Victoria Coefield Midterm Extra Credit

Sensory Storage; Standing at the Board Focused on the Problem

After completing my midterm exam for my Learning Theories and Applications class
online I realized that I am not as knowledgeable with sensory storage as I thought. Question
seventeen stated, A student observes a long division problem written on the board. What type
of memory works to filter out the other distractions so that the student can focus on the math
problem? I selected answer choice number two for knowledge activation; my personal theory
was that the student was activating knowledge to answer the question. Clearly my answer and
logic were wrong and sensory storage is the right answer.

While taking the exam I realized that I missed several questions about sensory storage. I
decided to look up scholarly articles about the concept to see how other students define sensory
storage or what things they relate it to so I can get a better understanding. Input comes prior to
sensory storage in the information processing theory, so I looked more into that concept which
gets information from the five senses. I also looked at short term memory which comes after
sensory storage and I know that it encodes information to the long term memory. Through a
Google search, I found four articles that explain sensory storage through research,
experimentation, a scholarly review and I even used my textbook to remind me what I didnt
encode in my long term memory.

In the journal article, Sensory Storage Reconsidered, Dennis Holding reconsiders short
term memory capacity, decaying of information and interference in his view of sensory storage
through visual and audio modes. Holding believes that rapid decay is irrelevant to visual images
and he considers the capacity of visual images and audio. Holdings article was written to make
one reconsider the value or purpose of sensory storage in the Information Processing Theory. He
questions researchers as to why input goes to the sensory storage and sends the attention to the
short term memory. He believes that in the future the final block diagram will not contain any
single feature labeled "sensory storage." (Holding, 1975)

James Barr Richardson also considered auditory and visual sensory storages in his thesis
for his Master of Arts in Psychology. Richard used a probe-stimulus recognition technique to test
hypothesized differences in visual and auditory sensory memory storage. (Richardson, 1972) He
listed alphabetical lettering in a visual form and an audio form to see which would be recalled
Victoria Coefield Midterm Extra Credit

more accurately after second delay increments. His hypothesis was proven correct that the audio
would store and be easier to retrieve from the short term memory. I believe Richardsons
experience explains why I can remember the lyrics to a song, but never the name of the artist I
see flashed on my MP3 player.

Ive found yet another article that defines sensory storage using visual images, but this
time numbers were used. In Compatible and Incompatible Representations in Visual Sensory
Storage the authors used digits to test varying patterns of sensory storage. They used a 20-inch
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB color monitor to display the digits, which showed either an
array of eights, an array of random digits or even a noise pattern. They had four participants in
the study and they measured their eye movements through a mask wore by the participants and a
variable time after the start of each fixation. They found that normal scene perception required a
delay of 150 ms from the start of each fixation to the presentation of the mask. (Bhardwaj,
Mollon, & Smithson, 2012)

In The Harvard Business review an article titled, The Science of Sensory Marketing
describes how businesses are increasingly using the five senses to market products. (HBR,
2015) The article uses examples of opening a Hersheys kiss, smelling the aroma of coffee and
even the new car smell of a BMW compared to visual images seen on TV as methods of selling
points. This article helps me understand that sensory storage is that moment I see a commercial
and no longer focus on the show I am watching, but if I want to buy this product being
advertised. It also, helps me understand how if a product doesnt stand out it wont be taken to
my short term memory; it would just be something I see waiting for my show to come on.

Reviewing my notes for sensory storage and the concept is defined as a filter. My
textbook states that sensory register (storage) is the first component of the dual-store model.
(Ormrod, 2008) Sensory storage or register quickly takes input from the five senses and focuses
the attention (that which isnt lost) to the short term memory. I now understand why in my notes
I wrote, 1 Second Filter, because the sensory store tells me within one second if I care about
the things I see, feel, taste, touch or hear to take them to my working memory. I see how that
Victoria Coefield Midterm Extra Credit

student at the board from my exam question I missed was focused on his math problem and able
to filter out distractions.

I have a six month old child and teaching him words like, Mama and Bye bye has
become a task. I noticed that teaching him while his toys are around is a bad practice, because his
sensory store filtered out my teachings and focused on toys. I plan to use the knowledge that I
acquired from the articles and my book to consider my sons distractions when I am teaching
him new skills. I also will sing the artist of a songs name in the lyrics to help me remember it
and pay attention to something else when the commercials of things I shouldnt buy come on
(goodbye Oreos).
Victoria Coefield Midterm Extra Credit

Works Cited
Bhardwaj, Mollon, & Smithson. (2012). Compatible and incompatible representations in visual. Journal
of Vison , 12(5):1 1-10.

HBR. (2015, March). The Science of Sensory Marketing. The Harvard Business Review .

Holding, D. H. (1975, January). Sensory Storage Reconsidered. Memory and Cognition , pp. 31-41.

Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Introduction to Cognition and Memory. In Human Learning Fifth Edition (p. 169).
New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Richardson, J. B. (1972). Auditory and Visual Sensory Stores: A Recognition Task. Dissertations and
Theses , Paper 1558.