These memories have happened in the external world and they are remembered based on what has been experienced before (Explicit Memory Storage, 2004). Semantic memory is memory that is based on a person's knowledge. This knowledge can be factual or theoretical (Semantic v Episodic Memory, 2004). Some examples of semantic memory might be that a person knows what kind of dog they are looking at or they know their friend's phone number.

This can sometimes be confused with the third type of memory, which is episodic memory. The difference in the two types of memories is that while you may remember the phone number of your best friend from when you were both 10 years old, you also can remember calling your friend and the kinds of things you did together as best friends and the kinds of things you talked about on the phone. If you remember the phone number without remembering the best friend and the phone calls, then the memory is semantic. If you remember the feelings and the friend along with the phone number, those are episodic memories. One source explains that accumulated episodic episodes may be semantic memory (Semantic v Episodic Memory, 2004).

The processes of memory are encoding, storage and retrieval. The brain processes information so that it can be stored. This process is called encoding. The information is stored in the brain for later use and this is called storage. The retrieval of the information is from long-term memory and it is sent to short-term memory for use (Huffman, 2000).

The three stages of memory are sensory, short-term and long-term. Memory is described as a flow of information. The first stage is the sensory, which is a very short-term flash of information that your mind flashes on. This memory does not last more than about a second and it's gone from your memory. The second type of memory is short-term memory, which a person can use to review information they have just received. For instance, if you have just heard an address, you can recall the street number a few seconds later. Long-term memory is the memory people use to recall events and information that have occurred in the past. This may be learned information or perhaps it is the address that you had as a child. This also can account for the memories you have of your childhood (Sensory Register, Short-term Memory and Long-term Memory, 2000).

The stage of memory called sensory register is the way we see the world. We see what is around us and the sensory register filters the information that we see. There is so much stimulation around us, that it would be impossible for our senses to process everything. Sensory register is the way that we send only the information to short-term memory that we see as interesting or pertinent.

Our short-term memory is how we remember the information that has just been passed to us from sensory register. The example of hearing the phone number and remembering the phone number later is an example of short-term memory. If the phone number is a new number to us and we need it for just the one phone call, we may remember the phone number for just a short time. If we are distracted from using that phone number immediately, we probably will forget the number.

Long-term memory is how we retain information for a long time. The two ways that memory can be accessed in recall and recognition. Recognition is when a person sees something and it looks familiar to them. An example of recognition in long-term memory is when you take multiple-choice tests and the answers look familiar. The fact that one of the answers is correct and you have seen it before is how you recognize the answer. It seems familiar to you and you verify in your mind that the information is correct. Recall is when you come up with information that you need. For example, a person taking a fill in the blank test must come up with the answers from their long-term memory or remembering where they were when a certain event happened. When a person recalls something, it is a process of searching through their memory and then comparing the information (Long-Term Memory, 2003).

Problem Solving, Creativity, Reasoning and Judgment

Cognition is the act or process of knowing (Encarta, 2004). The components of cognition are problem solving, creativity, reasoning and judgment. These components together make us have an understanding of the world around us.

Problem solving is the way in which we solve the puzzles that we are faced with every day. We see a goal that we need to reach and we decide what ways we can reach that goal. We may have some barriers along the way and we need to overcome in order to reach our goals....

The way that we solve our problem comes from our creativity, which is based on several issues. We look at a problem and sometimes we have immediate solutions. Other time, we infer the solutions and the answer becomes evident. We use our intuition and our knowledge base and often we look at the different answers to problems and apply that to a specific problem.
Creativity can be useful is developing an answer to a problem, but it is often difficult to be creative due to our own stubbornness that we already know the answer, even if it doesn't fit.

We sometimes have a fear of looking stupid by trying something new or different and sometimes we hesitate to be creative because we think it is against our beliefs to try a certain way of solving problems. A creative person will try many different approaches to solve a problem and be willing to change their approaches.

Reasoning and judgment are also part of cognition. Reasoning is a system by where the person makes a conclusion based on what they have observed, what they know and how they presume these come together to come to a finale. There are differences in the way that people reason. One person may be able to deduce the conclusion very quickly and another may perceive the "clues" differently and be mistaken about the final result. The final component of cognition is judgment. The other components of cognition all lead to the conclusion of a thought. Judgment is based on one's perceptions, understanding, experiences and the individual view of the world.

The way that we are raised and our experiences make us who we are today. What kind of decisions do we make? How do we solve problems? Are we creative when we look at problems? Is our judgment usually accurate? All of these questions can be applied to ourselves for the answers. As a student, I have had to be creative in solving problems. I am very willing to look at problems in a different way in order to find the answer. I have tried different methods of training for runs in order to develop the best style and the fastest times. There are people who ask for suggestions to a problem and then proceed to give reasons why those suggestions will not work. Creativity and energy helps others to look at those suggestions and find a combination of suggestions to be able to make decisions. Parents who encourage their children to find the answers themselves are promoting creativity and fostering a process that will serve their children well in terms of that child becoming a confident in their perceptions and evaluation

Personality, experience and ability to deduce and infer make a person who they are. People make decisions based on many things. Most of us have tried ideas and have succeeded or failed and move on to the next problem. The next time we come up against this problem, we remember that we have encountered this at some time and make the right decision. Successful people who come up with innovative ideas are usually creative and quickly assess the world around them to judge information intuitively.

Reference List

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