Practicum for Partial Fulfillment of B.

Ed Degree
Requirements at IASE, Tripura University

Practicum Topic: Basic Concepts of Memory

Course Code: C1

Paper name: Child & Growing Up

Submitted by:
Aditi Som (Trainee Teacher)
Roll No.: 51
Section: B
Semester: First Semester
Session: 2024-2026

Contact Information:
Phone No.: +91 9863597150
Email ID: [email protected]

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Supervised by:
Dr. Hillol Mukherjee

Date of Submission:
14 November 2024
 DECLARATION

I Hereby declare that this practicum titled THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF MEMORY is my original
work, conducted under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Hillol Mukherjee, and submitted
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of B.Ed at IASE Kunjaban, Tripura
University .

Throughout the fullfillment of the practicum I have properly acknowledged and cited all
sources, including text, data, and ideas, which were obtained from external references. Any
material borrowed from other works has been duly credited and referenced in accordance
with the prescribed academic guidelines.

I confirm that this practicum has not been previously submitted for any other degree or
qualification at any institution. Furthermore, I assert that any information obtained from
other sources or individuals during the course of this study has been appropriately
acknowledged.

I understand that any act of plagiarism or academic dishonesty would have serious
consequences, and I am fully aware of the college’s policy on academic integrity. I take full
responsibility for the content presented in this dissertation and vouch for its authenticity.

Aditi Som
B.Ed First Semester
IASE, Kunjaban, Tripura University

Date: -------------------------------

Signature.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who supported me throughout my
practicum journey.
First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Hillol Mukherjee for his
guidance, encouragement, and valuable insights. His expertise and dedication played a pivotal
role in shaping this practicum.
My heartfelt thanks go to my family for their unwavering love, understanding, and their
constant encouragement during this challenging period. Their belief in me was a constant
source of motivation. I am indebted to my friends and peers for their meaningful discussions,
constructive feedback, and for being a source of support in both academic and personal
matters.
Lastly, I wish to acknowledge all the participants who generously contributed their time and
insights to make this study possible. To everyone who has played a part in this practicum
whether big or small, thank you for being an essential part of this journey.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

SL.NO CONTENTS PAGE NO.

1. Concept of Memory 1

2. What is Memory? 1

3. Definitions of Memory 1

4. Mechanism of the Process of Memorization 2

5. Functions of Memory 3

6. Nature of Memory 4

7. Types, Stages, and Processes 4

8. Improving Recall 8

9. Conclusion 10

10. References 11
CONCEPT OF MEMORY

Learning occupies a very significant place in one’s life. It is the basis not only of the
development and progress of human society but also of its survival. Learning, however,
would be futile if its products cannot be utilized by us in the future. Whatever is learned
needs to be somehow stored in the mind so that it can be utilized whenever required in the
future. In psychological terms, this faculty of the mind to store the past experiences or
learning and to reproduce them for use when required at a later time is known as ‘memory’.
Ryburn (1956) endorses this meaning of memory in the following words:

The power that we have to ‘store’ our experiences, and to bring them into the field of our
consciousness some time after the experiences have occurred, is termed memory.

An assessment of the strength of the power or quality of this ability can be made on the
basis of performance in terms of the quality of the revival or reproduction of what has been
learnt and stored up. In this sense, a good memory must reflect “an ideal revival’” as Stout
(1938) puts: so far as ideal revival is merely reproductive.. This productive aspect of ideal
revival requires the object of past experiences to be re-instated as far as possible in the
order and manner of their original occurrence.

However, the term memory’, or the process of memorization, cannot be viewed merely in
terms of reproduction or revival of past experiences or learning it is quitea complex process
which involves factors like learning, retention, recall, and recognition.

WHAT IS MEMORY?

Memory means an act of remembering some particular event. In psychological perspective,

Memory is the faculty of mind to store the past experiences and then to reproduce them for
use when required in later life. Memory refers to the process that are used to acquire, store,
retain And later retrieval and future use.

DEFINITIONS OF MEMORY

Some definitions of memory are as follows:

According to Woodworth, ‘Memory involves learning, retention, recall & recognition.’

Ross said, Memory is a new experience determined by the disposition laid down by previous
experiences, the relation between the two being clearly understood.

Ryburn defined, ‘Memory is the power that we have to store our experiences and bring
them into the field of our consciousness sometimes after the experiences have occurred.’

“The ideal revival, so far as ideal revival is merely reproductive in which the objects of past
experience are reinstates as far as possible in the order and manner of their original
occurrence , is known as memory”. (Stout)

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Spearman

“Memory consists of cognitive events which by occuring establish dispositions which

facilitate their recurrence.”

Klausmier

“Memory consists of a number of distinct learning activities such as retention, recall and
recognition.”

On the basis of above definitions, we can state that memory involves four factors. These are:

1. Learning.

2. Retention.

3. Recall.

4. Recognition.

Learning is the first factor or first activity which is responsible for the acquisition of new
experiences and modifications of behaviour.

Retention is the persistence or preservation of the past experiences for a sufficient period of
time. Retention follows learning. Whatever we learn is stored or preserved in the brain.

Recall consists in the revival or reproduction of the past experiences. Recall depends upon
retention. If there is no retention, there will be no recall.

The fourth aspect or factor of memory is Recognition. Recognition is the awareness of the
previous experiences that have been retained or stored in the brain. It consists in knowing
and recognizing that object or material with which we became previously acquainted.

All the above mentioned four factors or aspects of Memory are interrelated. Learning is
closely related to retention. Retention is closely related to recall and recall is closely related
to recognition.

MECHANISM OF THE PROCESS OF MEMORIZATION

Our mind possesses a special ability. By virtue of which every experience or learning leaves
behind memory images or traces which are conserved in the form of ‘engrams’. Thus, what is
learned leaves its after-effect which is conserved in the form of engrams composed of
memory traces. This preservation of the memory traces by our central nervous system or
brain is known as retention of the learned or experienced act. The duration of retention
depends upon the strength and quality of the memory traces When we try to recollect or
repeat our past experiences or learning, we make use of the memory traces and if we are
successful in the revival of our memory traces, our memory is said to be good. But somehow
or the other, the memory traces have died out, we cannot reproduce make use of our past
experiences and learning. In this case it is said that we have been unable to retain what has
been learned or that we have forgotten.

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Learning is then the primary condition for memorization. If there is no learning there would
be no remembering. At the second stage we have to ensure that these learning experiences
are retained properly in the form of mental impressions or images so that they can be
retrieved when the need arises. The third and fourth stages in the process of memorization
can be termed as recognition and recall. Recognition is a much easier and simpler a
psychological process than recall. The difference between these two terms can be illustrated
by the following example:

Suppose, Dikshita had been your classmate for two years and you spent a fairly long time
together. The old experiences would have been retained as memory traces. Now if, at the
mention of her name, you are able to recollect all the experiences you shared with her, and
describe her, it is said that you have a good memory, because the memory traces were
stored or retained in a proper form. If, On the other hand, you can recall the mutual
experiences only vaguely or not at all, the memory traces have either become weak or have
disappeared.

In such cases ‘recognition’ is, however, possible because this requires only the awareness of
having known an object or situation. Here the presence of the already experienced object or
person aids the task of recollection. In the above example, a photograph or the actual
presence of Dikshita may facilitate the task of recollecting the past experiences.

The process of memorization, thus, begins with learning or experiencing something and
ends with its revival and reproduction. Therefore, memory is said to involve four stages, viz.,
learning or experiencing something, its retention, recognition, and recall.

FUNCTIONS OF MEMORY

Memory plays an important role in our life. Our Memory is the storehouse which comprises
of millions of our past experiences. Memory consists of the knowledge, skills, experiences,
emotions, feelings and attitudes that we have acquired singe the stage of infancy.

A substitute word for memory is remembering. Both the terms convey the same meaning.
Memory is used in the sense of a ‘Noun’ and ‘Remembering’ is used in the sense of a Verb’.
The basic condition for memory is Learning. The effects of learning are retained in the form
of ‘Memory Traces’ or ‘Engrams’. Whatever we learn is preserved in the central nervous
system of the brain in the form of ‘Engrams’ or ‘Memory traces’. Memory traces are like the
impressions or marks of the learning experiences in the brain. When we try to recall past
experiences of our life, we make use of the memory traces. Cortex is considered to be the
seat of memory in the brain.

NATURE OF MEMORY

A) Memory is a Physical activity– The Memory traced are the basis of memory in the
form of tendencies.

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 B) Memory as Psycho-Physical activity- Barkett, Piron & Libson Advocate that memory
depends more on mental states like interest, motivation, attitude etc. Than on
repetition of experience.
C) Memory as Process – 1st we learn something then we store (i.e. retention) it then
recall and recognition.
D) Memory as Product – Encoding, Store & Retrieve.

TYPES, STAGES & PROCESSES

Memory Conceptualized in Terms of Types, Stages, and Processes,” psychologists

conceptualize memory in terms of types, in terms of stages, and in terms of processes.

As types
1. Explicit memory
2. Implicit memory

As stages
1. Sensory memory
2. Short-term memory
3. Long-term memory

As processes 1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval

TYPES OF MEMORY

Two types of memory, explicit memory and implicit memory. It is actually the long- term
memory and this long-term memory can be further categorized as implicit (unconscious) or
explicit (conscious).

Explicit Memory

When we assess memory by asking a person to consciously remember things, we are

measuring explicit memory. Explicit memory refers to knowledge or experiences that can be
consciously remembered.

There are two types of explicit memory: episodic and semantic.

Episodic Memory : Episodic memory is connected with episodes and events. It may consist
of personal events and experiences associated with one’s life. What even has happened
during one’s life is stored in the shape of episodic memory traces organised according to the
time, space and other characteristics of the events. At the time of recall, these memory
traces are reproduced in the manner and sequence in which they have been organised and
stored in one’s mental apparatus. For example, if a person has been on an excursion and, on
his return, narrates all that he did or experienced, how he felt and enjoyed himself, he is

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able to do so by the exercise of his episodic memory. Also, when after hearing his account of
the events or episodes you make inferences, that is the outcome of your episodic memory.
Thus, episodic memory is the memory which depends on retrieving the particular events or
episodes experienced by a person through his direct or indirect experiences. It should be
considered as quite personal and individual in all its shades and nuances because what one
experiences and how these episodes and experiences are organised in one’s memory is
totally an individual affair and thereby one individual’s episodic memory of even common
events is bound to differ from that of other person.

Semantic Memory : Semantic memory helps in storing as well as retrieving a collection of

relationships between events or association of ideas. Examples of such collection may be
found in one’s ability to recall names of the capitals of different states of Indian Republic.
The meaning of the symbol CO2, The formula for the computation of simple or compound
interest, the rules for converting direct narrations into indirect narrations and vice versa, and
so on. Semantic memory is thus based on general knowledge coupled with meaningful
interpretation, generalized rules, principles and formulae. Semantic memory impressions are
more or less permanent. Their recall does not necessarily depend on the retrieval of some
specific episodes from the past and semantic memory is therefore, not as personal as
episodic memory, e.g. the meaning of the symbol CO2, and names of the capitals of the
states, etc., are common to each individual’s semantic memory.

IMPLICIT MEMORY

While explicit memory consists of the things that we can consciously report that we know,
implicit memory refers to knowledge that we cannot consciously access. However, implicit
memory is nevertheless exceedingly important to us because it has a direct effect on our
behaviour. Implicit memory refers to the influence of experience on behaviour, even if the
individual is not aware of those influences. There are three general types of implicit
memory: procedural memory, classical conditioning effects, and priming.

Procedural Memory : Procedural memory refers to our often unexplainable knowledge of

how to do things. When we walk from one place to another, speak to another person in
English, dial a cell phone, or play a video game, we are using procedural memory. Procedural
memory allows us to perform complex tasks, even though we may not be able to explain to
others how we do them. There is no way to tell someone how to ride a bicycle; a person has
to learn by doing it. The idea of implicit memory helps explain how infants are able to learn.
The ability to crawl, walk, and talk are procedures, and these skills are easily and efficiently
developed while we are children despite the fact that as adults we have no conscious
memory of having learned them.

Classical Conditioning Effects : A second type of implicit memory is classical conditioning

effects, in which we learn, often without effort or awareness, to associate neutral stimuli
(such as a sound or a light) with another stimulus (such as food), which creates a naturally
occurring response, such as enjoyment or salivation. The memory for the association is

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demonstrated when the conditioned stimulus (the sound) begins to create the same
response as the unconditioned stimulus (the food) did before the learning.

Priming : The final type of implicit memory is known as priming, or changes in behaviour as
a result of experiences that have happened frequently or recently. Priming refers both to the
activation of knowledge (e.g., we can prime the concept of kindness by presenting people
with words related to kindness) and to the influence of that activation on behaviour (people
who are primed with the concept of kindness may act more kindly).

One of the most important characteristics of implicit memories is that they are frequently
formed and used automatically, without much effort or awareness on our part.

STAGES OF MEMORY

Psychologists classify memory into different stages, including sensory, short-term, working,
and long-term memory. Long-term memory can be further categorized as implicit
(unconscious) or explicit (conscious).

So another way of understanding memory is to think about it in terms of stages that

describe the length of time that information remains available to us. According to memory
duration approach, information begins in sensory memory, moves to short-term memory,
and eventually moves to long-term memory. But not all information makes it through all
three stages; most of it is forgotten. Whether the information moves from shorter-duration
memory into longer-duration memory or whether it is lost from memory entirely depends
on how the information is attended to and processed.

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory refers to the brief storage of sensory information. Sensory memory is a
memory buffer that lasts only very briefly and then, unless it is attended to and passed on
for more processing, is forgotten. The purpose of sensory memory is to give the brain some
time to process the incoming sensations, and to allow us to see the world as an unbroken
stream of events rather than as individual pieces.

Visual sensory memory is known as iconic memory. Iconic memory was first studied by the
psychologist George Sperling (1960).

Auditory sensory memory is known as echoic memory. In contrast to iconic memories, which
decay very rapidly, echoic memories can last as long as four seconds (Cowan, Lichty, &
Grove, 1990). This is convenient as it allows you — among other things — to remember the
words that you said at the beginning of a long sentence when you get to the end of it, and to
take notes on your psychology professor’s most recent statement even after he or she has
finished saying it.

In some people iconic memory seems to last longer, a phenomenon known as eidetic
imagery (or photographic memory) in which people can report details of an image over long
periods of time. These people, who often suffer from psychological disorders such as autism,
claim that they can “see” an image long after it has been presented, and can often report

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accurately on that image. There is also some evidence for eidetic memories in hearing; some
people report that their echoic memories persist for unusually long periods of time. The
composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart may have possessed eidetic memory for music,
because even when he was very young and had not yet had a great deal of musical training,
he could listen to long compositions and then play them back almost perfectly (Solomon,
1995).

According to Haber (1979), the terrn photographic memory’ stands for a kind of memory
possessed by an individual who can remember scene in photographic detail. The technical
term used for such memory is eidetic imagery Such people can ‘see’ a picture after it has
been taken away, with their descriptions of objects from the picture stating the right colour
and the proper locations.

Short-term memory: This type of memory is also temporary, though not nearly as short-
lived as immediate memory. In order to further distinguish it from short term memory. The
following factors should also be taken into account:

1. Where the retention tine is less than one second in immediate memory, the
information temporarily stored in short-term memory may last long as thirty seconds
even if the material is not being rehearsed.
2. Whereas the sensory images in immediate memory decay regardless of the learner’s
actions, rehearsal by the learner can keep material in short - term memory
indefinitely.
3. The span of immediate memory exceeds the short-term memory span. Whereas five
to nine items (“the magical number, seven plus or minus two”) can be held in short-
term memory at any one time, about 11-13 items are available for recall in the
immediate memory for at least half a second. However, some people are able to
retain much more information in their short-term memories by a process called
chunking, Which groups information by coding it, e.g. the number 143254376 can be
remembered by listing under three heads: 143, 254, 376 and the number
149162536496481 can be aranged as: 1 49 16 25 36 49 64 81 (in groups of the
squares of 1 through 9) for better remembering.

Long-term memory: Unlike short-term memory, long-term memory has a seemingly

limitless capacity to store information with little or no decay and requires little, if any,
rehearsal. In addition to these characteristics, long-term memory codes information
according to meaning, pattern and other characteristics. It is this memory that helps us to
remember a number of things on a relatively permanent basis. Remembering identifying
data like one’s name, father’s name, date of birth, date of marriage, etc., is the simplest
example of long-term memory. With the help of our long-term memory we can easily store,
retain and remember most of the things in our life at a second’s notice and thus easily
conduct our daily life.

Paranormal memory: It is a distinctive and unusual type of memory. Popularly known as

reincarnation’ has emerged as a result of research and findings in the field of para-

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psychology. It consists of the unusual memory traces concerning one’s previous life or lives
that can be partly or completely retrieved by the individual. In the language of
psychoanalysis, such memory reflects an individual’s regression not only in terms of time but
also in terms of space and matter (from one place and one body to another). It is mostly
connected with the phenomenon of rebirth, i.e. the belief that at the time of death one
gives up one’s body but not the soul which survives to acquire a new body much like one put
on new clothes after discarding old ones.

PROCESSES OF MEMORY

There are various types, models and theories of memory but all these will be having three
basic processes of memories- ENCODING, STORAGE & RETRIVAL.

First process of memory is ENCODING. So whatever information/ sensation we sense will be

convert in the form, that brain can understand and use. For example, if we hear a song
(What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong),our ears will turn the vibrations in the air into
neural massage from the auditory nerve and brain will interpret the song.

Second process of memory is STORAGE. Here, the brain parts hold the information for some
time. The information holding time can vary form few seconds (sensory Memory ) to life
time.

Third process of memory is RETRIVAL. When we Recall the name/ facts, Recite the poem,
Remember the emotional event, Recognize the familiar face or any information that is the
retrieval process/step of memory.

IMPROVING RECALL

Retrieval is subject to error, because it can reflect a reconstruction of memory. This

reconstruction becomes necessary when stored information is lost over time due to decayed
retention. In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted an experiment in which he tested how
well individuals remembered a list of nonsense syllables over increasingly longer periods of
time. Using the results of his experiment, he created what is now known as the “Ebbinghaus
Forgetting Curve” (Schaefer, 2015)

Through his research, Ebbinghaus concluded that the rate at which your memory (of
recently learned information) decays depends both on the time that has elapsed following
your learning experience as well as how strong your memory is. Some degree of memory
decay is inevitable, so, as an educator, how do you reduce the scope of this memory loss?
The following sections answer this question by looking at how to improve recall within a
learning environment, through various teaching and learning techniques.

As a teacher, it is important to be aware of techniques that we can use to promote better

retention and recall among our students. Three such techniques are the testing effect,
spacing, and interleaving.
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The testing effect: In most traditional educational settings, tests are normally considered to
be a method of periodic but infrequent assessment that can help a teacher understand how
well their students have learned the material at hand. However, modern research in
psychology suggests that frequent, small tests are also one of the best ways to learn in the
first place. The testing effect refers to the process of actively and frequently testing memory
retention when learning new information. By encouraging students to regularly recall
information they have recently learned, you are helping them to retain that information in
long-term memory, which they can draw upon at a later stage of the learning experience
(Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014). As secondary benefits, frequent testing allows both
the teacher and the student to keep track of what a student has learned about a topic, and
what they need to revise for retention purposes. Frequent testing can occur at any point in
the learning process. For example, at the end of a lecture or seminar, you could give your
students a brief, low-stakes quiz or free-response question asking them to remember what
they learned that day, or the day before. This kind of quiz will not just tell you what your
students are retaining, but will help them remember more than they would have otherwise.

Spacing: According to the spacing effect, when a student repeatedly learns and recalls
information over a prolonged time span, they are more likely to retain that information. This
is compared to learning (and attempting to retain) information in a short time span (for
example, studying the day before an exam). As a teacher, you can foster this approach to
studying in your students by structuring your learning experiences in the same way. For
example, instead of introducing a new topic and its related concepts to students in one go,
you can cover the topic in segments over multiple lessons (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel,
2014).

Interleaving: The interleaving technique is another teaching and learning approach that was
introduced as an alternative to a technique known as “blocking”. Blocking refers to when a
student practices one skill or one topic at a time. Interleaving, on the other hand, is when
students practice multiple related skills in the same session. This technique has proven to be
more successful than the traditional blocking technique in various fields (Brown, Roediger, &
McDaniel, 2014)

As useful as it is to know which techniques we can use, as a teacher, to improve student

recall of information, it is also crucial for students to be aware of techniques they can use to
improve their own recall. This section looks at four of these techniques: state-dependent
memory, schemas, chunking, and deliberate practice.

State-dependent memory: State-dependent memory refers to the idea that being in the
same state in which you first learned information enables you to better remember said
information. In this instance, “state” refers to an individual’s surroundings, as well as their
mental and physical state at the time of learning (Weissenborn & Duka, 2000).

Schemas: Schemas refer to the mental frameworks an individual creates to help them
understand and organize new information. Schemas act as a cognitive “shortcut” in that they
allow individuals to interpret new information quicker than when not using schemas.

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However, schemas may also prevent individuals from learning pertinent information that
falls outside the scope of the schema that has been created. It is because of this that
students should be encouraged to alter or reanalyze their schemas, when necessary, when
they learn important information that may not confirm or align with their existing beliefs
and conceptions of a topic.

Chunking: Chunking is the process of grouping pieces of information together to better

facilitate retention. Instead of recalling each piece individually, individuals recall the entire
group, and then can retrieve each item from that group more easily (Gobet et al., 2001).

Deliberate practice: The final technique that students can use to improve recall is deliberate
practice. Simply put, deliberate practice refers to the act of deliberately and actively
practicing a skill with the intention of improving understanding of and performance in said
skill. By encouraging students to practice a skill continually and deliberately (for example,
writing a well-structured essay), we will ensure better retention of that skill (Brown et al.,
2014)

CONCLUSION: In conclusion, memory, a fundamental cognitive process, is essential for

learning, decision-making, and shaping our sense of self. It involves encoding information
from the environment, storing it in various memory systems, and retrieving it when needed.
Understanding the intricacies of memory, including its different types, processes, and
potential limitations, provides valuable insights into human cognition. By exploring these
basic concepts, we can appreciate the remarkable complexity of our minds and the ways in
which we construct and recall our experiences.

REFERENCES:

1. https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/8-1-memories-as-types-
and-
stages/#:~:text=While%20explicit%20memory%20consists%20of,infants%20are%20
able%20to%20learn
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 2. https://www.careershodh.com/what-is-memory-and-its-amazing-types-models-
theories/
3. https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/how-memory-works
4. https://gemini.google.com

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