Sensory Register,Short-term Memory, &Long-term Memory

Sensory Registers

Oare the physiological parts of the nervous system where electro-chemical activity takes place in response to the activity of sense organs, such as the eye and ear.

OThe basic capabilities of the sensory register develop when learners are very young.

OThese capabilities continue to develop, and developing the skills of the sensory register may be the primary goal of instruction.

OHowever, in most cases, the goal of teachers of school-age and adult learners is to bring these sensory skills under deliberate control and to employ them as effective contributors to the working memory.

2 problems that can occur as information moves from the sensory

register working memory:

1. Not enough input may move forward (that is, information may be forgotten before it has ever had a chance to be remembered).

Solution: Train the senses to register information accurately and by having meaningful related information actively available in working memory and easily accessible in long-term memory.

2. Too much input may move forward (that is, the working memory may be overwhelmed by excessive input that it cannot handle).

Solution:Screen information effectively.

What to Do to Help the Learner Transfer Information Correctly from the External Source into the Sensory

Register.1. Make sure the information is clearly

available in the first place. O Don't use faulty materials that render

information partially incomprehensible.

O Speak clearly. O Draw diagrams that the students can

see.O Speak in a language that the students

can understand.

2. Minimize factors that will interfere with the proper reception of information in the sensory register.

O previously learned information is lost because it is mixed up with new and somewhat similar information.

3. Repeat the presentation more than a single time. It's actually unlikely that any information will be perfectly received, and redundancy will reduce errors.

4. Check to verify whether the information has been received correctly.

Careful presentation of information enables

learners to get it correctly into the sensory register.

You are about to do a small short-term memory

test

A few letters will flash on your

computer monitor for 3

seconds

Write down as many letters

as you can remember 

after they disappear

Templates of the tables needed

are made ready for you:

Trial # The Letters I remembered are:

1  

2  

3  

4  

5  

6  

Trial #Total # of

letters in the set

Correct Letters

Total # of letters you remembere

d

% you remembe

red

1    

2    

3    

4    

5    

6    

Let’s START!!!

U M

Continue….

T Z L D

Continue….

K X C E J O

Continue….

A V C Y I S E H

Continue….

L B F Q R P M A U X

Continue….

Z Q E C T B U M O N R V

Let’s check…

Trial #Total # of

letters in the set

Correct Letters

Total # of letters you remembere

d

% you remembe

red

1 2    

2 4    

3 6    

4 8    

5 10    

6 12    

U M

T Z L D

K X C E J O

A V C Y I S E H

L B F Q R P M A U X

Z Q E C T B U M O N R V

÷remembered

# of letters

x 100

=%

Short-term memory O is the capacity for holding a small

amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time.

O The duration of short-term memory (when rehearsal or active maintenance is prevented) is believed to be in the order of seconds. A commonly cited capacity is 7 ± 2 elements.

Long-term memory 

O is memory in which associations among items are stored, as part of the theory of a dual-store memory model.

O According to the theory, long-term memory differs structurally and functionally from working memory or short-term memory, which ostensibly stores items for only around 20–30 seconds and can be recalled easily.