An Introduction to the Three Stages of the Memory Process

University student Matthew “Matt” Kafker focuses much of his schooling on four main fields: computer science, physics, math, and literature. Over the years, Matt Kafker has taken dozens or classes relating to these academic interests, as well as courses in psychology.

One of the more basic concepts of psychology is that of memory. According to most psychologists, the human memory process involved three stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

The process of receiving and combining information from the outside world is referred to as encoding or registration. During encoding, the brain perceives visual, semantic, and acoustic stimuli from a person’s surroundings and uses them to either create a short-term or long-term memory. When creating short-term memories, the encoding process is more shallow since these types of memories are easily forgotten.

Once encoded, the brain stores information in several different areas. It’s believed that most adults are capable of storing between five and nine short-term memories that are about zero to 30 seconds long. Meanwhile, they are capable of storing an unlimited amount of long-term memories. Despite this ability to have an unlimited number of long-term memories, humans rarely remember every memory for their entire lives. This has always been a controversial subject that is mostly tied to the retrieval stage of memory.

The final stage of memory involves calling back stored information for use in an activity or process. In many cases, this recall ability is a response to a cue that has been tied to the creation of the memory, such as a specific smell or sound. One of the most common reasons why memory fails is because a person loses the ability to retrieve specific memories. However, issues with memory can stem from any of the three stages of the memory process.

Key Health Benefits of Dreaming During the REM Sleep Phase

Matthew Kafker is dedicated to his university studies and holds diverse interests in linguistics, literature, physics, mathematics, microbiology, and computer science. In his spare time, Matthew Kafker also enjoys listening to classical music by Johannes Brahms and is learning about topics such as mythology and ancient cultures, the old testament, and the health effects of dreaming.

Dreaming positively impacts human well-being by easing emotional stressors experienced during time awake. Research suggests that experiencing dreams during REM-sleep helps to provide resolution to these emotional problems by the morning time. During dreams, key memory and emotional-related brain structures are reactivated during REM sleep, the only time when the anxiety causing hormone noradrenaline is not present in the brain. When this reactivation occurs, stressful memories can be processed in a calmer and safer environment because noradrenaline is not present.

Creativity and problem solving are also enhanced during dreaming that occurs with REM sleep. It’s at this time that the brain can process vast amounts of acquired knowledge to find answers to previously unsolvable problems and combine memories in novel ways to enhance creative abilities.