Types of memory verbal. What is non-verbal memory? Verbal and non-verbal memory

Very often you can hear that a person has a verbal memory, and also that you need to try in every possible way to develop it. However, what does this term mean? What is meant by verbal memory? This is exactly what this article will help you figure out. You will learn what verbal memory is, how it differs from non-verbal memory, how to check its condition, and how to develop it at any age.

What it is?

Verbal memory is a memory that is responsible for a person's ability to remember various information provided in verbal form. This means memorizing texts, news, poems, reports that you are going to present, and so on.

As a rule, the use of exclusively verbal memory is fraught with problems, since it is extremely difficult to remember pure text. However, this type of memory will be very useful to you in life, regardless of which career path you choose. Accordingly, you need to develop it. Verbal memory is what allows you to absorb the most complex information, that is, a dry text.

Verbal and non-verbal memory

However, before we talk about how exactly this can be improved, it is necessary to fully understand what it is. And the easiest way to do this is with the help of comparison - so you can understand how verbal memory differs from non-verbal.

As mentioned earlier, in the first case, you memorize information that comes to you from outside in the form of text, words, speech. Accordingly, non-verbal memory is the exact opposite. And the information that you receive and remember in this way is neither text, nor speech, nor anything else like that. Most often these are images, faces, images, aromas, sounds, etc.

Thus, verbal memory is responsible for verbal data, while non-verbal memory is responsible for figurative data. And at the same time, studies show that one type of memory in all people is better developed than the other. Due to what is this happening?

Hemispheres of the brain

The left hemisphere of the brain is exactly the center that is responsible for remembering verbal information, while the right hemisphere is already responsible for images, sounds and other non-verbal forms of information. Accordingly, now you know that if you want to develop the verbal properties of memory, then you should concentrate on the activity of the left hemisphere of the brain.

Separately, it is worth talking about left-handers. Many believe that absolutely all left-handed people have completely opposite functions of the hemispheres of the brain compared to people who write and perform basic actions with their right hand. However, this is a common misconception - in fact, most people who write with their left hand have exactly the same brain functions as right-handers. Only in thirty percent of them there is a change in the functionality of the cerebral hemispheres to the opposite.

Verbal intelligence

If you want to know how verbal memory develops, then you first need to understand one more concept, such as verbal intelligence. What is it, and what does it have to do with memory?

The fact is that the connection between the two concepts is direct - verbal intelligence is responsible for a person's ability to analyze textual information and generate it independently. Thus, the higher it is, the better you can understand the text, the wider your vocabulary.

You can easily understand that this improves your verbal memory as well, as you are able to remember more different information, being aware of it, and not just memorize it. It will be much more efficient to use memory by filling it with what you understand than just a collection of letters and words that you can only mindlessly repeat.

Verbal memory is formed in children, that is, already at the youngest age. So parents should think about how to stimulate its development and increase the verbal intelligence of children from a very early age.

semantic memory

There is one more concept that is worth mentioning before going directly to improving verbal memory. This is semantic memory. This concept can be found less often in everyday life, but much more often it is used in psychology. What it is?

Strictly speaking, this is a kind of system in which a person stores his generalized idea of ​​the world around him in verbal form. Thus, this is a subspecies of verbal memory, since semantic memory does not imply the storage of any emotions or experiences associated with information about the world around. And these emotions can be stored exclusively in a verbal format.

Testing

So, it's time to move on to practice. What needs to be done to determine how well your verbal memory is developed? The test is mostly done only on young children under the age of ten, as it can be a little difficult to determine the level of verbal intelligence or verbal memory in adults.

The reason for this lies in the fact that it is at the very youngest age that a constant increase in certain knowledge takes place, so it is easy to determine at what stage of verbal development the child is. Adults do not differ too much from each other in this indicator.

Verbal memory in children is tested using game methods. For example, the child is offered to choose an extra object or image from a row, or to finish a sentence that has been started. These small tests will help determine the level of development of the baby.

However, verbal is also tested in adults. How does this happen? The most common variant is that the psychologist reads to the patient a list of fifteen words that are absolutely unrelated to each other, and the latter must reproduce them. Typically, the average person is able to remember seven out of fifteen words after one reading. When the list is read to him four times in a row, he can already reproduce from twelve to fifteen words. Fifteen minutes later, that number drops back to ten words.

So, if you show similar results, then your verbal memory is normal, if the results are worse, then you should work on it. However, even if the results are normal, you can always strive for something more. How exactly? This will be discussed now.

Development in children

As mentioned earlier, verbal memory in children is best developed. The fact is that memorizing words, sentences and entire texts is a rather boring and uninteresting activity, so a small child is unlikely to show serious interest in this. And as you know, a small child must be interested in order to achieve something from him. Therefore, try to come up with various games that will include memorizing words and sentences. Instead of texts, let your child learn poems, as they are much easier, and the rhythm of their pronunciation always pleases children. Later, you can move on to more serious options, but always remember that children should be interested, otherwise the results will be miserable.

Trainings

If we are talking about adults, then such simple techniques will not have the most impressive effectiveness. Therefore, you need to pay attention to the trainings that psychologists can recommend.

One of the most popular is the repetition of TV news. Its essence lies in the fact that when watching the news, you need to repeat what the presenter said, as accurately as possible. In this way, you can develop your verbal memory much more effectively than when you just read and memorize any text.

Age features of memory

Naturally, when a person ages, his memory deteriorates significantly. However, it is worth noting that when trying to reproduce a story just read, seventy-year-old people show no worse result than twenty-year-olds. But if you ask them to try to reproduce the same story as accurately as possible half an hour after reading, young people do a much better job.

Vv

carbondage

Vagobondage (synonym: dromomania) is an illogical irresistible desire of a person who is in a prosperous social environment to vagrancy. It is manifested by the desire to wander, change places of stay, live outside the home, communicate with a specific contingent.

Inspiration

Inspiration is a special emotional state of a person, which is characterized by a combination of factors: a huge rise in vitality, strong psycho-emotional stress, creative excitement, high labor productivity, amazing performance.

autonomic nervous system

The autonomic nervous system (synonym: autonomic, visceral) is a conditionally separate independent structure of the human nervous system, divided into two sections: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The work of the autonomic nervous system is controlled by a special segment located in the hypothalamic part of the brain, but is not subject to control by the human consciousness. Regulates the functioning of internal organs, glands of internal and external secretion, controls the involuntary functions of the body. Supports homeostasis, maintains blood pressure, body temperature, activity of blood and lymphatic vessels at a given level.

Leading activity

Leading activity is a theoretically created construction to designate the activity of an individual, which contributes to the emergence, formation and development of the dominant elements for the psychological development of the individual. It is a kind of criterion for the stage of his mental development and the foundation for the transition to new forms of activity and knowledge of the world.

Faith

Faith is the unconditional recognition and sincere acceptance of any fact, circumstance, model. An irrational belief true for a person, absolute certainty in something. Faith arises without prior verification of the logicality and adequacy of the phenomenon due to the presence of a subjectively truthful and true conclusion in the individual; it does not require substantiated arguments and objective evidence.

Verbal aggression

Verbal aggression is a type of human aggressive reactions that causes real harm to the victim by expressing the negative feelings of the aggressor due to tonal changes in vocals: screaming, screeching and certain content of speech: curses, insults, threats.

verbal memory

Verbal memory is a conditional subsection of memory that determines the ability of an individual to consolidate, store and reproduce elements of text (speech) information.

Verbal thinking (verbal)

Verbal thinking (verbal) is a purposeful mental activity based on the presence of knowledge in verbal form about the world around us in the form of definitions, judgments, conclusions, the result of which can be expressed using words.

Verbigeration

Verbigeration is a rhythmic, monotonous, continuous, meaningless and aimless repetition of any syllables, words, phrases or phrases.

Peak experiences (peak)

Peak experiences (peak) is a term introduced by A. Maslow as a generalizing designation of a person’s personal subjective positive experiences: love, boundless happiness, harmony, insight, consciousness of the fullness of existence, “absolute truth”.

Action types

Types of actions - the division of the processes of human activity into various types attributable to different levels. According to S. Rubinstein, there are: reflex movements (instinctive actions), impulsive actions (occurring in the absence or minimum of control), volitional (acts with the obligatory participation of consciousness).

Types of memory

Types of memory - structuring memory elements according to different criteria. According to the nature of memorization, information is differentiated into types of memory: visual, auditory, tactile. By the duration of data storage: sensory, short-term, long-term. According to the ongoing processes: memorization, preservation, reproduction, forgetting. Depending on the prevailing mental activity: motor, emotional, figurative, verbal-logical. From the presence of goals: arbitrary and involuntary.

Visualization

Visualization is the process and methods of converting abstract information into a visual form. A way of consciously forming images in the mind, which leads to the occurrence of certain sensations. Creating in the imagination the layout of the desired reality, a practical tool in psychology to achieve your goals.

Viruses mental

Taste

Taste is one of the types of sensations in physiology, an elementary process that starts as a result of the impact of a specific stimulus on the corresponding receptor. In European culture, there are four basic tastes: sour, sweet, bitter, salty. In aesthetics, taste is a category denoting the individual's preferences and his own point of view about certain objects and phenomena.

Power

Power is the ability of an individual to impose his opinion on others, to force him to act according to his will, to influence behavior, to subdue his will without encountering resistance.

attraction

Attraction is a primary instinctive state, a need not processed by consciousness, a subjective attraction to a goal, leading to a state of emotional tension and prompting to take some action to satisfy the desire.

sanity

Sanity is a term denoting a normal state of mental health, expressed in the ability of a person to be accountable for his actions and consciously control his actions.

Attention

Attention is an important and necessary condition for the implementation of all types of human activities. A dynamic goal-directed process with a certain selective focus, implying the concentration of consciousness, implying an increase in sensory, intellectual or motor activity.

Internal barriers

Internal barriers - a set of special traits of a person's character that restricts or hinders the free choice of a behavior model, leading, under appropriate circumstances, to an internal conflict.

Internal conflict

Internal conflict is normal: the natural state of a healthy person, necessary for the further development of the personality. However, a protracted clash of divergent desires of an individual, a prolonged confrontation of different needs and motives, and vehement contradictions in the structure of the personality are the foundation for mental disorders.

inner speech

Inner speech is a form of speech that is different from sound (external) speech, arising in the process of thinking. A universal mechanism aimed at solving various problems in the mind and mental planning, which allows you to better understand the appeals of other people, read to yourself and memorize information.

Suggestibility

Suggestibility is the degree of a person's individual compliance, the level of a person's readiness to submit to outside influences, a kind of indicator of the ability to immerse yourself in hypnosis.

Age crises

Age crises are difficult time periods in the psychological aspect associated with being in a certain age category. Natural processes necessary for the normal progressive development of the individual, which are characterized by a significant restructuring of mental activity.

Age features

Age features - a number of natural psychophysiological features characteristic of a person at a certain age. Specific personality traits that naturally change in certain periods of life.

Will

Will is a special form of organizing the activity and behavior of an individual, focused on overcoming existing obstacles to achieve the goal. The ability to consciously manage their behavior and control their emotions, the ability to purposefully concentrate efforts.

Imagination

Imagination is the ability of a person to immerse himself in the inner world. The ability to create mentally new images, ideas, ideas based on previously perceived impressions and manipulate them.

Perception of space

Perception of space - the ability of an individual to perceive characteristics about the spatial arrangement of objects and form judgments about their shape, size, relative position.

Playback

Reproduction is a type of action in the memory structure aimed at updating information received in the past, for example: recognizing a familiar person.

Higher mental functions

Higher mental functions are a theoretical construct denoting the totality of the most complex specific arbitrary processes of the human psyche, controlled by the consciousness of the individual. They are social in origin, formed under the influence of human culture, and are not innate, genetically substantiated components of the psyche. Among them: perception, memory, thinking, speech. In the scientific community there is no single point of view on the legitimacy of attributing attention, will, motivation, feelings and emotions to the higher mental functions.

crowding out

Repression is one of the defense mechanisms in psychology, the essence of which is the active, conscious, motivated elimination of any facts from consciousness by deliberately ignoring and purposefully forgetting. Often an unconscious process of removing unfavorable, inconvenient or interfering circumstances from the space of perception.

Learned helplessness

Learned helplessness is an acquired condition that manifests itself in violation of motivation. It arises as a result of an uncontrolled situation experienced by an individual, events, the result of which does not depend on the efforts made by a person. It manifests itself in the fact that a person does not take any steps to improve his condition, does not try to eliminate negative circumstances, does not seek positive incentives, although he has such an opportunity.

Verbal memory is a memory that is responsible for a person's ability to memorize any textual information. As a rule, memorizing just the text can be quite difficult. Experts advise to deal with these quite simply: to select bright visual, tactile, emotional associations for words, which make it much easier.

Verbal and non-verbal memory

All information that comes from the outside can be verbal, that is, verbal, and non-verbal, that is, not associated with speech designation (these are faces, routes, music, smells, etc.). As a rule, one of these two types of memory is better developed in a person than the second.

The left hemisphere of the brain is more capable of memorizing verbal information, while the right hemisphere is more capable of processing non-verbal information. This corresponds to the general division of brain functions. In 66% of all lefties, the brain works in a similar way, and only 33% of them have changes in the functioning of the cerebral hemispheres.

Development of verbal memory

Verbal memory is primarily responsible for the ability to reproduce textual information. Therefore, in order to develop it, it is necessary to refer specifically to the texts.

For example, at any age, this type of memory training is perfect. It is not at all necessary to choose complex works right away, you can choose to start with short and simple texts that do not contain complex or outdated words and expressions that are not characteristic of modern language.

After you have already mastered learning the verses, you will notice that it will be easier and easier for you to memorize the texts. After that, you can move on to monologues of characters from plays or more complex texts. As a result of such work, it will be easier for you to perceive and transmit any verbal information.

semantic memory is a memorization system based on the semantic characteristics of concepts. The organization and structuring of semantic memory is thus based on a meaningful description of concepts and words denoting these concepts. Such memory, as we have already seen, is in a certain sense the opposite of figurative memory. The differences lie in the fact that if the image memory is a memory for "raw", "undistorted" images that preserve the topology, i.e. correlation of their spatial parts, then semantic (verbal or verbal) memory is based on a code description of concepts.

The code description, in principle, does not retain any topological features of the original concept, if such features took place. For example, in the code description of a face, one can speak of sequential lists of characteristics of individual parts, expressed in terms of length, area, indentation, etc. This type of memorization is, of course, compatible with figurative memory and complements it.

However, semantic memory is most important when memorizing concepts, words and ideas that have no figurative analogues. For example, it is difficult to imagine images of such concepts as “kindness” or “difference”. Such abstract concepts, of course, have connections with various images, but these connections, as a rule, are mediated and associative. Perhaps the exception is the following examples of synesthesias and exotic figurative associations used by some mnemonists. Thus, semantic memory is based on the structuring of meanings, meanings of concepts. Moreover, it is based, firstly, on memorizing the codes of individual features of concepts, which occurs as a result of complex processes of identifying and describing these features, and, secondly, on establishing a system of associative links between individual features and whole concepts. As a result, it is clear that semantic memory presents much more options for memorization and ways of establishing relationships between concepts than figurative memory.

On fig. 9.10 as an example or, more precisely, a model of a part of a person’s semantic memory, a small section is given semantic web, defining possible systems of connections between concepts defined by the words of the lines of the famous poem by D. Kharms:

Ivan Toporyshkin went hunting

The poodle went with him, jumping over the fence,

Ivan, like a log, fell into the swamp,

And the poodle jumped the ax in the river...

Using Kharms's rather bizarre, exotic text as an example, perhaps, helps to better feel the ideology of constructing semantic memory. Indeed, its structure represents the possibility of establishing links between any concepts. Moreover, the memory structure makes it possible to assign to each connection a certain value of the frequency of its use, and the frequency or, as they say, the weight can be different depending on the situation in which this connection is used, i.e. from the general context. Figure 9.10 also illustrates the fact that a concept has a different and constantly changing number of properties. Properties that describe some concept or, as is often said, attributes of this concept may themselves represent complex hierarchically organized structures.

In order to more deeply imagine the organization of semantic memory, you can try to complete Fig. 9.10, describing additional links, weights, concepts, their definitions and attributes. This work leads to an important conclusion: the structure of semantic memory is constantly reorganized. This property is inherent in memory and follows from its network structure. Indeed, depending on the situation, the list of attributes of each memory node must change, in addition, the attribute priorities must change. In some conditions, we rely on some properties of objects, in others - on others.

Rice. 9.10. Model of the semantic memory area. Each concept, represented by a rectangle or ellipse, can have multiple arrows representing properties, parameters, or characteristics. A section of the semantic memory network can be completed or rebuilt depending on the situation. Different connection arrows may have different weights or frequency of use of the hye, and the variety of human mental activity is based on this effect.

The development of semantic memory models is based on a large amount of experimental data. In particular, on the results showing that semantic memory in the general case is not a graph, but a network structure (Fig. 9.11). Under count in this case, we mean some economically constructed structure, in which there is a unique connection path between any two points. From these examples, it is clear that in a complex network, simpler sections can be distinguished, which are graphs.

The main difference between graph and network structure has to do with the principle cognitive economy, or non-redundancy of the structure of connections between concepts. Within the framework of a semantic model, one can go from one concept to another using many paths. The link graph model requires a single path, a high degree of parsimony, and a hierarchy. The term "cognitive economy" means, therefore, the economy of connections between traces of knowledge (cognio- knowledge, concept).

Experimental verification of the correctness of a particular model is based on measuring the decision-making time when determining the similarity of various concepts. For example, determining whether pairs of words such as "hemlock" and "daisy" belonged to the same category took longer than determining the similarity of the words "hemlock" and "parrot". Thus, this experiment showed that in order to go from the name of one flower to the name of another, a longer path is required than in determining the relationship between the name of a flower and an animal. In a graph memory structure model, one would expect the opposite. Strict ordering of concepts and

Rice. 9.11. Scheme of differences between graph (A) and network (B) models of semantic memory organization. The graph model implements the principle of cognitive economy, the network model implements the possibility of direct links between any concepts; the economy of the links of this model requires a short path to go from the name of one plant to the name of another; this requires taking a small number of steps up the graph to the “plants” node. However, the transition between the distant nodes of a particular plant and a particular animal must require a much longer path and much more time.

The conclusion from many such experiments was made in favor of the model of wasteful semantic network, which allows for the possibility of an unordered and seemingly strange system of “everyone with everyone” connections.

A variant of the network model of semantic memory is in good agreement with the assumptions that in the process of development, memory is formed according to the principle of “nuclei”, when a certain concept is reflected in the structure of a network section. Moreover, as a rule, individual concepts in the process of development of memory and the body are partial, far from complete, sometimes not quite correct knowledge. As a result, each "core", each "atom" of knowledge is formed gradually and carries many previous, previously established connections. That is why, as the results of experiments show, the time for making decisions about the correctness (truth assessment) of statements often does not depend on the minimum number of connections between concepts and is shorter when analyzed in frequently occurring expressions.

verbal memory