Glossary / Lexicon

Storage refers to the process by which people store in memory information they have acquired from the environment.

In psychology, storage refers to the process by which information is retained in memory. When we learn something new, our brains encode the information and store it in one of several different types of memory.

There are several different types of memory, including:

• Sensory memory: This is the very brief (usually less than a second) memory of sensory information (e.g., sights, sounds, smells).

• Short-term memory: This is the memory of information that is held for a relatively short period of time (usually less than 30 seconds) and can be rehearsed or repeated to keep it active.

• Long-term memory: This is the memory of information that is stored over a longer period of time and can be retrieved at a later date. Long-term memory is further divided into two categories: explicit memory (which includes declarative memory, or memories that can be consciously retrieved, such as facts and events) and implicit memory (which includes procedural memory, or memories of skills and habits that are learned and performed automatically).

Here are some examples of the storage of information in memory:

• A person sees a car accident on the street and stores the sensory information (e.g., the sound of the crash, the sight of the damaged cars) in their sensory memory.

• A person hears a phone number and repeats it to themselves in order to store it in their short-term memory.

• A person studies for a test and stores the information they learned in their long-term memory, where it can be retrieved at a later date.

The process of storage in memory is complex and is not fully understood. Factors that can influence the storage of information in memory include the attention paid to the information, the emotional significance of the information, and the context in which the information was learned.