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Memory rehearsal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Memory rehearsal is a term for the role of repetition in the retention of memories. It involves repeating information over and over in order to get the information processed and stored as a memory. [1] The specific manner in which items are rehearsed can impact the extent to which they are remembered.

Contents [hide] 1	Types of Memory Rehearsal 1.1	Maintenance Rehearsal 1.2	Elaborative Rehearsal 2	Baddeley's Model 3	References 4	See also Types of Memory Rehearsal[edit] Maintenance Rehearsal[edit] Maintenance rehearsal is a type of memory rehearsal that is useful in maintaining information in short term memory or working memory. However, it is not an effective way of having information processed and transferred into long term memory. This type of rehearsal usually involves repeating information without thinking about its meaning or connecting it to other information. This is why the information is not usually transferred to long term memory. [2]

An example of maintenance rehearsal would be remembering a phone number only long enough to make the phone call. For instance, one may look up a phone number in a phone book and constantly repeat the number out loud until the number is put into the phone to make the call. The number is held in working memory long enough to make the call but the number is never transferred to long term memory. An hour later, or even five minutes after the call, the phone number will no longer be remembered. Essentially, maintenance rehearsal helps retain the information only up to the point it is used, and then it is effectively lost.

Elaborative Rehearsal[edit] Elaborative rehearsal is a type of memory rehearsal that is useful in transferring information into long term memory. This type of rehearsal is effective because it involves thinking about the meaning of the new information and connecting it to other information already stored in memory. It goes much deeper than maintenance rehearsal. [3] Elaborative rehearsal is especially critical in processing large amounts of complex information, as is often required, for example, in educational settings. In such cases, the learner must find a context for the information. This will not only promote encoding and storage, but also retrieval when it becomes necessary.

According to the levels-of-processing hypothesis posed by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart in 1972, this type of rehearsal works best because of the depth of processing that is emphasized with context and association. For example, new information that is simply memorized and committed to memory with no association, would be retained at a “shallow” level and likely not retained in the long term. However, new information that is discussed, and associated to something with which the learner is already familiar, results in a memory record retained at a deeper level and is thus stored in the longer term. The extent to which new information is processed, its depth in other words, essentially determines how durable that information will be in long term memory.

Baddeley & Hitch Model[edit] In 1974, Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch proposed a multicomponent model of working memory. The model was comprised of two informational buffers, the visuo-spatial sketchpad and the phonological loop, operating in conjunction with a central executive system which selected and manipulated the information, acting as a controller of sorts. As Baddeley and Hitch defined it, the phonological loop is responsible for the temporary storage of verbal and written information. It includes a short-term store and an articulatory rehearsal process. They noted that the store had a limited capacity, and the memory traces held there eroded within just a few seconds. Those traces, however, could be refreshed with rehearsal, repeating the items either vocally or sub-vocally. There are two specific features of short-term memory which can be accounted for within the phonological loop model. First, is the phonological similarity effect, which suggests that a series of items that sound similar (i.e. cat, cap, map, man, mad) is harder to retain in short-term memory and immediately recall than a dissimilar sounding list of items. This effect occurs particularly at retrieval, and is due to the fact that similar items, by definition, have few features that differentiate them from one another, so they often become confused. Articulating the items (saying them to one’s self), however, helps feed them into the short term memory store for immediate retrieval. Second, is the word length effect which essentially says that verbal memory span decreases as word length increases. Generally, there is a 2-second window within which people can remember only as many words as they can say. Baddeley’s explanation for this is that both rehearsal and trace decay happen in real time. Since longer words take longer to say (rehearse), there is more time for decay to occur. Word length effect, therefore, is basically forgetting during rehearsal. There are a couple of points the phonological loop model does not quite explain. First, it doesn’t fully address how items are stored in serial order. Second, it doesn’t clarify the process involved in retrieving information from the phonological store. Researches have conjectured that a more detailed model could successfully accomplish these explanations, though nothing singular has yet been put forth.

References[edit] Jump up ^ Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience--with coglab manual. (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Jump up ^ Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience--with coglab manual. (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Jump up ^ Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience--with coglab manual. (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Jump up ^ Garon, N., Bryson, S. and Smith, I. (2008). Executive Function in Preschoolers: A Review Using an Integrative Framework.