For that information, the character recognition process must work harder, figuring out these additional attributes. For example, the size, font, and position on the paper are no longer applied to the text. During this process, characters and words can be recognized, but in compressing the pixeled information into words, we lose information. Thus scanned pixels are analyzed against character patterns. For meaning to work on a higher level the computer must abstract and convert the data into another form, via analysis of the data.įor another example, a page of text is scanned by optical character recognition. Except for the reproduction of that sound or its picture, nothing more can be done with this kind of data. The data in this sample form can be stored as actual sound or as actual image. First the sound is converted from its analog waveform to sample points, similar to scanning a page digitally. The above example demonstrates that sound memory need not be an isolated or specialized memory, but is normally interconnected with other associations.Ĭomputers process sound differently than we do. (And if the voice or name is difficult to understand, at the end of the phone call one might ask him or her to kindly repeat the name, gaining another opportunity to hear and memorize the sound or spelling of the name.) Further, if you write down the name, you can expect to remember it for a longer time, even without reviewing what you wrote. ” Chances are much greater that you will remember the name at the end of the phone call. I have noticed that it helps to repeat the greeting, e.g. In general, the more associations we can assign to a sound the easier it is to recall.Īs a specific example, many people are embarrassed when, if they call a company to ask for some information, have a nice talk, not remembering their conversant’s name at the end in order to say thanks. If we are able to reproduce a sound vocally, then it is even easier to remember. For example, the pronunciation of foreign languages can be more easily remembered if we know the meaning of those words.
While it is possible to remember complex sounds, such as a specific noise we are unable to reproduce them vocally, it is much easier to remember sounds we associate with meaning. The explanations assume a simple model that might be compared to a computer system, one with a short- and long-term memory. The following explanation is not based on scientific research, since science is still years away from understanding how the brain stores information.