Human memory: structure, processes and mechanisms
Life proves that actions are caused by memory.
Natalia Bekhtereva
Memory is an ambiguous term. Generally speaking, it means the ability to save, accumulate and reproduce stored information, but also names the function that provides these capabilities. At the same time, the meanings of the term differ depending on the field of application. Basically, memory is the ability of the brain to remember different kinds of information. It depends on learning, the ability to work in multitasking mode.
Of course, the better a person remembers, the higher his working capacity and efficiency in mastering knowledge is. As you know, depending on external factors, memory can improve or deteriorate. It can be trained to keep the brain in good shape.
There are several classifications of types of memory. Pavel Blonsky, a Russian and Soviet philosopher, teacher and psychologist, in 1935 proposed a genetic classification of memory types.
Here is one of the modern classifications:
- figurative memory;
- verbal-logical memory;
- sensory memory;
- eidetic memory – a phenomenal type of memorization, the ability of a person to photograph mentally any object, then reproduce it, taking into account all the details;
- emotional memory;
- social memory;
- topographic memory.
The most famous theoretical models of memory in psychology are represented by the names of Donald Norman and Nancy Waugh, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin, Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart, Alan Baddley. In the concept of Carl Gustav Jung, memory is understood as a function controlled by the will and under the control of the so-called "ego-complex".
Even a cursory glance at the problems associated with the "device" of memory makes it possible to imagine how extensive the literature devoted to these problems is. The bibliography of scientific and popular science works is huge.
The long-term practice of the NSU Scientific Library shows that the theme of memory is very attractive to our readers at all times. Currently, interest in it is growing. Modern man is characterized by information overload. This term created by Bertram Gross was popularized by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 bestseller Future Shock. In psychology, information overload is understood as an overabundance of information entering the mind.
In the current conditions of overabundant information flows, readers are very interested in literature that tells about the activity of the brain, about the properties of memory.
Dear readers, you have a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with the book exhibition-view "Human Memory: Structure, Processes and Mechanisms" at the lending library for course books and scientific literature from October 17 to 28.
The exhibition immediately attracted the attention of many readers with rich content, interesting books and bright design. The exhibition features 112 books. During the first week it was visited by 50 people.
Three sections of the review, corresponding to its name, are devoted to the structure, processes and mechanisms of memory. Fourth answers the question "What needs to be done to practically improve the ability to memorize?" Each section includes quotes, illustrations, diagrams.
The author of this creative project is Natalya Chernova, the main specialist of the lending library. In preparation, she worked out a huge amount of literature on a whole spectrum of sciences.
The main benefits and advantages of the exposition are in the disclosure of our book fund. The format of the exhibition-view gives readers a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the publications brought together from different departments of the library – "here and now". The Scientific Library of NSU is rightly proud of its wonderful fund, in which there is "a place" for books belonging to various fields of knowledge.
Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them, at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.
Ray Bradbury
Text: L. Y. Distanovay