XI. Read the text and then translate it in writing

X. Test yourself.

IX. Compare the American classification of memory suggested in the text below with the Russian one.

Memory is divided into three kinds or stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is the shortest stage. It involves the brief holding of information after a stimulus has been removed. If we pay attention to that which was in sensory memory, the information enters short-term memory. This stage has a capacity of about seven items and if information is not rehearsed at this stage, it will be forgotten. If infor­mation is rehearsed properly in short-term memory, it will enter long-term memory. This level has an almost unlimited capacity. Different kinds of mem­ories, such as episodic (dealing with events and experiences), perceptual (about colour, size and so on), semantic (about meanings), and procedural (about how to perform certain behaviors), enter long-term memory. Informa­tion is stored in long-term memory via a process called encoding. This may be done automatically, or it may require conscious attention. Eidetic or photo­graphic memory is not something that can be learned. It usually is found more often in children than in adults.

Some memories are formed instantly and last a lifetime because of their strong emotional content. There are called flashbulb memories.

1. We are not overwhelmed by the vast amount of sensory stimulation in our world because:

a. very little of it reaches us;

b. we do not attend to all of it in sensory memory;

с. sensory memory has an unlimited capacity;

d. information moves quickly to short-term memory, which has an unlimit­ed capacity.

2. A friend tells you a phone number to call when you get home, which is about three blocks away. You keep repeating the number to yourself all the way home. You are using:

a. eidetic memory;

b. short-term memory;

с. long-term memory;

d. sensory memory.

3. A neon sign in Las Vegas uses a series of lights to give the impression that someone is pointing to a casino. To perceive the sign this way we must use:

a. short-term memory;

b. working memory;

с. long-term memory;

d. sensory memory.

4. Which of the following is an example of episodic memory?

a. the color of your mother's eyes;

b. the size of the old oak tree in a neighbor's yard;

с. being called for dinner when you were a child;

d. both a and b.

Amnesia takes two forms: anterograde, an inability to recall events that occur after a trauma, and retrograde, an inability to recall events that occured before a trauma. It appears that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is involved. Alzheimer's patients show a loss of this neurotransmitter. Amnesia may have specific effects. In other words, it may influence our factual knowledge, but our procedural knowledge. A person may remember how to drive a car, but not where he or she is going.

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