Most problems in remembering come at the retrieval stage rather than the storage stage. We are all very aware that memory is limited more in getting things out than getting them in. More can be stored in memory than can be retrieved. There is not much we can do to improve retrieval directly, but retrieval is a function of how the material is recorded and retained. Therefore, improved methods of recording and retaining will improve retrieval, both from a file cabinet and from your memory. The principles and methods discussed in this blog will help you record and retain information in such a way as to be able to retrieve it more effectively.

It is useful to distinguish between material in memory that is accessible and material that is available. This distinction can be illustrated by the boy who asks his father, “Dad, is something lost when you know where it is?” His father replies, “No Son.” Clearly relieved, the boy responds, “Good, your car keys are at the bottom of the well”.” The keys were available but they were not accessible. Similarly, material that is misplaced in a file cabinet then it is neither accessible nor available. Likewise, material that is recorded and retained in your memory may not be accessible even if it is available; you know it is in there somewhere, but you just cannot find it. In this situation, the answer to the boy’s question may be, “Yes, something can be lost even when you know where it is.”

In addition to the three stages of memory there appear to be at least two different processes involved in memory - short-term memory (also called primary memory and working memory) and long term memory (also called secondary memory). The distinction between short-term memory and long-term memory is more than just a semantic distinction between remembering for a short time and remembering for a long time. Most psychologists view short-term memory and long-term memory as being two separate storage mechanisms that differ in several ways, although some psychologists have suggested that they are not really different mechanisms but merely different manifestations of the same mechanism (such as different levels of processing). I will avoid this theoretical issue and merely follow the conventional approach of viewing them as two different processes.