Suppose that you wanted to memorize the phone number of a restaurant: In terms of the model, your goal is to get this information into long- term memory. DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input You look at a page of a phone book. Scanning the page, you find the listing you want. This is a “sensory input” to the system. The first stop is sensory memory.

A copy is made in sensory memory of the visual patterns, DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention Generally, just paying attention to something in sensory memory moves it to short-term memory. However, with verbal information, there is an extra step because short-term memory prefers to take information in an auditory form—a form you can hear.

This is called auditory encoding, the conversion of visual patterns to sounds. You do this when you “listen” to the sounds of these words on the screen. DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention It involves pattern recognition. Visual patterns in sensory memory are compared to prototypes in long- term memory.

Sounds corresponding to the visual patterns are then located and copied into short-term memory. DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention When you become aware of these sounds, you know they are in short-term memory. The process of auditory encoding has been completed. The link from LTM to STM illustrates the process of retrieval, a key intermediate step in memorization..

You have a new sequence of sounds in short-term memory: Your goal is to move this sequence into long-term memory. DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention There are two strategies for moving information from STM to LTM: (1) repetition; (2) elaboration.

When you repeat (rehearse) information, two things happen: DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention Repetition 1. You recirculate it in STM. Each time you do this, you “reset the clock” and get another few seconds before the information decays. 2. You increase the chances that the information will be copied into LTM. But this is an unreliable strategy.

Elaboration is much more effective. You retrieve related information from LTM and combine it with the information you are holding in STM. DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention Elaboration For example, you can use the letters that correspond to the digits on the phone dial and make a word out of the digits:

DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention Elaboration L O B S T E R Visualization works best. Try to come up with words that refer to objects you can picture in your “mind’s eye”.

DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention Elaboration What you encode (enter into) long-term memory is the word, lobster, and the mental picture of a lobster. You also encode the rule, “Dial the digits that go with the letters.”

DYNAMICSAtkinson-Shiffrin Model: Basic Sequence Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory Input Attention Elaboration It will help if you create a mental picture that links the lobster to the restaurant; maybe visualize a lobster going inside, like a customer. When it comes time to dial, the thought of the restaurant triggers the image of the lobster, which reminds you of your code word, “lobster”, and the rule: “Dial the digits that go with the letters.”