Theory on Memory and Attention

Attention and Memory Introduction One of the most important determinants of how good one can remember something is attention. The reason for this is that learning and the subsequent encoding of information in the brain cannot happen if the learner is not attentive. Additionally, the recall of a piece of information from the brain also cannot happen if one is not attentive. Therefore, attention is one of the most important things for proper functioning as a human being. It is required for intelligence.

It has been ascertained that attention is especially useful for the storage of explicit memory (memory about objects, places, and people) – a process that heavily involves the hippocampus. As I psychologist, I split my time between my workplace and the university. To be the best in my field, I have to continue learning. I therefore engage in learning both at the workplace and at the university.

I also need to share or use what I have learned, so from time to time I have to recall what I have learned. For me to learn things and to be able to recall them as accurately as possible, I need good attention and memory. Furthermore, my work usually involves making my clients to unlearn certain behaviors or learn new ones. These kind of changes can only work effectively when they apply attention when necessary and have good memory.

For it is through attention and memory that they will be able to receive information, organize it, store it, and later retrieve it when need be. Hence I find it necessary to learn more about attention and memory to ensure that I become more effective at what I do at work. Moreover, I know it is very useful for a psychologist to know more about the workings of the brain to be able to better handle the different types of clients I deal with.

Research Section Attention and memory have always been the subjects of interest for scholars in the fields of neuroscience and psychology especially in the study of intellectual function. However, most such studies have always focused on both subjects separately. Attention studies usually ignore the key role of past knowledge and perceptual experiences, while memory studies often ignore the importance of attention in the encoding of learned information. This is the case despite many scholars having long concluded that there is a strong relationship between attention and memory.

For example, William James, an influential psychologist, once stated that it is undeniable that something that one focuses on attentively will be encoded in memory, while that which is not focused on does not stay in memory (Badre et.al 2005). Another example is that of Eric Kandel, a neuroscientist, who stated that one of the biggest problems in his field of study is to comprehend the mechanisms through which attention affects the encoding and recalling of the experiential form of memory (Kandel, 2007).

Despite the fact that not many studies have focused on investigating the relationship between attention and memory, many have focused on how to enhance memory. Most have concluded that attention is important for memory encoding. However, how exactly attention helps with memory encoding remains unknown. Moreover, even though it is now well-accepted that attention on places, objects, and persons increases our chances of recalling them, how attention affects unconscious memories is less clear.

Most studies looking at attention and memory have relied on brain imaging technologies and it is thought that innovations in such technologies will help to reveal more information (Kandel, 2007). Moreover, even more studies have focused on how attention can enhance memory, while very few have looked at how memory modulates perception and attention. Nevertheless, more and more researchers are now looking at memory affects perception and attention. What is already known is that memory is very important to perception.

An example of this is that one cannot recognize/ perceive his parents without first seeing them and then matching their perception to what he already has in memory (Chun & Turk-Browne 2007). It then follows that an explicit episodic memory, unlike implicit perceptual memory, may require the availability of cognitive modulating resources in the parietal and frontal regions.

In a recent study, an intensive task that was designed to engage the working memory was founded to have to influence on the PPA (Parahippocampal place area) responses to the background scenes that were not relevant to the task (Badre et.al 2005). This is in contrast to the fact that the capacity to carry out some demanding tasks relies heavily on the capacity to hold/ retain some information related to the task for some time in the working memory and to process the information being received from the surroundings (attention).

For example, imagine driving a car in a city you have never been to. To get to where you want to be you may have to Google or ask around and then to retain that information in your working memory (Fougnie, 2008). You may also have to process the information you are seeing in the streets through your perceptual systems and to match that information with what you already know to get to your destination.

From this, it is easy to tell that the contents of attention and working memory frequently overlap (Chun & Turk-Browne 2007). Furthermore, according to Mangun and Hillyard (1991), attention is also known to affect processing of information at both the early and later stages. This argument is backed by Boddy (1972), who stated that perceptual attention has a key role to play at the early stage of sensory processing. Besides, many visuospatial attention theories assume that the area of selection is contiguous (Fougnie, 2008).

However, there are some that say that the selections can include noncontiguous areas. But, Egly and Homa (as cited by Fougnie, 2008) did find in their landmark study that if attention acts as a flashlight beam (contiguous area of selection), it would be impossible to see things as we see them or to be able to focus on one thing and still have awareness of other things around it.

Nevertheless, one must have in mind the fact that when study participants have been divided into a high working memory group and a low working memory group in related studies, only the high working memory individuals have exhibited patterns that support Egly and Homa’s finding on how attention and memory work (Mangun and Hillyard, 1991).