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Sdorow Memory

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Memory is “the process by which information is acquired, stored in the brain, later retrieved, and eventually possibly forgotten.” (Sdorow, 2015). Based off of this definition there are, at least, three major steps to memory. Without memory we wouldn’t be able to adapt. According to Sdorow memory “enables us to adapt to situations by letting us call on skills and information gained from our relevant past experiences. Your abilities to drive a car, to perform well on an exam, and to serve as a witness at a trial all depend on memory.” (2015). Sdorow also adds that memory adds to our emotional lives and allows humans to re-experience events from the past. The first major step of memory is acquiring memory. This is done through sensory memory. …show more content…

Moving onto retrieval of information. There are two major viewpoints on how humans retrieve memories and those viewpoints are spreading activation and constructive recall. Spreading activation favors semantic network theory. Spreading activation is basically when one retrieves a node from memory it stimulates activation of related nodes (Sdorow, 2015). An example to help think about this is if one is “looking for a book in a library. You would use the online catalog to give you a retrieval cue (a book number) to help you locate the book you want.” (Sdorow, 2015). Constructive recall favors the schema theory. Constructive recall is “the distortion of memories by adding, dropping, or changing details to fit a schema.” (Sdorow, 2015). Neither semantic network theory or schema theory has emerged as the best explanation for the retrieval and storage of long-term memories (Sdorow, 2015). Moving past the retrieval of memory and what to the forgetting of memory. Forgetting can actually be a good thing it is also thought of as “adaptive because it rids us of useless information that might impair our recall of useful information.” (Sdorow,

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