Human memory is an essential element of his activity. Throughout a person’s life, all his impressions, knowledge are recorded in memory. Its types help to better absorb information of a certain nature. Manifestations of memory are extremely multifaceted and can be divided into several main categories. Different types of human memory are characterized by different characteristics.
Types of memory for mental activity
By the nature of mental activity, the following types of memory are distinguished.
Motor memory provides a person with memorization of his movements. It underlies the formation of many practical and labor skills. In particular, these include walking, the ability to write, and use various tools at work. In some cases, this type of memory should be developed especially well for successful professional activities, for example, among athletes or ballet dancers.
Emotional memory is a memory of previously experienced emotions and feelings. The experiences stored in memory become the reason for the emergence of associations and actions based on them in the case when a similar or similar situation arises again.
Figurative memory is characterized by the ability of a person to remember images. It 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 professional activities. The olfactory memory of the creators of perfumes or the taste of tasters far exceeds the usual level. A good tactile memory is often with the blind. There are also people who have eidetic memory - the ability for some time to keep in memory the smallest details of objects seen.
The verbal-logical memory in its content represents human thoughts based on language. There are two varieties of such memory. In the first case, the main meaning is better remembered without focusing on the details, while in the second case, memorization is more literal.
Types of memory according to the goals of the activity
There are also types of memory by the nature of the goals of the activity.
Involuntary memory is different in that it lacks the very purpose of memorization. It has been established that this type of memory is more developed in children, and noticeably weakens with age. An interesting feature is that in this case, information is very often stored reliably, although such a goal is missing.
Free memory improves with age, which is greatly facilitated by the use of special memorization techniques and focused training.
The memory is divided into types and duration of storage of material.
Sensory memory is characterized by the fact that all processes proceed at the receptor level, and information in the general case is stored for no more than half a second. If the information is of interest to the brain, then it is delayed. Otherwise, it is erased completely and permanently.
Short-term memory comes into operation when information is delayed for more than one second. For about 20 seconds, it undergoes processing in order to determine the degree of its importance. If the brain recognizes it as worthy of attention, then the elements of information (numbers, words, names of objects, images) are passed on. The amount of short-term memory is very small, at the same time it can contain no more than five to nine elements. It is from this quantity that selection takes place, and the rest is irretrievably lost.
Long-term memory is a kind of archive storage of unlimited capacity, where information received from short-term memory is classified, encoded and stored for long-term storage.
Memory, types of memory - this is the most important function of the body, allowing a person to navigate in the ocean of information surrounding him.