What does acoustic encoding mean

You would probably find it easier to remember the words apple, house, and cup. It would probably be more difficult to recall the words hope, respect, and value. This is because you can recall the mental images more easily than words themselves.

When you read the word apple, you probably pictured an apple in your mind. However, when you read the more abstract words like hope, you probably had a harder time creating a mental image.

Also, if you are presented a list of words, each shown for one second, you would be able to remember if there was a word in a different color, or if a word was written in all capital letters or in italics by visually encoding. Acoustic encoding is the process of remembering something that you hear. You may use acoustic by putting a sound to words or creating a song or rhythm.

Learning the alphabet or multiplication tables can be an example of acoustic. If you say something out loud or read aloud, you are using acoustic. Working memory is the part of the memory that actively holds many pieces of information for short amounts of time and manipulates them.

The working memory has sub-systems that manipulate visual and verbal information, and it has limited capacity. We take in thousands of pieces of information every second; this is stored in our working memory. The working memory decides based on past experiences, current thoughts, or information in long-term memory if any particular piece of information is important or relevant.

In other words, if the information is not used or deemed important, it will be forgotten. Otherwise, it is moved from the short-term memory and committed to long-term memory. This effect is what allows most people to tune into a single voice and tune out all others.

Research suggests a close link between working memory and attentional capture, or the process of paying attention to particular information. A person pays attention to a given stimulus, either consciously explicitly, with awareness or unconsciously. This stimulus is then encoded into working memory, at which point the memory is manipulated either to associate it with another familiar concept or with another stimulus within the current situation.

If the information is deemed important enough to store indefinitely, the experience will be encoded into long-term memory. If not, it will be forgotten with other unimportant information. There are several theories to explain how certain information is selected to be encoded while other information is discarded. The formerly accepted filter model proposes that this filtering of information from sensory to working memory is based on specific physical properties of stimuli.

For every frequency there exists a distinct nerve pathway; our attention selects which pathway is active and can thereby control which information is passed to the working memory. This way it is possible to follow the words of one person with a certain vocal frequency even though there are many other sounds in the surrounding area. The filter model is not fully adequate. Attenuation theory, a revision of the filter model, proposes that we attenuate i.

According to this theory, information with ignored frequencies can still be analyzed, but not as efficiently as information with relevant frequencies. Attenuation theory differs from late-selection theory, which proposes that all information is analyzed first and judged important or unimportant later; however, this theory is less supported by research.

Levels-of-processing theory looks at not only how a person receives information, but also what they do with that information. Levels-of-processing theory looks at not only how a person receives information, but what the person does with the information after it is received and how that affects overall retention.

Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart determined that memory does not have fixed stores of space; rather, there are several different ways a person can encode and retain data in his or her memory. The consensus was that information is easier to transfer to long-term memory when it can be related to other memories or information the person is familiar with. There are three levels of processing for verbal data: structural, phonetic, and semantic.

These levels progress from the most shallow structural to the deepest semantic. Each level allows a person to make sense of the information and relate it to past memories, determining if the information should be transferred from the short-term memory to the long-term memory. The deeper the processing of information, the easier it is to retrieve later.

Structural processing examines the structure of a word—for example, the font of the typed word or the letters within in it. It is how we assess the appearance of the words to make sense of them and provide some type of simple meaning. Letters : Processing how a word looks is known as structural processing. Structural processing is the shallowest level of processing: If you see a sign for a restaurant but only engage in structural processing, you might remember that the sign was purple with a cursive font, but not actually remember the name of the restaurant.

Phonetic processing is how we hear the word—the sounds it makes when the letters are read together. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Subscriber sign in You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Username Please enter your Username. Password Please enter your Password. Forgot password? Don't have an account?

Some commonly used mnemonics in learning are:. Have you used any of these techniques to improve retention? Any not listed here? Let us know. See you in the next blog post! There are four main types of encoding, and knowledge of each can help us design better learning experiences: Acoustic encoding is the processing and encoding of sound, words, and other auditory input for storage and later retrieval.

By associating the information with sounds, by sounding out the words, the neural connections become stronger and aid in the recall process. Visual encoding is the process of encoding images and visual sensory information.

Visual sensory information is temporarily stored within the iconic memory before being encoded into long-term storage. The amygdala located in the medial temporal lobe of the brain which has a primary role in the processing of emotional reactions fulfills an important role in visual encoding, as it accepts visual input in addition to input from other systems and encodes the positive or negative values of conditioned stimuli.

Tactile encoding is the encoding of how something feels, normally through the sense of touch. Physiologically, neurons in the primary somatosensory cortex of the brain react to vibrotactile stimuli caused by the feel of an object. Semantic encoding is the process of encoding sensory input that has particular meaning or can be applied to a particular context, rather than deriving from a particular sense.

Here are some tips on how to use audio encoding properly: Audio is essential when sounds themselves are the object of learning, as when learners have to hear pronunciation , learn to troubleshoot equipment through sound, music lessons, etc. Audio can sometimes be used alone or in combination with graphics only. Step-by-step instructions should be text based, but audio may not be necessary. Visual Encoding Visual encoding is one of the most commonly used technique in learning, since it is one of the most natural approaches the human brain employs.

Some easy-to-follow tips for visual encoding: Always select graphics that align with the text and the learning goal.