Describe and Differentiate by Duration and Capacity the Various Systems

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--Most psychologists believe that there are at least three separate systems of memory: sensory,short-term,and long-term memory.These systems differ in both span (amount of information that may be held)and duration (how long the information may be retained).Sensory memory is the initial memory system.Information from any of the five senses is briefly retained here and then either moves on to the next system or the information is "lost." Even though research by Sperling suggests that all information is available to use,our limited attention is only able to recall a few items of all possible items through sensory memory.For example,a student can only recall a few items of what a professor is saying during class lecture as he or she is writing down information in his or her notes.
--The information that moves on is said to be in short-term,or working,memory.This system of memory can hold between five and nine "pieces" of information at any single time and can keep this information for about 20 seconds.These pieces of information may either be individual pieces of information or may be "chunked" together (e.g. ,remembering Freud's three structures of personality-the id,ego,and superego-as a single chunk because they are interrelated.Or remembering the three types of memory systems as a "chunk" of memory systems-sensory,short-term,and long-term).The information may be lost here as well,through processes such as decay or interference,or moved on to the next system via either elaborative or maintenance rehearsal.
--The third,and final,system is known as long-term memory.The capacity of this system is thought to be quite large and the information can remain here for years or decades.The information in memory is stored here until accessed through retrieval cues or priming.

Describe and Differentiate by Duration and Capacity the Various Systems

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