Encoding or registration(receiving, processing and combining of received information)
Storage(creation of a permanent record of the encoded information)
Retrieval, recall or recollection (calling back the stored information in response to some cue for use in a process or activity)
Memory is central to common sense behaviour and also the basis for learning.
Stage Model of Information Processing
One of the major issues in cognitive psychology is the study of memory. The dominant view is labeled the "stage theory" and is based on the work of Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968).
This model proposes that information is processed and stored in 3 stages.
Sensory memory (STSS). Sensory memory is affiliated with the transduction of energy (change from one energy from to another). The environment makes available a variety of sources of information (light, sound, smell, heat, cold, etc.), but the brain only understands electrical energy. The body has special sensory receptor cells that transduce (change from one form of energy to another) this external energy to something the brain can understand. In the process of transduction, a memory is created. This memory is very short (less than 1/2 second for vision; about 3 seconds for hearing).
It is absolutely critical that the learner attend to the information at this initial stage in order to transfer it to the next one. There are two major concepts for getting information into STM:
First, individuals are more likely to pay attention to a stimulus if it has an interesting feature. We are more likely to get an orienting response