Encoding

In the study of memory, encoding is the processing of physical sensory input into one's memory. It is considered the first of three steps in memory information processing; the remaining two steps are storage and retrieval. During memory encoding, information may be processed about space, time, and frequency through automatic processing or effortful processing.

Types of encoding

• Visual encoding is the processing of images.
• Acoustic encoding is the processing of sound, particularly the sound of words.
• Semantic encoding is the processing of meaning, particularly the meaning of words.
• Tactile encoding is the processing of how something feels, normally through touch.

Encoding for short-term storage (STS) in the brain relies primarily on acoustic rather than semantic encoding.

Strategies for encoding

The process of encoding can be broken down into two large divisions: automatic processing and effortful processing. In effortful processing individuals use effort and attention as they encode information. This is generally done through strategy use. Some strategies are:

Rehearsal

• Maintenance rehearsal is the process of repeating or rehearsing the information in an effort to remember it
• Elaborative rehearsal is the process of connecting new information to prior knowledge in an effort to remember it.

Mnemonic Devices

• An Acronym is a device where an abbreviation is used to help remember a set of information or the order of information
• Chain Mnemonics are jingles, songs and phrases that contain the information to be learned
• Keyword Method used associations between sounds and concepts
• Method of Loci uses familiar and well known locations as a scaffold for the information to be encoded
• Verbal Mediation uses words or phrases to connect two pieces of information.

Organizational Strategies

• Chunking is the process of putting information together into meaningful groups
• Hierarchies allow broad concepts to be divided into narrower concepts and facts.
• Visual Imagery are mental pictures

Studies

Baddeley (1966) investigated how information is encoded into short-term and long-term memories (STM and LTM, respectively). In STM the information is normally stored acoustically (as sound) as opposed to LTM where the information is normally stored semantically (as meaning).^[1] Baddeley provided subjects with a list of words that were either acoustically similar/dissimilar or semantically similar/dissimilar. The subjects had more difficulty recalling acoustically similar words in a short term memory test but not in a long term memory test. Semantically similar words, however, produced good performance in short term recall but led to poor long term recall. These discrepancies were taken as evidence that the main encoding method in long term memory is semantic.

References

• Myers, David G. (2004). Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers. ISBN 0-7167-8595-1. 
• Lisa Bohlin, Cheryl Cisero Durwin, Marla Reese-Weber (2009). EdPsych: Modules. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN 0-07-337850-X. 

Footnotes

This psychology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e