’s interest in the perceived material, the higher the degree of its emotional significance for the person, the more effectively this information is remembered [3; 5; 6]. In other words, the more emotional memory is involved, the more effective the memorization process is.
2. The presence of an attitude towards long-term memorization of information, i.e. the presence of a task set by a person to retain the perceived material in memory [2; 3; 6; 7].
3. The degree of concentration of a person’s attention on the perceived information and its individual parts: the longer and more stable the concentration of a person’s attention on the perceived material, the better this material is remembered [5].
4. The degree of comprehension of the memorized information: the higher the level of a person’s understanding of the perceived material, as well as the structuring of this material, awareness of the relationships between its parts (as well as the relationship between new memorized information and information already known to the person), the higher the degree of memorization efficiency [2; 5; 6]. In other words, the more logical memory is involved, the more effective the memorization process is. Special techniques for memorizing information are based on the existence of this pattern: for example, in the process of memorizing a text, it is recommended to highlight the main thoughts in it and group them in the form of a plan [2; 3].
5. The degree of involvement of speech in the process of memorization: what was named during perception, described in a word, is remembered more effectively [3; 5].
6. Inclusion of what is remembered in the process of human activity: “actions are remembered better than thoughts, and among actions, in turn, those associated with overcoming obstacles are more firmly remembered” [3, p. 253]. In addition, unfinished actions are remembered better [2; 3].
7. The number of types of memory involved in the memorization process: memorization is more effective and complete, the more types of memory are activated in this process [2]. So, for example, in the process of memorizing a text, it is recommended not only to read it, but also to write it down, speak it out loud, imagine in your imagination visual images that correspond to the meaning of the text, perform any actions related to the memorized information, etc. [2; 3; 5].
8. The number of “extra” associations that interfere with the memorization process, such as associations of contiguity and similarity that are not related to the essence of the material being remembered (mixing the memorized information with existing information, etc.) [5]. Related to this is the phenomenon of retroactive inhibition - the negative influence of activities that chronologically follow memorization. Retroactive inhibition is more pronounced if memorization during the activity follows without interruption or the subsequent activity is similar to the previous one, and also if the subsequent activity is more difficult than the previous activity [3]. Retroactive inhibition, in turn, is associated with the so-called edge effect [2], which consists in the fact that the initial and final parts of information are remembered better, and the “middle” is remembered worse.

The main conditions for the effectiveness of storing information in human memory are:

1. The degree of efficiency of the previous process of memorizing information [3]: the higher the efficiency of memorization, the higher the efficiency of storing information in memory.
2. Repetition of memorized material [3; 5; 6]: the more repeated the repetition, the higher the efficiency of storing information. At the same time, the greatest effectiveness comes from active repetition of the material, when, for example, “the learner is given different tasks: to come up with examples, answer questions, draw a diagram, make a table, make a visual aid, etc.” [3, p.268].
3. Application of what is remembered in practice, inclusion of the contents of memory in the process of human activity [6; 7].

The factors that determine the effectiveness of reproducing information and retrieving this or that material from a person’s memory include:

1. The degree of efficiency of the previous processes of memorization and storage of information [3]: the higher the efficiency of memorization and storage, the higher the efficiency of information reproduction.
2. The similarity of the external and internal conditions in which this material was memorized with the conditions of reproduction [5].

In addition, there are general conditions for the effectiveness of memory, such as the functional state of the body and the mental state of a person. In a state of fatigue, memory function deteriorates, and both the process of memorization and the process of reproducing information become difficult. Memory also decreases in various somatic diseases that have an adverse effect on the functioning of the nervous system, which is the basis of memory [3].

Thus, a person’s memory is closely connected with his other mental processes; all mental processes act together and have a great influence on each other. Memory is trainable and can be developed in every person through the conscious organization of its functioning in connection with other mental processes - attention, thinking, etc.

Other characteristics of the thought process

Specific principles of memorization are associated with personality characteristics. Even people with excellent memory do not retain everything in their minds, and those with short memories do not forget a lot of information.

Individual characteristics

The period of storage of information in the long-term stage is compared with the lifespan of the organism. A person interested in acquiring new knowledge or actions remembers events for a long time. Memory is part of learning, prediction and personal consciousness.

A person has an excellent memory if he instantly remembers the material, the information is recorded for a long time and is not forgotten, and then accurately reproduced.

The optimal is rapid memorization with leisurely forgetting, slow assimilation of information with fleeting forgetting . For example, artists or other people in the creative profession have a well-developed emotional memory, musicians have a well-developed auditory memory, artists have a visual memory, and philosophers have a well-developed verbal-logical memory.

The development of the memory function of the brain depends on the professional activity of the individual, since the psyche is manifested and formed in work. Some citizens need visual, auditory or verbal perception to remember information.

The type of memory represents the personal characteristics of each person. Belonging to a type is determined by the practice of memorization - by what a given person has to remember and how he learns to do it. Memory can be developed, educated and trained with special exercises.

Positive results from the use of psychopharmacological medications that activate brain activity can be expected in people with a stable, balanced psyche, as well as inert, low-initiative, and unconfident individuals.

The formation of positive memory properties is facilitated by the rationalization of the intellectual and practical work of citizens : order in the workplace, planning, self-control, the use of reasonable methods of memorization, a critical attitude towards personal activities, the ability to abandon ineffective work methods.

Protecting the brain from unnecessary information explains the phenomenon of hypnopaedia - learning in a dream. In a state of sleep, certain mechanisms that protect the brain from unnecessary information are turned off, so memorization occurs faster.

Bibliography

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2. Clinical psychology: Textbook. 3rd ed. / Ed. B.D. Karvasarsky. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2007. – 960 p. (National Library of Medicine Series).
3. Maklakov A.G. General psychology. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002. – 592 p. – (Series “Textbook of the New Century”).
4. Medical psychology: the latest reference book for a practical psychologist / comp. S.L. Solovyova. – M.: AST; St. Petersburg: Sova, 2006. – 575 p.
5. Nemov R.S. Psychology: Textbook. for higher education students ped. textbook establishments: In 3 books. Book 1. General fundamentals of psychology. – 3rd ed. – M.: Humanite. ed. VLADOS center, 1997. – 688 p.
6. Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of general psychology. – St. Petersburg: Peter Kom, 1999. – 720 p. – (Series “Masters of Psychology”).
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Cognitive mental process memory and its significance in human life

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Introduction:

The study of memory began many centuries ago when people began to assume that they could remember and retain information despite its vagueness. At the same time, memory is always associated with the learning process, and attempts to explain memory always coincide with the methods of storing information known in this historical period.

Memory is a form of mental reflection that allows you to correct, store and then recall past experiences, reuse them in an activity, or bring them back into the realm. Memory is development and learning, which underlies the most important cognitive functions that connect the subject’s past, present and future. Without it, it is impossible to understand the basics of the formation of thoughts, consciousness, and actions of the subconscious.

• Therefore, in order to better understand a person, it is necessary to know as much as possible about our memory. The importance of memory in human life is very great. What we know and can do is the result of the brain's ability to remember and remember images, thoughts, emotions, movements and their systems. Memory creates, preserves and enriches our knowledge, skills and abilities.

A person most firmly remembers for his activities those facts, events and phenomena that are especially important to him. On the contrary, everything that is not important for a person is remembered much worse and is quickly forgotten. Stable income, which characterizes a person, is very important when remembering. It is these stable interests, as well as the surrounding life, that will be remembered as if they were not connected.

General information about memory

Memory is a form of mental reflection that allows us to correct, store and then reproduce past experiences, reuse them in activities or return them to the sphere of consciousness. Memory is development and learning, which underlies the most important cognitive functions that connect the subject’s past, present and future.

Memory is the basis of mental activity. Without it, it is impossible to understand the basics of the formation of behavior, thinking, consciousness, and subconsciousness. Therefore, in order to better understand a person, it is necessary to know as much as possible about our memory.

An image of an object or process of reality that was previously perceived but is now mentally recreated is called an expression. Share in Bill's memory of time. Memory is a more or less accurate reproduction of objects and phenomena that once affected our senses.

The expression of imagination is the expression of objects and phenomena that are never perceived by us in such combinations or in such forms. Such expressions are a product of our imagination. The expression of the imagination is also based on past perceptions, but the latter serve only as material for creating new expressions and images with the help of the imagination.

Expressions can be visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile. The expression of memory, in contrast to the image of perception, is, of course, paler, less stable and less detailed, but it forms an important element of fixed past experience; memory is a reflection of a person’s experience through remembering, remembering and reproducing.

Memory is greatly influenced by a person’s emotional attitude towards what is stored. It evokes a vivid emotional reaction in a person, leaves a deep mark on the heart, and is firmly and firmly remembered. The productivity of memory largely depends on the volitional nature of a person. Thus, memory is associated with personality traits.

A person consciously regulates the processes of his memory, controls them based on the goals and objectives that he sets for his activities. Memory is already involved in the act of perception, because perception is impossible without recognition. But memory also functions as an independent mental process, independent of perception, when it is reproduced in the absence of an object.

Memory type

Traditionally, the first psychologists who studied memory experimentally identified six types of memory.

The motor remembers, stores and reproduces various movements. Motor memory is the basis for the formation of various practical and work skills, as well as skills such as walking and writing.

A metaphorical object, the scope of which is the memory of sensory images of objects, phenomena and their properties (depending on the type of analyzer that perceives information, metaphorical memory). When describing figurative memories, it is necessary to keep in mind all the features characteristic of expression, and, above all, their pallor, fragility and instability. At the same time, it is deep, which allows these differences to be significantly closer.

Linguistic logic (a form of memory specific to a person), associated with memorizing, recognizing and reproducing thoughts, concepts, conclusions, etc. this type of memory is directly related to learning. The peculiarity of this type of memory is that thoughts do not exist without language, therefore, their memory is not logical, it is called verbal-logical.

Only the meaning of this material is remembered and reproduced, and exact preservation of the original expression is not required.

The meaning is not only remembered, but also the literal verbal table of thoughts, the development of both types of verbal and logical memory does not go parallel to each other. Emotional, responsible for remembering and reproducing sensory perceptions along with the object that causes them.

Emotions always signal how needs and interests are satisfied, and our relationships with the world become fulfilling. Therefore, emotional memory is very important in the life and activities of every person.

Unconsciously, it is characterized by the fact that a person remembers and reproduces an image without setting himself the goal of remembering and reproducing it. Anyone (purposeful), meaningful, using a certain technique, came up with a specific goal and task for assimilation and reproduction of the material.

There are other classifications of memory types:

It remains straight for 0.25 seconds. Allows interconnection of subsequent time intervals. An operation is a section of memory that is currently being executed. It is characterized by the fact that the information processing time can reach 20 seconds. This memory capacity is much smaller than direct memory.

Supportive. He stores and regularly uses images of external phenomena and objects that a person needs for a long time. Genetics is everything that our predecessors have accumulated. Hereditary - memory of immediate relatives. DP with conscious access (that is, a person can voluntarily remember the necessary information). DP is closed (the person is in a natural state when hypnosis activates part of the brain).

Basic processes and mechanisms of memory processing

Memory, like any other cognitive thought process, has certain characteristics. The main characteristics of memory are: capture volume, speed, reproduction accuracy, memory duration, as well as preparation for using stored information.

Memory memory is the most important and irreplaceable property of memory, characterizing the ability to store and store information. Reproduction speed characterizes a person’s ability to use the information he has in real activities. Fidelity reflects a person’s ability to accurately preserve, and most importantly, accurately reproduce the information that is recorded in his memory.

The retention period reflects a person's ability to retain necessary information at a certain time. Memory is the process of capturing and storing perceived information. Based on the degree of activity of this process, it is customary to distinguish between two types of unintentional or involuntary memory and intentional or voluntary memory.

Unintentional memory is memory that does not have a predetermined purpose, without the use of intentional methods of effort and cues.

Random memory is a special, complex mental activity that is subordinated to the task of memory.

According to another criterion, the nature of the connection (association) underlying memory, memory is divided into mechanical and semantic. Mechanical memory is remembered without awareness of the logical connections between different parts of the perceived material. The basis of mechanical memory is association by contiguity.

Content memory is based on understanding the internal logical connection between individual parts of the material. The most important way to achieve meaningful memory of material and high intensity retention is the method of repetition.

Conservation is the active processing, systematization, generalization of material and the process of its assimilation. Retention of what is learned depends on the depth of understanding. Material that means good is better remembered. Savings also depend on personal settings.

Material that is important to a person will not be forgotten. Forgetting occurs unevenly: immediately after memorization, forgetting becomes stronger, it slows down. This is why repetition should not be delayed and should be repeated until the material is forgotten immediately after learning.

Reproduction and recognition is the process of restoring what was previously perceived. The difference between the two is that when an object is encountered again, recognition occurs when it is perceived again, while reproduction occurs when the object does not exist. Involuntary is an unintentional reproduction, the purpose of which is not memorization, when the image emerges on its own, but in most cases by association.

Random recall is the conscious process of recalling past thoughts, feelings, tendencies, and actions in the mind. Sometimes randomization is easy, sometimes it takes effort. Conscious reproduction, overcoming certain difficulties and requiring volitional efforts, is called memory.

Memory quality is most clearly determined during playback. This is the result of both memorization and retention. Our memory and preservation can only be judged by reproduction.

Game form:

• Recognition is a manifestation of memory that occurs when an object is repeatedly recognized;
• Memory occurs in the absence of perception of objects;
• Let us recall that the most active form of reproduction largely depends on the clarity of the task, the degree of logical ordering of the information stored in the DP;
• A previously perceived, seemingly forgotten memory;
• Eidetism is a visual memory that retains a vivid image with all the details of the perceived image for a long time.

Oblivion is a natural process. Much of what is recorded in memory is forgotten to some extent over time. And we must fight forgetfulness, because what is necessary, important and useful is often forgotten. The first thing that is forgotten is the cessation of what is not used, what is not repeated, what is not of interest and what is necessary for a person. Details are forgotten more quickly, but general statements and conclusions are usually retained in memory longer.

Oblivion comes in two main forms:

• inability to remember or learn;
• incorrect memory or recognition.

Between complete reproduction and complete oblivion, there are varying degrees of reproduction and recognition. It is accepted that the selection of a connected level:

• memory game;
• memory identification;
• promote memory development.

Forgetfulness is uneven over time. The greatest loss of material occurs immediately after its perception, and later forgetting occurs more slowly. Oblivion can be complete or partial, long-term or temporary.

In case of complete oblivion, the fixed material is not only not reproduced, but also not recognized. Partial forgetting of material occurs when a person does not reproduce it with all or errors, but only assimilates it, but cannot reproduce it.

Long-term (complete or partial) forgetting is characterized by the fact that a person cannot reproduce and remember something for a long time. Often oblivion is temporary, and a person cannot reproduce the necessary material at the moment, but after some time he reproduces it.

This is caused by various factors that can be forgotten. The first and most obvious of them is time. It doesn't take long to forget about half of the material you learned mechanically.

To reduce forgetfulness, you need:

1. comprehension and comprehension of information;
2. repetition of information.

Features of memory and its improvement

Individual characteristics of memory

First, individual memory properties are associated with personality traits. People with good memory don't even remember weight, and people with bad memory don't forget everything. This happens because memory is selective. Things that correspond to a person’s interests and needs are remembered quickly and firmly. Secondly, there are individual differences in memory quality. Depending on how individual memory processes developed, a person's memory can be characterized. We say that a person has a different and good memory:

1. memorization speed;
2. preservation strength;
3. fidelity;
4. preparation of the so-called memory.

But remember that you can do something bad. The quality of individual memory can be combined in various ways:

• It is best to combine slow forgetting with fast memorization.
• Slow memorization is combined with slow forgetting.
• Fast memorization is combined with fast forgetting.
• Minimal productivity is characterized by memory characterized by slow retention and rapid forgetting.

Typological features of memory

The main formation of one type of memory is associated with the characteristics of human activity and individual characteristics. Thus, an artist has a well-developed emotional memory, a composer has an auditory memory, an artist has a visual memory, a philosopher has an oral and logical memory.

The predominant development of metaphorical or linguistic memory is determined by the relationship between the first and second signaling systems and has a higher typological feature of nervous activity. The artistic type is characterized by the predominant development of figurative memory, the mental type is characterized by the predominance of verbal memory. The development of memory depends not only on the activity of the psyche, but also on the professional activity of a person, as it is formed: a composer or pianist maximizes the melody.

Memory type determines how a person remembers material visually, auditorily, or using movement. To remember, some people need to visually recognize what they remember. These are people of the so-called visual memory type. Others require an auditory image to remember. This category of people has an auditory type of memory.

In addition, in order to remember, there are people who need movement, especially speech. These are people with motor memory. It is necessary to pay attention to which memory types and memory types need to be distinguished. You are trying to determine the memory type. And therefore everyone remembers everything: movements, images, feelings, thoughts and different types of memory are inherent in all people, and that which constitutes an individual characteristic.

Therefore, the type of memory is an individual characteristic of a given person. All people have all types of memory, each of which consumes a certain type of memory. Belonging to a certain type depends primarily on the practice of remembering, that is, on how you need to remember this person and how you remembered him.

Memory development does not occur on its own. This requires a whole system of memory training. The development of positive memory properties is greatly facilitated by the rationalization of a person’s mental and practical activities: orders at work, plans, self-control, some individual differences in their activities, memory is closely related to special mechanisms that protect the brain from unnecessary information. The extent to which these mechanisms operate varies from person to person.

The protection of the brain from unnecessary information is explained, in particular, by the phenomenon of hypnosis. Memory works faster during sleep because some of the mechanisms that protect the brain from excess information are turned off.

The importance of memory for human life

The impressions that a person receives about the world around him leave certain traces, are stored, recorded and, if necessary, reproduced, if possible. These processes are called memory.

Memory is the basis of human abilities, the conditions for learning, acquiring knowledge, and developing skills. Without memory, normal functioning of an individual or society is impossible. Thanks to his memory and its improvement, man stood out from the animal world and reached the height at which he is now. And further progress of humanity without constant improvement of this function is unthinkable.

Memory can be defined as the ability to receive, store and reproduce life experiences. Various instincts, innate and acquired mechanisms of action are only imprinted, inherited or acquired in the course of individual life experience.

Constant updating of such experience, its reproduction in the right conditions, if a living organism is not able to adapt to the events of a rapidly changing current life, and does not remember what happened to it, the body acquires it, so there is nothing to compare it and all living things with irretrievably lost. he has reached, but reached the highest stage of human development. No other creature in the world has such mnemonic abilities as he does.

Memory improvement

Researchers have found that under normal conditions, people remember 8 decimal places, not 7 letters, 4-5 numbers, 5 synonyms in alphabetical order. There are almost no overloads. According to experts, it is usually enough to remember 4 numbers, 5-6 letters, 4 synonyms and 6 numbers. However, as the alternative increases, the memory capacity decreases. For example, the memory capacity for various objects and colors is 3, numbers and dots are 8-9, letters are 6-9, geometric shapes are 3-8, etc.

As a rule, there are 2 main approaches to regulating memory processes by influencing the functional state of the brain: chemical and physical.

Chemical approaches, including the use of pharmacological agents, have been known since time immemorial. These products: tea, coffee (caffeine), strychnine, nivalin, pilocarpine, penatene, echimizole, eternal, centrophenoxine, piracetam, nootropil, pyramine. Favorable results from the use of psychopharmacological drugs that activate brain activity are obtained not only by people with a stable and balanced psyche, but also by people who are in a more or less depressed state.

The second approach to the study and regulation of memory processes is physical. It consists of studying memory processes and the influence of physical factors on memory stages in general. The most important direction in the physical approach is electrical stimulation of the brain structure. The use of focused ultrasound effect is another possibility of targeted impact on memory function. We will always prepare a “book” for your mobile phone about the mechanism of memory. They need to be constantly trained, setting aside time for this every day, or at least 20-25 minutes.

Basic principles of storing new information

If a connection between events is established, then the information entering the human brain is remembered better. Thus, when learning memory, a semantic connection is established between two phenomena. Preliminary determination of whether the semantic connection between these phenomena, events or actions promotes more reliable memory.

Associative connections, even when the meaning is completely incredible, are remembered for a long time. Structural connections also help memory: placing 683429731 as 683-429-731 makes it easier to remember. To make it easier to remember, the information can be divided into groups A, B, C, D, etc. You can taste it.

Association method. There is an easy way to create your own exercises to help you remember your association's participation. To do this, you need to write down 20 numbers and assign them to a specific person or object, as described here for memorizing logically unrelated text.

This exercise is followed by another similar exercise that will increase the mnemonic abilities of the brain. This method can be used to develop phenomenal memory. To remember faces, you need to look at them carefully, paying attention to shapes and features (objects) that are rarely found in others.

Remember the name. The first condition for remembering a name is that it should be pronounced loudly and clearly. To fix it in memory, you need to repeat it once or twice. Some use the method of associating a name with a visual image of the person to whom it belongs, ego characteristics, etc.

General conditions for successful memorization

When the material is interesting to the author of the note. If the memorizer already has a large amount of knowledge in the area to which the memorized material belongs. When memory is tuned to the duration, completeness and intensity of memory. When material makes sense, it is very clear and classifiable. When the material is memorized up to 1000 words (that is, 3-4 pages of a normal-sized book), it is carefully read once or twice in its semantic fragments, and then 3 pages are read.

If the number of such repetitions is 50% greater than the number required for the first error-free reproduction. Average memory allows you to accurately reproduce 7-9 words at a time, 12 words after 17 repetitions and 24 words after 40 repetitions. When a 24-hour pause is introduced between individual repetitions. The learning process is interrupted by a break of 45-60 minutes, divided into segments of 10-15 minutes.

• Our spiritual world is diverse and multifaceted. Thanks to the high level of development of our psyche, we can do a lot. In turn, mental development is possible because we retain acquired experience and knowledge.

Everything that we learn, all experiences, impressions or movements, can be stored for a long time, reappear under appropriate conditions and become objects of consciousness, according to our memory, memory means the imprinting, preservation, subsequent recognition and reproduction of traces of past experience. Thanks to memory, information can accumulate without losing previous knowledge and skills. Memory occupies a special place in the process of mental cognition.

Many researchers describe memory as a “transverse” process that ensures the continuity of mental processes and links all cognitive processes into a single whole. The awareness that an object or phenomenon perceived at this moment was perceived in the past is called recognition. We can only admit it. We can call up in our awareness an image of an object that we do not recognize at the moment, but have previously recognized.

Conclusion

This process, the process of reproducing an image of an object that we previously perceived but did not recognize at the moment, is called reproduction. It reproduces not only objects perceived in the past, but also our thoughts, experiences, desires, fantasies, etc. A necessary condition for recognition and reproduction is the imprinting or memorization of what is perceived and subsequent storage.

Thus, memory is a complex mental process consisting of several private processes interconnected. Memory is necessary for a person - it allows him to accumulate, store, and then use personal experience, accumulate knowledge and skills.

Psychological science is faced with many complex problems associated with the study of memory processes: how traces are imprinted, the physiology of this process, in addition, there are other questions that need to be answered. For example, how long can these traces be stored, the mechanism for storing short-term and long-term traces when they are in a hidden (latent) state.

Physiological basis of memory

Memorizing material, storing it and then reproducing it is one of the amazing properties of our brain. It is not for nothing that I.M. Sechenov called memory “perhaps the most important miracle of animal and especially human organization.”

Excitations coming to the brain from external and internal stimuli leave “traces” in it that can persist for many years, sometimes throughout life. In the cerebral cortex, paths for excitations seem to be paved, as a result of which nerve connections subsequently arise more easily and quickly.

Connections are preserved and revived if excitations are repeated or fade away if excitations are not repeated.

Instant memory is determined by the processes occurring in the peripheral part of the analyzer. Information is stored there for a very short time - from fractions to several seconds. This process underlies the activities of cinema and television. The fact is that a person in a cinema sees not one continuous image, but a series of motionless pictures. Each subsequent image is superimposed on the memory, resulting in the illusion of movement.

Short-term memory is based on the cyclic rotation of impulses in neural circuits. An electrical signal caught in such a trap can circulate in it for some time until it is erased by the next impulse.

The duration of information storage here is from several seconds to several minutes. Therefore, having received important information, it is advisable to transfer it to a tangible medium - paper or an electronic notepad, in order to protect it from possible loss. The capacity of short-term memory is 7 ± 2 units of information, and it does not matter what is meant by a unit of information - a letter or a word. If a person has to remember a lot of information, he can enlarge units of information and combine them into blocks, thus expanding the capacity of his memory.

Most of the information from short-term memory is erased, but some of it moves into working memory. Its transition from short-term to operational is called consolidation.

This process is facilitated by certain conditions: the importance of information for the subject, repeated repetition of information, brightness, unusualness of information, as well as the presence of emotions.

In RAM, information is stored from several minutes to several hours (days), most often one day - from awakening to sleep, after which one part of it goes into long-term memory, and the other is erased. The storage period of information in RAM is related to the task facing a person. In this case, the logical processing of information received during the day occurs during “slow” sleep, and its translation into long-term memory occurs during “rapid” sleep.

Long-term memory can store information for as long as desired—throughout a person’s entire life. This process is carried out with the participation of specific memory proteins and nucleic acids. Currently, there is a hypothesis that the functioning of information in this type of memory is associated with changes in the structure of nerve cells and their electrical contacts - synapses.

Various structures of analyzers and the central nervous system are involved in the functioning of human memory. The emergence of sensory traces of information occurs in the receptor systems of analyzers.

Definition of memory

Creating an adequate image of the surrounding world is a complex multi-level process in which cognitive processes of varying complexity take part. Each of these processes gives the image its own specific qualities.

The processes of perception and sensation give us an idea of ​​the world as a space filled with individual objects that have shape, volume and a certain texture. Sensations give these objects qualitative features, such as color, taste, smell, heaviness, etc. Categorization processes already at the level of perception give us the opportunity in a matter of seconds to understand what kind of objects we are faced with and react accordingly. Thinking, generalizing what is perceived, unfolds the panorama of our living space, expanding it far beyond the limits of what is visible and experienced at the moment; it allows us to “see” the hidden properties of objects, understand the essence of observed events and thus anticipate their occurrence.

All this would be impossible if living beings did not have the ability to preserve: intentions, perceived impressions, the results of their processing, as well as action programs. The process that ensures the construction of a comprehensive image of the world, connecting disparate impressions into a holistic picture, the past with the present and future, is memory. Without memory processes there can be neither an objective sensory nor an abstract mental image of the surrounding world. Memory is the “cement” that connects all the building elements of the mosaic into a single picture full of life.

Psychology, having its own subject and object endowed with memory, studies the specific features of memory, i.e. those mechanisms, forms and types that a person possesses.

Memory is the process of organizing and storing past experience, making it possible to reuse it in activity or return it to the sphere of consciousness. Memory connects a subject’s past with his present and future and is the most important cognitive function underlying development and learning.

There are several levels of information storage means: physical, biological, physiological and psychological.

At the physical level, information is stored due to structural transformations carried out with physical bodies - this is the “external” memory of a person.

At the biological level, in order to preserve information, transformations occur in biological structures, such as DNA, RNA molecules, etc.

At the physiological level, information is stored and transformed on the basis of dynamic physiological processes, which differ from biological ones in their functional nature, i.e. involvement in current information processes and relative short duration.

At the actual psychological level, qualitative transformations of information, its organization and storage occur, which are based on the transformation of semantic structures, i.e. the significance and meaning for the subject of those changes occurring at previous levels that are available to him.

According to these levels, the mechanisms that take part in human memory processes are also considered, of which, in fact, only two are within the competence of psychology - physical and psychological.