Page 62 - Biblical Counseling II

together. And it is our memories that can occasionally pit us against those whose offenses we cannot forget
(Myer, p. 182, 2012).
To remember any event, we must:
1. Get information into our brain (encoding)
2. Retain that information (storage)
3. Later get it back out (retrieval)

(photo: www.obsidianlearning.com)

As a memory experiment, memorize this list of five words: avoid, cigarette, fire, imagine, process.
Once you have the five words memorized, try not to look at the words again. I will ask you to say the words
in a little while. Let’s spend some time looking at encoding, storing, and retrieving in more detail.

Encoding: Getting Information In
“How We Encode: We process some external stimuli consciously in our sensory memory, while other
external events are processed beneath our conscious efforts. The events we notice and attend to are
encoded or processed in our working memory (short-term memory). Further processing and rehearsing
encode important parts of the event into our long-term memory, from which the information may later be
retrieved. Here we will focus on the encoding part of that process. You encode information, such as the
route you walked to your last class, with great ease, freeing your memory system to focus on less familiar
events. But to retain more complex information, such as a friend’s cell phone number, you need to pay
attention and try hard” (Myers, p. 182, 2012).
Automatic Processing
“Thanks to your brain’s capacity for simultaneous activity (for parallel processing), an enormous amount of
multitasking (doing more than one thing at the same time) goes on without your conscious attention. For
example, without conscious effort, you automatically process information about

1. Space. While studying, you often encode the place on a page where certain material appears; later, when
struggling to recall that information, you may visualize its location.

2. Time. While going about your day, you unintentionally note the sequence of the day’s events. Later, when
you realize you’ve left your coat somewhere, you can recreate that sequence and retrace your steps.

3. Frequency. You effortlessly keep track of how many times things happen, thus enabling you to realize
“this is the third time I’ve seen her today.”

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