2.5.A—Explain how memory storage processes retain information in memory

Explain how memory storage processes retain information in memory.

• Sensory memory, short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory are processes that differ in storage duration, capacity, and content.
• Storage may be prolonged by rehearsing information over time (maintenance rehearsal). Rehearsing information over time in ways that promote meaning (elaborative rehearsal) helps with memory retention.
• Some people demonstrate highly superior autobiographical memory which may indicate that there are biological processes for superior memory storage. Autobiographical memory may also explain why memories connected to our own lives or selves are more memorable.
• Storage processes may be negatively affected by physical impairment and developmental limitations, such as amnesia (retrograde and anterograde), Alzheimer’s disease, and infantile amnesia.