Introduction to Cognition

Cognition refers to the mental processes that happen inside our brain but can't be directly observed. These include all the ways we gain and apply knowledge in our daily lives.

When you solve a math problem, remember your locker combination, or understand what someone is saying to you, you're using cognitive processes. These invisible mental activities are fundamental to how we function as humans.

Cognitive psychologists study these processes to understand how we think, learn, remember information, and make decisions.

Think About It: Even though you can't see cognition happening, you use these mental processes constantly throughout your day. What cognitive processes have you used in just the last hour?

What Is Memory?

Memory is your brain's ability to create mental representations of information, store them, and retrieve them later when needed. It's like your brain's filing system for everything you experience and learn.

Think about all the different things you need to remember daily: where you parked your bike, phone numbers, names of people you meet, and important dates. Without memory, you couldn't function in school, maintain relationships, or even know who you are.

Memory isn't just one system but several interconnected processes that work together to help you navigate your world.

Memory Hack: Your memory is more powerful than you might think! The average human brain can store the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes of information.

Declarative Memory

Declarative memories are memories of factual information that you can consciously recall and explain. These are your "I know that..." memories.

When you study for a history test and remember dates of important events, you're using declarative memory. These memories are called "explicit" because you form them intentionally and with conscious awareness.

Think about when a teacher asks you a question and you can state the answer confidently—that's your declarative memory in action. It's like having a mental encyclopedia of facts you can access when needed.

Quick Tip: When you're trying to remember something, saying "I know that..." and actively trying to retrieve the information strengthens your declarative memory connections!

Types of Declarative Memory

Declarative memory splits into two important subtypes: episodic and semantic.

Episodic memories are your personal experiences and events. Remember your first day of high school or your last birthday party? Those are episodic memories—they're tied to specific times, places, and emotions.

Semantic memories are your knowledge of facts, meanings, and concepts. Knowing that water is H₂O or that Paris is the capital of France falls into this category. These memories aren't tied to when you learned them.

Both types work together constantly. For example, you might remember learning about photosynthesis (episodic) while also remembering what photosynthesis actually is (semantic).

Memory Connection: When studying, try connecting new facts (semantic memory) to personal experiences (episodic memory)—it makes information stick better!

Non-Declarative Memory

Non-declarative memories are your "I know how to" memories of skills and procedures. Unlike declarative memories, these often operate without much conscious thought.

Think about activities you can do automatically, like riding a bike, typing on a keyboard, or tying your shoes. You don't need to consciously think through each step—your body just seems to know what to do. These are your non-declarative (or implicit) memories at work.

What's amazing is that these memories stay with you for years, even if you haven't practiced the skill in a long time. That's why people say "it's like riding a bike"—once learned, these memories are remarkably durable.

Brain Fact: Your non-declarative memories are stored in different brain regions than your declarative memories, which is why you might forget facts but still remember how to play an instrument!

Procedural Memory

Procedural memory is the main type of non-declarative memory, focusing on skills that follow a specific sequence of steps or actions.

When you play a musical instrument, drive a car, or follow a recipe, you're using procedural memory. These memories allow you to perform complex tasks smoothly without having to think about each individual step.

What makes procedural memories special is that they improve with practice. The more you repeat an action, the more automatic it becomes, freeing up your conscious mind to focus on other things. This is why athletes and musicians practice the same movements repeatedly.

Try This: Think about something you do automatically, like brushing your teeth. Try to list every single step involved—you'll be surprised how many actions your procedural memory handles without you even noticing!

The Three-Box Model of Memory

The Three-Box Model offers a helpful way to understand how memories move through different storage systems in your brain. This model shows that memory isn't just one process but a series of steps.

According to this model (also called the Information Processing Model), information travels through three distinct memory stores: sensory register, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM). Each store has different capacities and durations.

Not all information makes it through all three boxes. Most sensory information is forgotten unless you pay attention to it. Similarly, information in your short-term memory disappears unless you actively work to transfer it to long-term memory.

Visual Analogy: Think of the Three-Box Model like a school locker system: sensory memory is like items scattered in the hallway (most get cleaned up), short-term memory is your backpack (limited space), and long-term memory is your permanent locker (much more storage).

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory is the first stage in the Three-Box Model, briefly holding incoming sensory information before it's processed further or forgotten.

Your brain is constantly bombarded with sensory input. Iconic memory preserves visual information for 2-4 seconds, like when you see lightning and the image lingers briefly. Echoic memory holds sounds for a similar duration, allowing you to "hear" someone's words for a moment after they've stopped speaking.

Most information in sensory memory disappears within seconds unless you actively pay attention to it. When you focus on something specific—like a teacher's voice in a noisy classroom—you're selecting which sensory information to transfer to short-term memory.

Try It Out: Close your eyes right after looking at a scene. Notice how the image briefly remains in your iconic memory before fading away—that's sensory memory in action!

Sperling's Sensory Memory Experiment

George Sperling's famous 1960 experiment cleverly demonstrated how sensory memory works with visual information.

In the experiment, participants were shown a matrix of nine letters (arranged in three rows) for just 1/20 of a second—faster than you can blink! When asked to recall all nine letters, people could only remember about 50% correctly.

However, Sperling discovered something fascinating: when participants were asked to recall just one specific row immediately after the matrix disappeared, their accuracy jumped to nearly 99%. This proved that people actually saw all nine letters in their iconic memory, but the information faded before they could report all of it.

Real-World Connection: This experiment explains why you might "see" a text message notification and have a sense of who it's from even after your phone screen turns off—your iconic memory briefly stored that information!

Encoding: Creating Memories

Encoding is the crucial process that transforms fleeting sensory information into more durable memories that can be stored and retrieved later.

When you encode information, you're essentially converting what you see, hear, or experience into a format your brain can store. Think of it like saving a file on your computer—the information needs to be properly formatted before it can be saved to memory.

Not all information gets encoded. Your brain is selective about what it processes further, which is why you might remember certain parts of your day clearly while completely forgetting others. Attention plays a huge role in determining what gets encoded and what doesn't.

Study Tip: Active engagement with information (like explaining concepts in your own words) leads to stronger encoding than passive review $like just re-reading notes$. The more mental effort you put into processing information, the better it will be encoded!