Memory Many psychologists believe that there are three main kinds of memory: sensory, short-term and long-term. What makes up each of them? Imagine that a friend who collects facts informs you about brain weight: a human brain weighs about 3 pounds, an elephant brain — approximately 13 pounds, a whale brain - roughly 20 pounds. How may this information make its way into memory? When you simply hear your friend cite the facts, some remembering that you are aware of is going on. Information that strikes our sense organs is stored on the basis of the so-called sensory memory (SM). Materials held by sensory memory resemble afterimages. Typically, they disappear in less than a second unless they are transferred immediately to a second memory system, short-term memory (STM). How do you transfer sensory data to the short-term store? All you have to do is to attend to the material for a moment. If you listen as your friend talks, you will pass into your short-term memory. The STM is pictured as the centre of consciousness. The STM holds everything we are aware of - thoughts, information, experiences, - at any point in time. The «store» part of STM houses a limited amount of data for some time (usually for about fifteen minutes). We can keep information in SM system longer by repeating it. In addition, the short-term memory «works» as a central executive. It inserts materials into, and removes it from, a third, more or less permanent system, the long-term memory (LTM). To move the information into the long-term store, you probably have to process it. During this deep processing people pay close attention, think about meanings or operate with related objects in long-term memory. While deep processing is one way to remember something, the other one is to repeat the information. The short- and long-term systems continually pass information back and forth. The material in the LTM may be activated and transferred to the ST store. It is the ST system that retrieves both long- and short-term memories. Imagine that someone asks you, «Do people have the largest brain of any animal?» Some time after your friend's lecture, the necessary information will be given quickly, it is in the ST store. If the question about the human brain comes up a year later, you will have to address to your long-term store. II. Answer the following questions: 1. What are the kinds of memory? 2. Where is the information stored? 3. What does the short-term memory hold? 4. How can we keep information in SM system longer? 5. Which system is less permanent: STM or LTM? 6. What is it necessary to do to move the information into the long-term store? III. Complete the following sentences: 1. There are three kinds of memory ... . 2. Information is stored on the basis of ... . 3. Short-term memory is pictured as ... . 4. It holds everything we are aware of ... . 5. We keep information longer by ... 6. During processing people pay ... . 7. The STM and LTM systems pass information ... . 8. IV. Find in the text the facts to prove that: 1. It is quite possible to keep information in SM system longer. 2. The STM works as a central executive. V. Explain: 1. The meaning of sensory memory. 2. The mechanism of short-term memory. 3. The mechanism of long-term memory. VI. Look at the diagram that follows the text and describe the system of information processing. VII. Divide the text into logical parts and state the general idea of each part.

I. Questions:

1. The three kinds of memory are sensory, short-term, and long-term.

2. Information is stored in sensory memory initially, then transferred to short-term memory, and eventually to long-term memory.

3. Short-term memory holds everything we are currently aware of - our thoughts, information, and experiences.

4. We can keep information in sensory memory longer by repeating it.

5. Short-term memory is less permanent than long-term memory.

6. To move the information into the long-term store, we need to process it, either by paying close attention to it or by repeating it.

III. Sentence Completion:

1. There are three kinds of memory - sensory, short-term, and long-term.

2. Information is stored on the basis of sensory memory.

3. Short-term memory is pictured as the centre of consciousness.

4. It holds everything we are aware of at any point in time.

5. We keep information longer by repeating it.

6. During processing people pay close attention, think about meanings, or operate with related objects in long-term memory.

7. The STM and LTM systems pass information back and forth.

8.

IV. Facts:

1. We can keep information in sensory memory longer by repeating it.

2. The STM functions as a central executive.

V. Explanations:

1. Sensory memory is the initial stage of memory storage, where information from our senses is briefly held before being transferred to short-term memory.

2. Short-term memory is where we store information that we are currently aware of, but it has a limited capacity and duration. It can hold information for about fifteen minutes.

3. Long-term memory is where we store information indefinitely, and it has a much larger capacity than short-term memory.

VI. Description:

The system of information processing consists of three stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Information is initially stored in sensory memory, where it resembles afterimages, and is quickly transferred to short-term memory if we attend to it. Short-term memory is the centre of consciousness and holds everything we are currently aware of for a limited time. To move information into long-term memory, we need to process it either by paying close attention or repeating it. Long-term memory is where we store information indefinitely and has a much larger capacity than short-term memory.

VII. Divisions:

1. Introduction: Defines the three types of memory and describes how information initially makes its way into memory.

2. Short-term Memory: Describes the function and limitations of short-term memory.

3. Long-term Memory: Discusses the characteristics and processes of long-term memory.

4. Information Retrieval: Explains how information is retrieved from short-term and long-term memory.