Memory Speech Outline

Introduction I. By a show of Hands, how many of you could tell me at least one thing that you did yesterday? II. Keep your hand up if you could recite your entire day without needing a moment to recap? III. The majority of you, including me could not complete my request because the events of yesterday were not significant enough to be stored in your memory. IV. Dr. Douglas Mason defined memory as “A mental process of storage and retrieval of information and experience.” V. Today I’m going to give you information in three areas concerning your memory. a. The first aspect will be the sensory memory. b. The second will be the short-term memory. c. The final will be long-term memory.

Body I. What we perceive through sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound go into our sensory registry. a. Sensory memory is not one thing, but several. b. When you remember a picture, smell, taste, etc you stimulate the sensory memory. c. Certain sensory stimuli may only last a fraction of a second, but if repeated exposure occurs, the stimuli will make its way into more permanent memory. d. Inevitably, what goes into your sensory registry makes it to your short- term memory to some degree. II. The short-term memory is also known as “memory for now” by Dr. Douglas Mason. e. It is called memory for now because it encompasses everything in our conscience state. f. We take the information in, decide if we want it, then it is lost or kept depending on the decision. g. According to Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, this decision has to be made in less than thirty seconds before it is lost forever. i. Larry Squire and Eric Kandel, in “Memory, from Mind to Molecules” state that one way we help our short-term memory out is through habituation. ii. Habituation is defined as “to frequent”, and we frequent a thought through our short-term memory to ensure that we can remember it. h. It