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Stages of Memory: Sensory, Short-Term, and Long-Term Memory

16 February, 2016 - 09:24

Another way of understanding memory is to think about it in terms of stages that describe the length of time that information remains available to us. According to this approach (see Figure 8.3), information begins in sensorymemory, moves to short-term memory, and eventually moves to long-term memory. But not all information makes it through all three stages; most of it is forgotten. Whether the information moves from shorter-duration memory into longer-duration memory or whether it is lost from memory entirely depends on how the information is attended to and processed.

Figure 8.3 Memory Duration
Memory cancharacterizeinterms ostagesthlength otime that informatioremainavailablto us.