Tutorial Learning Centre

Principles of Learning and Memory: Memory and Recall

The picture below is a conceptual top-down view of the human brain, divided into the stages of memory described below. While these stages and zones are not real anatomical divisions in the brain, they help us understand the process of learning. 

Most students feel that they are not able to remember as much information as they would like as quickly as they would like to. But the brain is a very powerful information processing tool that holds more bytes of information than the Library of Congress.

What matters, of course, is being able to find or retrieve the information you need when you need it. Understanding how memory works can help students store information in a way that it can be retrieved as needed by ensuring its placement into the Automatic or Retrieval zones.

Memory can be divided into three stages:

Stage One: Sensory Memory

Information is first gathered through the senses (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic) where it is stored before moving on the next stage of memory. Sensory memory is brief but can hold an expansive amount of information.

Stage Two: Working Memory

Working memory is the brain's filter. It is brief (only seconds in duration) and holds between five and nine pieces of information on average. It is more than just short term memory, but requires the individual to retain information in memory while using the learned information to complete a task. This is an active process. If attention is not focused on the relevant information, the information will likely be lost, and will not be stored in long-term memory.

Stage Three: Long-Term Memory

Long-term memory is, at least theoretically, infinite in both capacity and duration. Unfortunately, information is not always easy to find because of the way it was stored. Students need to ensure that they are engaged in regular review and that they understand what they are learning, but must also test themselves to establish where in the long term memory information has been stored:

• Automatic zone - information in this zone is recalled automatically, without hesitation.
• Retrieval zone - this is information students can recall with only brief (i.e. up to 20 seconds) hesitation.
• Lost zone - students require reminders or cues from others to find this information, but cannot easily recall it on their own.

When preparing for exams, students should use visual, auditory, and hands-on strategies to ensure that information is placed in either the Automatic zone or the Retrieval zone. Information in the Lost zone requires elaborate rehearsal. Elaborate rehearsal is the process of ongoing practice along with efforts to relate new information to previously acquired knowledge. An example of this is when a student is required to learn a new mathematical formula. Not only does the student need to practice the formula to know how and when to use it, but by comparing the new formula to formulas studied previously, both recall and understanding are ensured.