Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success : A Self-management Approach

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32   CHAPTER 2

Short-term

sensory store

Working

memory

Long-term

memory

retrieval

input

attention

rehearsal

storage

elaboration

organizational

memory loss memory loss

FIG. 2.1 A model of the information-processing system.

Psychologists provide many different theories and explanations of

human learning. One way to understand how information may be

acquired or lost is to understand the information-processing system

(see Fig. 2.1). This model is used to identify how humans store,

encode, and retrieve information. Storage is the process of placing

information into memory. Encoding is the process used to change

information in some way before it is stored, because information is

not stored exactly as it is presented. For example, when an individ-

ual reads a textbook, he or she derives meaning from the words read

and stores the meaning rather than the specific words on the page.

Sometimes when a person reads, he or she remembers the informa-

tion by changing the words to an image of the event. Retrieval refers

to the process of remembering or finding previously stored informa-

tion. Sometimes it is easy to recall information, other times, it takes

considerable thought and effort to remember.

Three important points are emphasized in this chapter:

1. Learning involves getting information into long-term memory
   (LTM), a component of memory that holds knowledge and
   skills for long periods of time.


2. Much of what we think we have learned is soon forgotten or
   never really learned in the first place.


3. The specific strategies used to store information in LTM affect
   the likelihood that the information will be remembered. In other
   words, how we learn often determines what we remember.

Short-Term Sensory Store

As shown in Fig. 2.1, the flow of information begins with input

from the environment, such as the visual perception of words in a

text. This information enters the short-term sensory store (STSS).

Information in the STSS is stored briefly until it can be attended to