The Role of Total Physical Response TPR in Teaching Action Verbs
Sensory memory is one of memories that can hold information for only an instant. It is the shortest than all of memories. As stated by John W.
Santrock, “Sensory memory is memory that holds information from the world in its original form for only an instant.”
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Meanwhile, Friedenberg and Silverman viewed that “Sensory memory is a repository for incoming sensory information.”
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Referring to this definition, it can be seen that new information will be certainty stored
in our memory through sensory memory. It is defined as first storage for any information which will be stored in short term and long term memory.
Based on two definitions above, sensory memory is the first storage for new information. It can hold the information for only an instant.
b. Short-term memory
Short-term memory is limited in capacity but relatively longer in duration than sensory memory. It is memory that can holds new
information for about thirty seconds. It has longer retention that sensory memory. As stated by Santrock, “Short-term memory is a limited-capacity
memory system in which information is retained for as long as thirty seconds, unless the information is rehearsed, in which case it can be
retained longer.”
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Moreover, Magill also stated “Short term memory is also sometimes
known as working memory. Working memory a functional component of the structure of memory that operates to temporarily store and use recently
presented information.”
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It means that short-term memory is kinds of
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John W. Santrock, Educational Psychology, New York: McGraw Hill Companies, Inc, 2004, p. 255.
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Jay Friedenberg and Gordon Silverman, Cognitive Science an Introduction to the Study of Mind, California: Sage Publications, Inc, 2006, p. 126.
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John W. Santrock, Educational Psychology …p. 255.
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Richard A. Magill, Motor Learning and Control, McGraw Hill Companies, Inc, 2004, New York. P, 169.
memory that can hold new information temporally; it can save new information longer than sensory memory.
Based on two definitions, short-term memory is kind of memory that can hold new information for only thirty seconds. It can save new
information longer than sensory memory. For example: when someone keeps a telephone number in mind for the few seconds between looking it
up and dialing it.
c. Long-term memory
Long-term memory is kind of memories that can hold new information for a long period of time.
As stated by Santrock, “A type of memory that holds enormous amounts of information for a long period of
time in relatively permanent fashion.”
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It means that long term memory is kinds of memories that can hold new information permanently through
sensory and short-term memory. Someone who always remembers his elementary classmates when he is in the senior high school, it can be called
that he stores his information in the long-term memory. In addition, Richard also said that “Long-term memory is
component of the structure of memory that serves as a relatively permanent storage repository for information.”
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It means that long term-memory can hold the new information for many hours, days, and years. It has the longest
retention than all of memories. According to explanations above, long-term memory is defined as
component of memory which is a more permanent storage repository of information. For example, recalling the name of elementary teacher
requires long-term memory. Here are the differences types of memory.
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John W. Santrock, Educational Psychology …p. 257.
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Richard A. Magill, Motor Learning and Control …p. 173.