Memory is one of the most important processes of the psyche. Any shape mental activity relies on memory.

Memory is a mental process that includes the following processes: memorization, preservation, subsequent reproduction by a person of his experience, as well as forgetting.

A person is able to retain in memory not only what he felt and perceived, but also what he thought, experienced and did. Human memory is closely connected with sensations and perceptions, with attention, thinking, emotions and feelings.

Memory is selective. It stores not everything that has passed through a person’s consciousness or influenced the brain, but what is associated with his needs, interests, and activities. Memory - like other mental. processes are a subjective reflection of the objective world. This means that the characteristics and attitudes of a person’s personality and his activities influence the content, completeness and strength of his memory.

The physiological basis of memory is the formation, preservation and renewal of nerve connections in the cortex cerebral hemispheres. The connections that arise in the brain reflect the objective connections that exist between objects and phenomena of reality. They can be spatial, temporal, structural, cause-and-effect. To remember means to associate something with something, for example, a person’s name with his appearance, the date of a historical event with the content of the event. These connections are called associations.

Memorization –a memory process that results in the consolidation of something new by associating it with something previously acquired. Memorization is selective: not everything that affects the senses is retained in memory. It has been proven that any memorization is a natural product of the action of a subject with an object.

The memorization process takes place in three forms:

Imprinting, - involuntary memorization, - voluntary memorization.

Imprint– durable and accurate storage of event memory in the CP and DP as a result of a single presentation of the material for a few seconds. Through imprinting, eidetic images arise. The phenomenon of eidetism is as follows: after looking at a picture, the subject can give an answer about its details; this is possible when the image of what he saw is retained in consciousness as a whole. This is common in children.

Involuntary memorization– storing events in memory as a result of their repeated repetition. Thus, from the age of one year, the child remembers the words of the language, being in a certain language environment. Involuntary memorization is facilitated by a strong feeling (joy, fear, disgust...). This method of memorization has a certain, positive meaning; memory is built on it in the initial period of knowledge acquisition. Involuntary memorization is a product and condition for the implementation of cognitive and practical actions.

Voluntary memorization– a product of special mnemonic actions, i.e. actions whose purpose is memorization itself. It arose in work activity, in the communication of people and is associated with the need to preserve knowledge and skills necessary for work activity. A characteristic feature of voluntary memorization is act of will and the obligatory presence of a motive that solves the problem.

Preservation –more or less long-term retention in memory of information obtained in experience. Saving comes in two forms:

Actually saving and forgetting.

There are two types of storing material in memory:

1) short-term and 2) long-term.

Short-term memory – direct capture of a set of objects during a single perception of a situation, fixation of objects that fall into the field of perception. In short-term memory, information is stored from several seconds to several hours (1-2 days). Volume – 5-6 items. In CP conditions, productive tasks are those for which automated methods of action can be used.

Long-term memory – memorization and preservation of information that is of greater importance for a long period of time. The volume of DP depends on the importance of information for a person. DP is stored for many months and years. CP has a tactical meaning, and DP has a strategic meaning.

Information used in an activity either disappears from memory or moves from the CP to the DP.

As an intermediate link between CP and DP there is RAM – serving the current actions of a person. The information necessary to service the relevant activities is extracted from the DP.

Forgetting is a memory process associated with erasing from memory events that are not important for a person, are not repeated, and are not reproduced by a person in his activities. What is not included in the activity is not repeated - it is forgotten. Forgetting is useful and is associated with the formation of personal experience.

Inclusion in activity is a means of connecting material with human needs, and therefore combating forgetting. It is necessary to systematically repeat what has been stored in memory. It is necessary to repeat the material a short time after it has been perceived, for example, in the evening, read a lecture recorded in the morning. Forgetting is also selective. Significant material associated with the activity is forgotten slowly. But what was of vital importance is not forgotten at all. The preservation of material is determined by the degree of its participation in the activities of the individual.

What is stored in the DP is not erased, but becomes unconscious. Conservation is not a passive process, but a dynamic one. Previously memorized knowledge interacts with newly acquired knowledge: it is associated, clarified and differentiated. The experience stored in consciousness is constantly changing and enriching. Only that which has been memorized as an independent integral statement is preserved and reproduced unchanged.

Playback – the process of memory, recreation in activity and communication of the material stored in the DP and its translation into operational.

There are 3 play levels:

Recognition, - actual reproduction, - remembering.

Recognition– this is the reproduction of an object under conditions of repeated perception. It has great importance in life. Without it, we would perceive things as new every time, and not as already familiar. Without recognition, meaningful perception is impossible: to know means to include what is perceived in the system of our knowledge, our experience. Recognition is accompanied by a special emotional experience - a feeling of familiarity: “already heard, seen, tried.” It is easier to find out than to reproduce in the absence of the original. Everyone has experienced a strange experience: you arrive in a city that is obviously new to you, or find yourself in a new situation, but it seems that all this has already happened. Imaginary recognition is called "deja vu"(translated from French as “already seen”). Here associations let us down - it looks like only one thing, but it seems that everything has happened again.

If recognition is complete, definite, it is carried out involuntarily(without effort) - imperceptibly for ourselves, we recognize in the process of perception things, objects that we previously perceived. But if recognition is incomplete and therefore uncertain, when, for example, having seen a person, we experience a “feeling of familiarity”, but cannot identify him with the one we knew before, or we recognize the person, but cannot remember the conditions under which we perceived the person, then in these cases recognition is arbitrary. Based on the perception of an object, we deliberately try to remember various circumstances in order to clarify its recognition. In this case, recognition turns into reproduction.

The actual playback is carried out without re-perceiving the object that is being reproduced. It is caused by the content of the activity that a person carries out in this moment, although this activity is not specifically aimed at reproduction. This involuntary reproduction. But it does not happen by itself, without a push. The impetus for it is the perception of objects, ideas, thoughts that are caused by external influences.

Random Play caused by the reproductive tasks that a person sets for himself. When the material is firmly attached, reproduction occurs easily. But sometimes it is not possible to remember what is needed, then you have to do an active search, overcoming difficulties. Such reproduction is called recall.

Recall – reproduction, in which at the moment it is not possible to remember what is needed, but there is confidence that it is remembered. Recall is characterized by active searches in the labyrinths of memory for the necessary information; this is a certain mental work, labor. Willpower is required. Recall, like memorization, is selective. A well-conscious and precisely formulated task directs the further course of recall and helps to select in our memory required material and inhibits side associations. Two methods are recommended:

association and reliance on recognition. Reliance on recognition - name possible options numbers, words, facts that can be learned and recalled.

All three levels of reproduction are intertwined with each other and interact in mnemonic activity.

Association– connections between individual links of what is perceived in life play a big role in memorization and recollection.

What is learned constantly interacts with what was previously studied.

Types of memory:

according to the nature of mental activity predominant in the activity, memory is distinguished as motor, emotional, figurative and verbal-logical;

by the nature of the goals of the activity: voluntary and involuntary;

according to the duration of consolidation and preservation of the material: KP, DP and operational.

Motor (motor)– memorization, preservation and reproduction of various movements and their systems. It serves as the basis for the formation of writing, walking, dancing, and work skills.

Emotional memory– on feelings, consists of remembering, reproducing and recognizing emotions and feelings. Underlies the formation of habits. Feelings experienced and stored in memory can motivate or inhibit action. The ability to empathize with another person is based on emotional memory.

Figurative memory– visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory.

Verbal-logical (semantic)- consists of remembering and reproducing thoughts. Because Thoughts do not exist without language, then the memory of them is semantic.

- an integrated mental reflection of a person’s past interaction with reality, information fund his life activity.

The ability to store information and selectively update it and use it to regulate behavior is the main property of the brain that ensures the interaction of the individual with the environment. Memory integrates life experience, ensures the continuous development of human culture and individual life. Based on memory, a person navigates the present and anticipates the future.

The experimental study of memory began in late XIX V. research by the German psychologist G. Ebbinghaus (1850-1909), summarized in his work “On Memory” (1885). This was the first time that a psychological experiment went beyond sensory processes. G. Ebbinghaus derived a “forgetting curve”, graphically illustrating the highest percentage of forgetting in the period immediately following the learning of new material. Currently, in connection with the actualization of the problem of machine accumulation and retrieval of information, memory is becoming an object of interdisciplinary research. But human memory differs from machine and electronic memory in the active-reconstructive preservation of material. Human memory is influenced by socio-cultural factors.

In the process of development, the individual increasingly focuses on the semantic, semantic connections of the remembered structures. The same material is stored in memory differently depending on the personality structure and its need-motivational characteristics. The memory of a machine is mechanical memory. Human memory is a value-integrated storage of information. The accumulation of material in memory (archiving) is carried out in two blocks: in the block episodic and in the block semantic(semantic) memory. Episodic memory is autobiographical - it stores various episodes from the life of an individual. Semantic memory is aimed at categorical structures formed in the cultural and historical environment. All historically formed rules of logic are also stored here. mental actions and language construction.

Features of human memory

Depending on the characteristics of the material being remembered, there are special ways of codifying, archiving and retrieving it. The spatial organization of the environment is encoded in the form of schematic formations from semantic reference points that characterize our physical and social environment.

Consistently occurring phenomena are imprinted in linear structures memory. Formally organized structures are imprinted associative memory mechanisms, providing grouping of phenomena and objects according to certain characteristics (household items, labor items, etc.). All semantic meanings categorized - refer to different groups of concepts that are in hierarchical interdependence.

The possibility of its rapid updating and retrieval depends on the organization of material in memory. Information is reproduced in the connection in which it was originally formed.

Many people complain about a bad memory, but do not complain about a bad mind. Meanwhile, the mind, the ability to establish relationships, is the basis of memory.

Retrieval of learned material from memory for the purpose of use in recognition, recollection, recollection is called updating(from Latin actualis - valid, real). Required material we search in memory in the same way as necessary thing in the pantry: for items located nearby. Figuratively speaking, in our memory fund everything is hung “on hooks” of associations. The secret of a good memory is establishing strong associations. That is why people remember best what is connected with their everyday concerns, professional interests. Encyclopedic erudition in one area of ​​life can be combined with ignorance in other areas. Some facts are retained in our consciousness by the force of other facts well known to us. Mechanical “cramming” or “cramming” is the most ineffective way of memorizing.

A person’s possibilities for actualization are much wider than he imagines. Memory difficulties are more likely to be difficulties of retrieval than difficulties of retention. Absolute oblivion of impressions does not exist.

The fund of human memory is plastic - with the development of the individual, changes occur in the structural formations of his memory. Memory is inextricably linked with the activities of the individual - what is firmly remembered is what is included in a person’s active activity and corresponds to his life strategy.

Operating behavior system and human activity, i.e., his skills and abilities are images of optimal, adequate actions imprinted in memory. By repeating the necessary actions many times, unnecessary, unnecessary movements are eliminated from them, and the image of optimal action, individual operations are integrated into a single functional complex.

Memory, intellect, feelings and the operational sphere of the individual are a single systemic formation.

Memory — psychic mechanism orientation of a person both in the external and in the internal, subjective world, a mechanism for localizing events in time and space, a mechanism for the structural self-preservation of the individual and his consciousness. Memory disorders mean personality disorders.

Classification of memory phenomena

Vary memory processes- memorization, preservation, reproduction and forgetting and forms of memory - involuntary (unintentional) and voluntary (intentional).

Depending on the type of analyzers, the signaling system or the participation of subcortical formations of the brain, there are types of memory:figurative, logical And emotional.

Figurative memory - representations - classified by type of analyzer: visual, auditory, motor, etc.

Based on the method of memorization, a distinction is made between immediate (direct) and indirect (indirect) memory.

Relationship between memory and recall

The trace of each impression is associated with many traces of accompanying impressions. Indirect memorization and reproduction is memorization and reproduction this image according to the system of connections in which the image is included - according to associations. The indirect, associative emergence of images is much more psychologically meaningful than direct memorization; it brings the phenomena of memory closer to the phenomena of thinking. The main work of human memory consists of memorizing and reproducing traces by association.

There are three types of associations.

Association by contiguity. This is an elementary type of communication without significant processing of information.

Association by contrast. This is a connection between two opposing phenomena. This type connections is based on the logical method of opposition.

Association by similarity. Perceiving one situation, a person by association remembers another similar situation. Associations by similarity require complex processing of the information received, isolating essential features perceived object, generalization and comparison with what is stored in memory. Objects of association by similarity can be not only visual images, but also concepts, judgments, and inferences. Associations by similarity are one of the essential mechanisms of thinking, the basis of logical memory.

Thus, according to the method of memorization, memory can be mechanical and associative (semantic).

Human memory systems

Let's consider memory systems. In any type of activity, all memory processes are involved. But different levels activities are associated with the functioning of various mechanisms and memory systems.

The following four interconnected memory systems are distinguished: 1) sensory; 2) short-term; 3) operational; 4) long-term.

Sensory memory- direct sensory imprint of the influencing object, direct imprinting of sensory influences, i.e. preservation of visual images in the form of a clear, complete imprint of the object’s sensory influences for a very short period of time (0.25 sec). These are the so-called afterimages. They are not associated with the fixation of traces and quickly disappear. This type of memory ensures continuity and integrity of perception of dynamic, rapidly changing phenomena.

Short-term memory- direct capture of a set of objects during a single-act perception of a situation, fixation of objects that fall into the field of perception. Short-term memory provides primary orientation during immediate perception of the situation.

The operating time of short-term memory is no more than 30 seconds. Its volume is limited to five to seven objects. However, when recalling short-term memory images, additional information can be extracted from them.

RAM— selective preservation and updating of information necessary only to achieve the goal of this activity. The duration of working memory is limited by the time of the corresponding activity. So, we remember the elements of a phrase in order to comprehend it as a whole, we remember certain conditions of the problem we are solving, we remember intermediate figures in complex calculations.

The productivity of RAM is determined by a person’s ability to organize memorized material and create integral complexes - units of RAM. Examples of the use of different blocks of operational units include reading letters, syllables, whole words or complexes of words. RAM functions at a high level if a person sees not private, but general properties various situations, combines similar elements into larger blocks, recodes the material into a single system. Thus, it is easier to remember the number ABD125 in the form 125125, i.e., by recoding the letters into numbers according to the place of the letters in the alphabet.

The functioning of RAM is associated with significant neuropsychic stress, since it requires the simultaneous interaction of a number of competing excitation centers. When operating with objects whose state changes, no more than two variable factors can be stored in RAM.

Long-term memory- long-term memorization of content that is of great significance. The selection of information included in long-term memory is associated with a probabilistic assessment of its future applicability and prediction of future events.

The capacity of long-term memory depends on relevance information, i.e., on what meaning the information has for a given individual and his leading activity.

Types of memory - individual typological features of memory

They differ in the following qualities, found in various combinations: volume and accuracy of memorization; memorization speed; memorization strength; the leading role of one or another analyzer (predominance in this person visual, auditory or motor memory); peculiarities interaction of the first and second signaling systems(figurative, logical and middle types).

Various combinations of individual typological features give a variety of individual types of memory (Fig. 1).

There are large individual differences in the speed of memorizing material and the duration of its retention in memory. Thus, in the course of psychological experiments it was found that to memorize 12 syllables, one person needs 49 repetitions, and another - only 14.

Essential individual feature memory - focus on remembering certain material. The famous criminologist G. Gross spoke about extremely bad memory his father in people's names. The father could not accurately say the name of his only son, but at the same time he memorized various statistical material very accurately and for a long time.

Some people remember material directly, while others tend to use logical means. For some, memory is close to perception, for others - to thinking. The higher the level of mental development of a person, the more his memory approaches thinking. An intellectually developed person remembers primarily using logical operations. But the development of memory is not directly related to intellectual development. Some people have a very developed figurative (eidetic) memory.

Rice. 1. Classification of memory phenomena

Is the most important element his activities. Throughout a person’s life, all his impressions and knowledge are recorded in memory. Its types help to better assimilate information of a certain nature. Manifestations of memory are extremely multifaceted and can be divided into several main categories. Different types human memories are characterized different features.

Types of memory by mental activity

The following types of memory are distinguished by the nature of mental activity.

Motor memory provides a person with memory of his movements. It underlies the formation of many practical and work skills. In particular, these include walking, writing, using various instruments at work. In some cases, this type of memory must be especially well developed for successful professional activities, for example, among athletes or ballet dancers.

Emotional memory is a memory of previously experienced emotions and feelings. Experiences stored in memory become the reason for the emergence of associations and actions based on them in the event that a similar or similar situation arises again.

Figurative memory characterized by remembering can be pictures of nature, sounds, smells. As a rule, visual and auditory memory play a leading role in human life and are best developed. The remaining types of this memory are much less developed in many people, but there are exceptions, most often associated with Olfactory memory among perfume creators or gustatory memory among tasters much higher than the usual level. Blind people often have good tactile memory. There are also people who have the ability to retain in memory for some time the smallest details objects seen.

Verbal-logical memory in its content represents human thoughts based on language. There are two types of such memory. In the first case, the main meaning is better remembered without emphasis on details, while in the second, memorization is more literal.

Types of memory according to activity goals

There are also types of memory based on the nature of the goals of the activity.

Involuntary memory differs in that the purpose of memorization itself is absent. It has been established that this type of memory is more developed in children, and noticeably weakens with age. Interesting feature is that in this case the information is very often remembered reliably, although such a goal is absent.

Arbitrary memory improves with age, which is greatly facilitated by the use of special memorization techniques and targeted training.

Memory is divided into types and according to the duration of storage of the material.

Sensory memory characterized by the fact that all processes occur at the level of receptors, and information is generally stored for no more than half a second. If information is of interest to the brain, it is delayed. Otherwise, it will be completely and completely erased.

Short-term memory comes into play when information is delayed for more than one second. It is processed for approximately 20 seconds to determine its importance. If the brain recognizes it as worthy of attention, then elements of information (numbers, words, names of objects, images) are transmitted further. The capacity of short-term memory is very small; it can contain no more than five to nine elements at a time. It is from this quantity that selection occurs, and the rest is irretrievably lost.

Long-term memory is something like an archival storage of unlimited capacity, where information received from short-term memory is classified, encoded and stored for long-term storage.

This most important function organism, allowing a person to navigate the ocean of information surrounding him.

Memory is the most important component of our personality. She happens to be link between our past, present and future. Without the ability to remember, evolution would probably stand still. For modern man In the age of a large flow of information, it is extremely important to have a good memory in order to keep up in the race of development. The load on our natural " HDD"is growing every day.

What is human memory?

Language and memory are closely related. The ability to remember is not innate in humans. It develops as we learn to describe the world. We have practically no memories of the first years of life precisely because we did not know how to speak. Then, by the age of 3-5, the child begins to speak in sentences and describes events from life, thereby fixing them in memory.

IN adolescence a person comes to realize himself. He answers the question “Who am I?” And the memories of these years are the strongest and most vivid. Whereas recent life events can be very difficult to remember. Why is this happening?

There is a theory that 15-25 years is the last period of formation. During this time, we turn our attention to other things besides family. Hormonal changes occur, the brain is formed, new neural connections are formed, many of them work effectively in the frontal lobe. This part of the brain is responsible for self-awareness. And also in these areas information accumulates, which becomes memories. Maybe this is the reason that we remember the teenage period of our lives very well even in adulthood.

Types of memory according to the method of memorization.

Human memory can be divided into several types. rice.

So, in order:

1 block. Subject of memorization.

* Figurative memory. Information that is stored by creating some images based on data received by our senses. Everything we see, hear, touch, feel with taste buds and smell is transformed into images and remains in memory in this form.

* Verbal memory is all we get through words and logic. Only humans have this species. All information received verbally is consciously analyzed and classified for further use.

* Emotional memory. The feelings experienced by a person are imprinted in this “department”. All positive or negative emotions are preserved, and in the future, remembering these moments of life, a person can again experience the same sensations.

* Motor (motor) memory. Everything related to movement is remembered by motor memory. Riding a bicycle, learning to swim, everything that we do “automatically”, having learned it once, is stored in our muscle memory.

2 block. Memorization method.

* Arbitrary memory. With this method, a person remembers the necessary information specifically, through an effort of will. For example, through repetition.

* Involuntary memory. In the process of life, we remember not only what we need, but also other processes. Especially if this data matches our interests and preferences. For example, after a New Year's corporate party, someone will remember the outfits of the employees, someone delicious dishes, while others will remember competitive games. Everyone will involuntarily carry away in their memory what was most interesting to them personally.

3 block. Memorization time.

* Short-term memory. Used to solve problems “on the agenda”. With its help, a person processes a huge amount of information, but very quickly forgets it. Immediately, as soon as the need for it disappears. A natural “fuse” is triggered to prevent the brain from “exploding.”

* Long-term memory. This type is determined by the long storage period of information. All accumulated knowledge is structured, grouped and used over the course of months, years or a lifetime.

* Intermediate memory. This is something between long-term and short-term. During the day, the brain collects everything it has learned, and in the process of night sleep it sorts it out - something is cut off, and something is put into a long-term “safe”.

* RAM needed to perform a specific action.

* Sensory memory the shortest. Stores information received from the senses for a fraction of a second. For example, after closing your eyes, the last picture you saw does not immediately disappear. Probably thanks to this type of memory we do not notice the blinking of our eyes.

All living beings have memory, but top level it has reached development in humans. Memory connects the past with the present. It is memory that allows a person to be aware of his “I”, to act in the world around him, to be who he is. Human memory is a form of mental reflection, consisting in the accumulation, consolidation, preservation and subsequent reproduction by an individual of his experience. Ours is a functional formation that does its work through the interaction of three main processes: memorization, storage and reproduction of information. These processes not only interact, there is a mutual conditionality between them. After all, you can only save what you remember, and reproduce what you save.

Memorization. Human memory begins with memorizing information: words, images, impressions. The main task of the memorization process is to remember accurately, quickly and a lot. There is a distinction between involuntary and voluntary memorization. Voluntary memorization is activated when the goal is to remember not only what is imprinted in his memory, but also what is necessary. Voluntary memorization is active, purposeful, and has a volitional beginning.

What is personally significant, connected with a person’s activities and his interests, has the nature of involuntary memorization. When remembering involuntarily, a person is passive. Involuntary memorization clearly demonstrates such a property of memory as selectivity. If you ask different people what they remember most about the same wedding, some will easily tell you who gave what gifts to the newlyweds, others - what they ate and drank, others - what music they danced to, etc. However, neither the first, nor the second, nor the third set themselves a clear goal of remembering something specifically. Selectivity of memory worked.

It is worth mentioning the “Zeigarnik effect” (it was first described in 1927 by the Soviet psychologist Bluma Vulfovna Zeigarnik (1900-1988): a person involuntarily remembers incomplete actions, situations that have not received a natural resolution, much better.

If we were unable to finish something, eat something, get what we wanted, and were close to the goal, then it is remembered thoroughly and for a long time, and what was successfully completed is forgotten quickly and easily. The reason is that an unfinished action is a source of strong negative ones, which are much more powerful than positive ones in terms of impact.

Many scientists have studied memory techniques. In particular, the German psychologist G. Ebbinghaus formulated a number of principles of memorization. He believed that repetition (indirect or direct) is the only relative guarantee of the reliability of memorization. Moreover, the result of memorization depends to a certain extent on the number of repetitions. Ebbinghaus's law states: the number of repeated presentations required to learn the entire series grows much faster than the object of the presented series. If a subject remembers 8 digits from one presentation (display), then to memorize 9 digits he will need 3-4 presentations. The scientist also emphasizes the importance of the volitional factor. The higher the concentration of attention on any information, the faster the memorization will occur.

However, it has been found that rote repetition is less effective than meaningful memorization. The direction of modern psychology - mnemonics - is engaged in the development of numerous memorization techniques based on the principle of associative connection: translating information into images, graphs, pictures, diagrams.

Highlight four types of human memory in accordance with the type of material being remembered.
1. Motor memory, i.e. the ability to remember and reproduce a system of motor operations (drive a car, braid a braid, tie a tie, etc.).
2. Figurative memory - the ability to save and further use the data of our perception. It can be (depending on the receiving analyzer) auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory and gustatory.
3. Emotional memory captures the feelings we have experienced, a feature emotional states and affects. The child who was scared big dog Most likely, even as an adult, he will experience hostility towards these animals for a long time (memory of fear).
4. Verbal memory (verbal-logical, semantic) is the highest type of memory, inherent only to humans. With its help, most mental actions and operations are carried out (counting, reading, etc.), and the information base of the human is formed.

U different people one or another type of memory is more developed: athletes have motor memory, artists have figurative memory, etc.

Saving information. The main requirement for human memory is to store information reliably, for a long time and without loss. There are several levels of memory, differing in how long information can be stored on each of them.

1. Sensory (immediate) type of memory. These memory systems hold accurate and complete data about how the world is perceived by our senses at the receptor level. Data is stored for 0.1-0.5 seconds. The way sensory memory works is easy to spot: close your eyes, then open them for a second and close them again. The clear picture you see remains for some time, and then slowly disappears.
2. Short-term memory allows you to process a colossal amount of information without overloading the brain, due to the fact that it weeds out everything unnecessary and leaves the useful, necessary for solving current (momentary) problems.
3. Long-term memory ensures long-term storage and application of information. The capacity and duration of storing information in long-term memory can be unlimited. There are two types of long-term memory. The first is at the level of consciousness. A person can remember in his own way and extract the necessary information. The second type is closed long-term memory, in which information is stored at the subconscious level. Under normal conditions, a person does not have access to this information, only with the help of psychoanalytic procedures, in particular hypnosis, as well as stimulation various areas brain, you can access it and update images, thoughts, and experiences in all details.
4. Intermediate memory is between short-term and long-term memory. It ensures that information is stored for several hours. While awake, a person accumulates information throughout the day. To prevent the brain from being overloaded, it is necessary to free it from unnecessary information. Information accumulated over the past day is cleared, categorized and stored in long-term memory during night sleep. Scientists have found that this requires at least three hours of sleep a night.
5. Working memory is a type of human memory that manifests itself during the performance of a certain activity and serves this activity.

Playback. The requirements for the process of memory reproduction are accuracy and timeliness. In psychology, there are four forms of reproduction:
1) recognition - occurs when repeating the perception of objects and phenomena;
2) memory - carried out in the real absence of perceived objects. Typically, memories are carried out through associations that provide automatic, involuntary reproduction;
3) remembering - is carried out in the absence of a perceived object and is associated with active volitional activity to update information;
4) reminiscence - delayed reproduction of something previously perceived and seemingly forgotten. With this form of memory retrieval, events that are more recent are recalled more easily and accurately than those that happened in the recent past.

Forgetting is back side saving memory. This is a process that leads to a loss of clarity and a reduction in the amount of data that can be updated in . Mostly forgetting is not an anomaly of memory, it is a natural process that is caused by a number of factors.
1. Time - in less than an hour a person mechanically forgets half of the information he has just received.
2. Active use of available information - what is forgotten first of all is what is not constantly needed. However, childhood experiences and motor skills such as skating, playing musical instrument, the ability to swim, remain quite stable for many years without any exercise. It remains on a subconscious level, as if something that disturbs the psychological balance and causes negative tension (traumatic impressions) is forgotten.

Information in our memory is not stored unchanged, like documents in an archive. In memory, the material is subject to change and qualitative reconstruction.

Human memory disorders. Various memory disorders are very common, although most people do not notice them or notice them too late. The very concept of “normal memory” is quite vague. Hyperfunction of memory is usually associated with strong excitement, feverish excitement, taking certain medications or hypnotic effects. A form of intrusive memories is a violation of emotional balance, feelings of uncertainty and anxiety, creating a thematic focus of memory hyperfunction. For example, we constantly remember our extremely unpleasant, unseemly actions. It is almost impossible to expel such memories: they haunt us, cause a feeling of shame and torment of conscience.

In practice, weakening of memory function and partial loss of storing or reproducing existing information are more common. Weakening of selective reduction, difficulties in reproducing material needed at the moment (titles, dates, names, terms, etc.) are considered to be the earliest manifestations of memory deterioration. Then the weakening of memory can take the form of progressive amnesia, the causes of which are alcoholism, trauma, age-related and negative personal changes, sclerosis, diseases.

In modern psychology, there are known facts of memory deceptions, which take the form of extremely one-sided selectivity of memories, false memories and memory distortions. They are usually due strong desires, passions, unmet needs. For example, when a child is given sweets, he quickly eats it, and then “forgets” about it and sincerely proves that he did not receive anything.

Memory distortion is often associated with a weakening of the ability to distinguish between one’s own and someone else’s, between what a person experienced in reality and what he heard about, saw in movies or read. In the case of repeated repetitions of such memories, their complete personification occurs, i.e. a person begins to consider other people's thoughts as his own. The presence of facts of memory deception indicates how closely it is connected with human fantasy.