The process of memory is not concentration. Memory processes and their characteristics. Factors influencing memorization

Memory is a psychophysiological process:

Carrying out the reflection and accumulation of immediate and past individual and social experience;

Performing the functions of remembering, storing, reproducing and forgetting.

Memory serves as the basis for the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities and their subsequent use.

Memory processes

Storing some information in memory involves three processes.

The first one is memorization and encoding, during which the information that will be stored is highlighted.

The second is the actual storage of information. and its connection with the one that is already in memory.

The third stage is recognition and reproduction stored information; without it, we could never know what we actually remembered.

And there is another process:

Forgetting.

Memorization- retention of material in memory. Knowledge is the most important condition for the subsequent restoration of newly acquired knowledge. The success of learning is determined primarily by the possibility of incorporating new material into a system of meaningful connections. Depending on the place of learning processes in the structure of activity, a distinction is made between voluntary and involuntary learning. In the case of involuntary learning, a person does not set himself the task of remembering this or that material. Memory-bound processes perform operations here that serve other activities. As a result, learning is relatively spontaneous in nature and is carried out without special volitional efforts, preliminary selection of material, or the conscious use of any mnemonic techniques. At the same time, the dependence of Z. on the goals and motives of activity remains in this case. As studies have shown (P.I. Zinchenko, A.A. Smirnov), involuntary memory turns out to be much more successful than when the memorized material is included in the content of the goal of the action being performed. The specificity of the task being solved also plays an important role: focusing on semantic connections leads to deeper processing of the material and longer involuntary learning. Voluntary learning is a special action, the specific task of which is to remember accurately, for the longest possible period of time, for the purpose of subsequent reproduction or simply recognition - determines the choice of methods and means of protection, and thereby influences its results. Typical for this type of z. is a complex indirect structure. Commonly used methods of arbitrary knowledge include drawing up a preliminary plan, identifying semantic reference points, semantic and spatial grouping of material, presenting the material in the form of a visual visual image, and correlating it with existing knowledge. All other things being equal, voluntary learning is more productive than involuntary learning; it ensures greater systematicity, awareness of the assimilation of new knowledge, and controllability of this process. Repetition plays an important role among the mechanisms of healing. By prolonging the effective duration of exposure to information, it serves as a means of developing higher socialized forms of memory, primarily voluntary memory. At the same time, research shows that repetition is not absolutely necessary for long-term memory; in particular, its role is significantly reduced when learning vital material and information that carries great meaning for the individual.

Preservation- more or less long-term retention in memory of information obtained through experience. Preservation as a memory process has its own laws. It has been established that conservation can be dynamic and static. Dynamic storage occurs in working memory, while static storage occurs in long-term memory. With dynamic conservation, the material changes little; with static conservation, on the contrary, it must undergo reconstruction and processing.

Reconstruction of material stored by long-term memory occurs under the influence of information that is continuously received again. Reconstruction manifests itself in various forms: in the disappearance of some details and their replacement with other details, in changing the sequence of material, in its generalization.

Previously memorized knowledge interacts with newly acquired knowledge: it enters into new connections (associates), is clarified and differentiated, generalized and recoded. The experience stored by consciousness is constantly changing and enriching. Only what has been memorized as an independent integral statement is preserved and reproduced unchanged.

The preservation of information and its modification can be judged only by the following two memory processes - recognition and reproduction.

There are four interconnected processes in memory: remembering, storing, reproducing, and forgetting information.

Memorization is a memory process that results in “imprinting”, consolidation of new information through its encoding (in the form of “memory traces”) and association with previously acquired experience. The most important feature of memorization is its selectivity - Not all information entering the brain can be imprinted. This property is directly related to the selectivity of attention.

Memorization can be

• mechanical and meaningful,
• involuntary and voluntary.

During ontogenetic development, methods of memorization change, the role of meaningful memorization, in which semantic connections are established in the memorized material. Various types of memory - motor, emotional, figurative, verbal-logical - are sometimes described as stages of such development.

Preservation is the process of retaining information in memory, processing and transforming it.

Least studied compared to the others. It is carried out unconsciously and is not subject to volitional control and regulation. It has been proven that intensive information processing occurs during sleep. There is a hypothesis that a person’s memory stores all the wealth of his life experience, but human consciousness is simply not able to reproduce all the information accumulated during life and does not have access to it. According to another hypothesis, storing any material in memory requires its systematic restructuring, reorganization under the influence of new experience.

A necessary condition for remembering and retaining information is the preservation of brain structures.

Playback- this is the actualization in the consciousness of previously formed psychological content (thoughts, images, feelings) in the absence of external, actually perceived pointers to this content.

Varies

• involuntary reproduction, when a past impression is updated without a special task, and
• arbitrary, conditioned by the goals and objectives of the activity being performed.

Reproduction is selective and indirect, determined by needs, direction of activity, and current experiences. During reproduction, a significant restructuring of what is perceived usually occurs, so that the original content loses a number of minor details and acquires a generalized form that best suits the tasks being solved.

The reproduction process has several varieties:

• recognition,
• actually reproduction,
• recollection(will-directed extraction from long-term memory images of the past).
• memory.

Recognition- this is the process of identification based on memory data of an already known object, which is in the center of actual perception. This process is based on comparison of perceived features with corresponding memory traces, which act as standards for the identification features of what is perceived. Highlight individual recognition of an object, as a repeated perception of something quite specific, and generic, when the perceived object can be attributed to any known class of objects.

Memory - This is the reproduction of images from the past, localized in time and space, i.e. associated with certain periods and events of our lives. When remembering, life events serve as unique reference points that facilitate this process.

Forgetting- an active process consisting in the loss of access to previously memorized material, the inability to reproduce or learn what was once learned. What is subject to forgetting, first of all, is that which does not meet the immediate needs of the subject and is not actualized in the context of the tasks he solves. This process is carried out most intensively immediately after the end of memorization. In this case, it is best to preserve meaningful and important material, which acquires a more generalized and schematic character during storage. Minor details are forgotten more quickly than significant ones.

Under certain conditions it is observed effect of reversibility of the forgetting process. Thus, recreating the external and internal conditions under which memorization took place, and the use of special reproduction strategies can lead to the restoration of forgotten material.

Forgetting is associated with effects projective And retroactive inhibition. Projective inhibition occurs as a result of the influence of previous activity on the memory processes, retroactive inhibition is the result of the negative influence of subsequent activity.

In psychoanalysis, forgetting was explained by the action of a defense mechanism of repressing unacceptable contents and traumatic impressions from the sphere of consciousness.

It is necessary to distinguish between forgetting as a natural component of mnemonic processes and various amnesia- memory dysfunction (impairment) caused by one reason or another.

Théodule Armand Ribot (1839-1916), based on psychopathological data, divided all amnesia into three groups: 1) temporary; 2) periodic; 3) progressive. The causes of amnesia can be both organic (damage to brain structures) and psychogenic in nature (repression, post-affective amnesia).

Along with amnesia, there are paramnesia or “false memories” that replace forgotten or repressed events. According to the clinical observations of Sigmund Freud, amnesia and false memories (paramnesia) are always in a complementary relationship: where significant memory gaps are identified, false memories arise, which can completely hide the presence of amnesia.

Everything that we learn, our every experience, impression or movement leaves a certain trace in our memory, which can persist for quite a long time and, under appropriate conditions, appear again and become an object of consciousness. Therefore, by memory we mean imprinting (recording), preservation, subsequent recognition and reproduction of traces of past experience, which allows us to accumulate information without losing previous knowledge, information, and skills.

Memory is a complex mental process consisting of several private processes associated with each other. Memory is necessary for a person - it allows him to accumulate, save and subsequently use personal life experience; it stores knowledge and skills.

Memory processes: remembering, storing, recognizing, reproducing and forgetting.

The initial stage of memorization is the so-called. unintentional or involuntary remembering, i.e. memorization without a predetermined goal, without using any techniques. Recently, close attention of researchers has been attracted to the processes occurring at the very initial stage of memorization. In order for this or that material to be fixed in memory, it must be appropriately processed by the subject. Subjectively, this process is experienced as an echo of an event that has just occurred: for a moment we seem to continue to see, hear, etc. something that we no longer directly perceive (stands before our eyes, sounds in our ears, etc.). These processes are called short-term memory. Unlike long-term memory, which is characterized by long-term retention of material after repeated repetition and reproduction, short-term memory is characterized by very short-term retention.

Much of what a person encounters in life is involuntarily remembered: surrounding objects, phenomena, events of everyday life, people’s actions, the contents of books read without any educational purpose.

It is necessary to distinguish from involuntary memorization voluntary (intentional) memorization, characterized by the fact that a person sets a specific goal - to remember what is intended, and uses special memorization techniques. In the learning process, deliberate memorization often takes the form of memorization, i.e. repeated repetition of educational material until it is completely and error-freely memorized. So, for example, poems, definitions, formulas, laws, etc. are memorized. The success of memorization also depends on the extent to which the material is comprehended by a person. With mechanical memorization, words, objects, events, movements are remembered exactly in the order in which they were perceived, without any transformations. Rote memorization relies on the spatial and temporal domain of memorization objects. Meaningful memorization is based on understanding the internal logical connections between parts of the material. Meaningful memorization is many times more productive than mechanical memorization. Comprehension of the material is achieved by various techniques and, first of all, by highlighting the main thoughts in the material being studied and grouping them in the form of a plan. A useful memorization technique is also comparison, i.e. finding similarities and differences between objects, phenomena, events, etc. The strength of memorization largely depends on repetition.

What a person remembers is stored by the brain for a more or less long time. Preservation as a memory process has its own patterns. It has been established that conservation can be dynamic and static. Dynamic storage manifests itself in RAM, and static storage in long-term memory. With dynamic conservation, the material changes little; with static conservation, on the contrary, it undergoes reconstruction and processing.

Retrieving material from memory is carried out using two processes - reproduction and recognition. Reproduction is the process of recreating the image of an object that we previously perceived, but is not perceived at the moment. Reproduction differs from perception in that it occurs after it and outside of it. Thus, the physiological basis of reproduction is the renewal of neural connections formed earlier during the perception of objects and phenomena. Like memorization, recall can be unintentional (involuntary) or intentional (voluntary).

Recognition of an object occurs at the moment of its perception and means that there is a perception of an object, the idea of ​​which was formed in a person either on the basis of personal impressions (memory representation) or on the basis of verbal descriptions (imagination representation). For example, we recognize the house in which a friend lives, but which we have never been to, and recognition occurs due to the fact that this house was previously described to us, they were explained by what signs to find it, which was reflected in our ideas about it.

Recognition processes differ from each other in their degree of certainty. Recognition is least certain in those cases when we only experience a feeling of familiarity of an object, but cannot identify it with anything from past experience. For example, we see a person whose face seems familiar to us, but we cannot remember who he is and under what circumstances we could have met him. Such cases are characterized by uncertainty of recognition. In other cases, recognition, on the contrary, is characterized by complete certainty: we immediately recognize the person as a certain person. Therefore, these cases are characterized by complete recognition. Both of these variants of recognition unfold gradually, and therefore they are often close to recollection, and therefore are a complex mental and volitional process.

The processes of recognition and reproduction are not always carried out with equal success. Sometimes it happens that we can recognize an object, but we are unable to reproduce it when it is missing. There are cases of the opposite kind: we have some ideas, but we cannot say what they are connected with. Most often we experience difficulties in reproducing something, and much less often such difficulties arise in recognition. As a rule, we are able to find out when it is impossible to reproduce. Thus, recognition is easier than reproduction.

Forgetting is expressed in the inability to restore previously perceived information. The physiological basis of forgetting is certain types of cortical inhibition, which interferes with the actualization of temporary neural connections. Most often this is the so-called extinctive inhibition, which develops in the absence of reinforcement.

Forgetting comes in two main forms:

1. inability to remember or recognize;
2. incorrect recall or recognition.

Between complete recall and complete forgetting, there are varying degrees of recall and recognition.

It is customary to distinguish three such levels:

1. reproducing memory;
2. recognition memory;
3. facilitating memory.

Forgetting occurs unevenly over time. The greatest loss of material occurs immediately after its perception, and later forgetting occurs more slowly.

1. The concept of memory.

2. Types of memory.

3. Memory processes.

4. Development and improvement of memory.

1. Memory- This is one of the most popular human mental processes.

Such popularity dates back to the ancient Greeks, who revered the goddess of memory Mnemosyne as the mother of the nine muses, patroness of the arts and sciences known at that time.

Modern scientific expressions related to memory also come from the name of the goddess: “mnemonic task”, “mnemonic processes”, “mnemonic orientation”, etc.

It is difficult to imagine a world without memory.

The importance of memory is very great, but all successes or, conversely, failures should not be attributed to this cognitive process.

It is difficult for a person to say: “I don’t know how to reason,” or even more so, “I’m stupid,” but he easily says: “This sclerosis again,” etc.

Memory is a complex cognitive process through which a person can remember, preserve and reproduce his past experiences.

Thanks to memory, we can preserve and reproduce not only individual objects or situations, but also entire chains of events.

The connections that exist between events, objects or phenomena, preserved in our memory, are called associations.

Researchers identify different types of associations, but classically these are:

1) associations by similarity;

2) associations by contrast;

3) associations by contiguity.

Many poetic comparisons are based on associations of similarity (“the river flowed like rain,” “the blizzard cried like a gypsy violin”). On a hot summer day, we remember how good it was to ski in winter, and how much fun we had on the beach in winter.

These kinds of associations are associations by contrast.

During the exam, the student presents a notebook with notes and the page where the ticket material is located, sees a table or diagram, etc.

If objects are connected in time and space, then these are associations by contiguity (floor - rag, pen - notebook).

Most associations are related to the experience of a particular person, but there are some that are the same for many people.

For example, when most people hear the word “fruit,” they say “apple,” and when asked to name a part of the face, they say “nose.”

The importance of associations for a person is that they allow you to automatically and quickly perceive the information necessary at the moment.

So, memory is a complex cognitive process that ensures the continuity of a person’s mental life.

2. Human memory can be classified on several grounds.

1. Material storage time:

1) instant (iconic)– thanks to this memory, a complete and accurate picture of what the senses just perceived is retained for 0.1–0.5 s, without any processing of the received information;

2) short-term(KP) – capable of storing information for a short period of time and in a limited volume.

As a rule, in most people the volume of the CP is 7 ± 2 units.

The CP records only the most significant information, a generalized image;

3) operational(OP) – operates for a predetermined time (from several seconds to several days) depending on the task that needs to be solved, after which the information can be erased;

4) long-term(DP) – information is stored for an indefinite period.

the DP contains the material that a practically healthy person should remember at any time: his first name, patronymic, last name, place of birth, capital of the Motherland, etc.

In humans, DP and CP are inextricably linked.

Before the material enters storage in the DP, it must be processed in the CP, which helps protect the brain from overload and preserve vital information for a long time;

5) genetic memory began to be highlighted by researchers relatively recently.

This is information that is preserved in the genotype and transmitted by inheritance, not subject to the influence of training and upbringing.

2. The leading role of a particular analyzer:

1) motor – motor reactions are remembered and reproduced, therefore, on its basis, basic motor skills are formed (walking, writing, sports, dancing, work).

This is one of the ontogenetically earliest types of memory;

2) emotional– remembering a certain emotional state and reproducing it when repeating the situation when it arose for the first time.

This type of memory also appears in a child very early; according to modern research, already in the first year of life, it is well developed in preschool children.

Characterized by the following features:

a) special strength;

b) rapid formation;

c) involuntary reproduction;

3) visual– preservation and reproduction of visual images predominates.

For many people, this type of memory is the leading one. Sometimes visual images are reproduced so accurately that they resemble a photograph.

Such people are said to have eidetic memory (eidos - image), that is, memory with photographic accuracy.

For many people, eidetic memory is well developed in preschool age, but for some individuals (usually people of art) it persists throughout their lives.

For example, V. A. Mozart, S. V. Rachmaninov, M. A. Balakirev could remember and reproduce a complex piece of music on an instrument after just one perception;

4) auditory– promotes good memorization and reproduction of a wide variety of sounds.

It is especially well developed among musicians, acousticians, etc.

As a special variety of this type, verbal-logical memory is distinguished - this is a purely human type of memory, thanks to which we can quickly and accurately remember the logic of reasoning, the sequence of events, etc.;

5) olfactory– smells are well remembered and reproduced;

6) gustatory– predominance of the taste analyzer in memory processes;

7) tactile– what a person was able to feel, what he touched with his hands, etc. is well remembered and reproduced.

The last three types of memory are not as significant for a person as those previously listed, but their importance increases sharply if the functioning of any of the main analyzers is disrupted, for example, when a person loses sight or hearing (there are many cases where blind people became excellent musicians ).

There are a number of professions where these types of memory are in demand.

For example, tasters must have a good taste memory, perfumers must have an olfactory memory.

It very rarely happens when a person has a predominance of one type of memory.

Much more often, the leading memory is visual-auditory, visual-motor, and motor-auditory.

In addition to the above classifications, memory can vary in parameters such as speed, duration, strength, accuracy and memory volume.

The variety of types of memory allows you to achieve success in various activities.

3. The memory contains the following processes:

1) memorization;

2) reproduction;

3) preservation;

4) forgetting.

Memorization- This is a memory process, the result of which is the consolidation of previously perceived information.

Memorization is divided into:

1) voluntary (the task is set to remember, and certain efforts are made) – involuntary (a special task is not set to remember, the material is memorized without any effort);

2) mechanical (information is memorized as a result of simple repetition) - logical (connections are established between individual elements of information, which allows the forgotten to be deduced anew through logical reasoning).

In order for memorization to be successful, the following provisions should be adhered to:

1) make a memorization setting;

2) show more activity and independence in the process of memorization (a person will remember the path better if he moves independently than when he is accompanied);

3) group the material according to meaning (drawing up a plan, table, diagram, graph, etc.);

4) the process of repetition when memorizing should be distributed over a certain time (day, several hours), and not in a row.

5) new repetition improves memorization of previously learned;

6) arouse interest in what is being remembered;

7) the unusual nature of the material improves memorization.

Reproduction (recovery) is a memory process through which previously consolidated past experiences are retrieved.

The following forms of reproduction are distinguished:

1) recognition– the appearance of a feeling of familiarity during perception;

2) memory– restoration of material in the absence of perception of an object; remembering is always more difficult than recognizing (for example, it is easier to remember a person’s last name if you find it in a list);

3) reminiscence– reproduction delayed in time (for example, one remembers a poem that a person told in distant childhood);

4) recollection– an active form of reproduction, requiring the use of certain techniques (association, reliance on recognition) and volitional efforts.

Preservation– retention of previously learned material in memory. Information is retained in memory through repetition, as well as the application of acquired knowledge in practice.

Memory researchers have found that the material that begins and ends the general series of information is best retained; the middle elements are stored less well.

This phenomenon in psychology is called the edge effect.

An interesting fact was discovered by B.V. Zeigarnik. in her experiments, subjects had to complete about 20 different tasks as quickly and accurately as possible (riddles, small mathematical problems, sculpting figures, etc.).

It turned out that the subjects recalled those actions that remained unfinished almost twice as often as those that they managed to complete.

This phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik effect.

Forgetting– loss of memory, disappearance of previously memorized material.

As psychological studies have shown, material is forgotten faster in the first time after memorization than in the future; meaningless material is also forgotten faster than if it is connected by a logical chain.

Most often, forgetting is considered a negative phenomenon, but it should be remembered that this is a very expedient, necessary and natural process of memory, otherwise our brain would be overloaded with a mass of unnecessary or unimportant information.

Sometimes forgetting becomes painful, even to the point of complete memory loss.

This phenomenon is called amnesia.

S. Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) paid much attention to the analysis of the mechanisms of forgetting.

He believed that the process of forgetting is largely explained by a person’s reluctance to remember unpleasant situations in his biography.

He forgets about those things that may remind him of psychologically unpleasant circumstances.

So, memory includes a number of components that determine the success of its development.

4. The process of memory development is carried out in the following directions:

1) ontogenetically earlier mechanical memory is gradually replaced by logical memory;

2) with age, memorization becomes more conscious, the active use of mnemonic techniques and means begins;

3) involuntary memorization, which predominates in childhood, becomes voluntary.

Based on the listed areas, we can determine the following ways and means of improving memory.

1. Use the repetition process correctly.

The most appropriate is repetition that is as close as possible to the perception of the material.

It has been experimentally proven that forgetting is prevented by repetition 15–20 minutes after memorization.

It is advisable to do the next repetition after 8–9 hours, and then after 24 hours.

It is also advisable to repeat in the morning with a fresh mind and before bed.

2. Remember about the “edge effect”, that is, spend more time repeating the material that is located in the middle of the information series.

Also, when repeating, material in the middle can be placed at the beginning or end.

3. To quickly and reliably remember a sequence of events or objects, you can perform the following series of actions:

1) mentally connect what is being memorized with some easily imaginable or well-known object, and then connect this object with the one that is at hand at the right moment;

2) connect both objects in the imagination with each other in the most bizarre way possible into a single fantastic image;

3) mentally recreate this image.

4. To remember the sequence of events or actions, you can imagine words as characters in a story.

5. The material will be remembered more easily if you use the association technique. To do this, you should ask yourself questions like: “What does this remind me of?”, “What does this look like?” as often as possible. “What other word reminds me of this word?”, “What episode in life does this episode remind me of?” and so on.

When implementing this rule, the following pattern applies: the more diverse associations that arise when memorizing the source material, the more firmly this material is remembered.

6. A sequential chain of events or objects can be remembered if these objects are mentally placed along the daily route to work or school.

Walking along this path, we remember these objects.

Any techniques are good only if they are adapted by a specific person to his own life experience and characteristics of the psyche and behavior.

Therefore, what suits one person may not be suitable for another.

Memory In cognitive psychology, memory is understood as the mental process of acquiring, storing, retaining and reproducing information. The memory mechanism consists of three interrelated processes: encoding, storage and reproduction