Sensory Memory, Retrieval Failure and Aphasia Essay

Sensory Memory, Retrieval Failure and Aphasia - Essay Example This memory usually comes off in a short while. For visual sensory memory, or iconic memory, the length of the memory is usually less than half a second (Lynch). Iconic memory usually includes instances where one sees something ordinary like a woman walking down the street. Even after the woman passes by and is not anymore in sight, the memory of this woman remains in the mind. If not attended to, iconic memory, just like any other sensory memory, is gone, but if attention is given, it becomes a working memory and thus stays relatively longer than a sensory memory (â€Å"Human Memory†). This happens if that woman is beautiful and the man who sees her wishes to remember her. On the other hand, for echoic memory, which is auditory sensory memory, the memory of the sound usually lasts a few seconds (Lynch). This usually happens when someone hears something like some particular news on TV while the listener is doing something else, then right after the TV is turned off, the memory stays in the mind for a few seconds. If the news was about an approaching typhoon, the listener may suddenly tell his mom, â€Å"Hey mom, it said on TV that the typhoon is coming at 6 p.m. and it’s gonna bring with it some hail and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  So far, the echoic memory is gone the moment you do not remember anymore. Still, another type of sensory memory is haptic memory, or tactile sensory memory (â€Å"Memory Class†). ... Echoic memory is what I often experience whenever I listen to the radio and turn it off before I turn in for the night. I have noticed that even as I am beginning to close my eyes I can still hear myself singing the chorus part of the last song I heard playing on the radio, but ask me about it when I wake up and I can seldom if ever recall what it is. Haptic memory is also one thing I experience at times. At the office, sometimes I shake hands with a client and I could feel either the wetness of his hand or the tightness of his grip. Nevertheless, after a short while, when we have got down to business, I honestly do not have any more memory of such a grip nor do I even remember shaking hands with that person. As to sensory memories, my experiences are just the same as everyone else’s. Retrieval Failure In psychology, retrieval failure refers to one of the theories of forgetting. In retrieval failure, â€Å"information is not lost, but that the right cues are not being usedâ⠂¬  (â€Å"Memory,† BBC). According to the retrieval failure theory of forgetting, a person may have stored a particular information in his brain but has obviously perhaps not gone back to it for quite some time. Therefore, when the moment arises for him to retrieve it, he cannot because the cues are just not right. Usually a person knows that he knows the information but just simply cannot bring himself to say it. At this particular point, he searches not exactly for the information but for the right cues that will make him remember it. In my case, I usually experience retrieval failure when the cues just cannot bring out a particular piece of information. I usually experience something like what I am about