THE PATH FROM SENSATION TO MEMORY is a complicated one. The senses are bombarded by stimuli that must be sorted and arranged into meaningful patterns that can be remembered.

The process of building a memory involves three components: the senses, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
Information is received through and briefly held in the senses. This information is quickly lost if not attended to. Attention is a mentally demanding process that chooses between relevant and irrelevant information.
The short-term memory organizes relevant information into patterns. It has limited storage capacity, about seven chunks of information, give or take a couple of chunks. Information organized in the short-term memory is then stored in the long-term memory with its extensive storage capacity and ability to recall information when needed.

Sensations are handled by two different subsystems. Verbal input is handled by a subsystem that specializes in language, while non-verbal input is handled by a subsystem that specializes in images or sensations (Moore, Burton & Myers, 1996). These images can be visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or olfactory. 

The two subsystems interact when transferring sensations into long-term memory. Memories of images are more easily recalled, while verbal memories are more easily applied, synthesized and transferred. 

The types of sensation also influence memory and learning. If one subsystem must attend to two sensory types, information can be lost and memorization impaired. Attention and memory may be reinforced if each subsystem attends to information from different sensory types (Mayer & Moreno, 1998).

Predict which sensory types (visual or auditory) and subsystems (verbal or non-verbal) can be combined to make attention and memorization more effective or less effective. Choose any two types of input from the matrix below and then press Play.

Ray Adair
Grauduate Student
SDSU Educational Technology