Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 13

Psychology - Essay Example From among the known brain functions, this paper chooses to discuss memory and how it can be improved through the reading of newspapers. Unlike the other sources of news and information that are used at intervals, newspaper reading is a daily activity and thus expected to work better in enhancing memory, which some psychologists say can be done through frequent repetition (Anderson, 1976). Three distinct types of memory are set in the psychology literature: sensory, short-term and long-term memory. Memory is considered sensory when people see more than they can actually report (Baddeley, 2000), suggesting that information is received through the senses and emotions rather than through the brain. Consequently, it involves a memory span of only a few hundred milliseconds and a capacity of only about 12 items (Anderson, 1976). As such, this type of memory degrades quickly. There is a similar limitation in capacity for short-term memory although the duration extends up to a minute. As for long-term memory, it can store much larger quantities of information for prolonged periods of time, sometimes even for a whole life span. This type of memory can either be declarative or procedural, which differ in the way the mind processes information. It is declarative when, like sensory memory, information is received based on sensations, emotions and personal associations regarding time or place, while it is procedural when memory functions well because of repetition (Snowden, 2001). Whatever the types of memory people are prone to, many studies show that memory functions can be improved through rehearsal and repetition. This means that people with sensory and short-term memory can store information for long-term purposes if they receive it repeatedly and they are forced to retrieve the information for daily use (Baddeley, 2000). Not all psychologists share this view,