Retrieval of knowledge occurs within an individual's working memory and long-term memory systems.
Working memory retrieval is simple, as it generally occurs automatically depending on the amount of information stored (Ormrod, 2016).
However, retrieval of knowledge from long-term memory storage is a more complex process.
The maturation of an individual's brain impacts their ability to ‘search’ for memories to retrieve them (Ormrod, 2016). Our ability to retrieve information increases as we grow (Ormrod, 2016). Additionally, information that is logically stored in the long-term memory is easier to retrieve (Ormrod, 2016).
To retrieve memories from long-term memory, a process called spreading activation must occur (Ormrod, 2016). During this process the environment triggers an idea and causes “the activation flowing through connections within the network of stored information” (Ormrod, 2016, p. 213). Further, when learners think in a process similar to how they did when they first stored information, they are more likely to retrieve those memories; this process is known as encoding specificity. The inability to recall information at the moment it is needed, but then remembering later, can indicate the data was stored in a different area of the brain than expected, or connected to another piece of information that is unrelated (Ormrod, 2016). Context and construction are also significant factors in the complex process of memory retrieval (Ormrod, 2016).
Working memory retrieval is simple, as it generally occurs automatically depending on the amount of information stored (Ormrod, 2016).
However, retrieval of knowledge from long-term memory storage is a more complex process.
The maturation of an individual's brain impacts their ability to ‘search’ for memories to retrieve them (Ormrod, 2016). Our ability to retrieve information increases as we grow (Ormrod, 2016). Additionally, information that is logically stored in the long-term memory is easier to retrieve (Ormrod, 2016).
To retrieve memories from long-term memory, a process called spreading activation must occur (Ormrod, 2016). During this process the environment triggers an idea and causes “the activation flowing through connections within the network of stored information” (Ormrod, 2016, p. 213). Further, when learners think in a process similar to how they did when they first stored information, they are more likely to retrieve those memories; this process is known as encoding specificity. The inability to recall information at the moment it is needed, but then remembering later, can indicate the data was stored in a different area of the brain than expected, or connected to another piece of information that is unrelated (Ormrod, 2016). Context and construction are also significant factors in the complex process of memory retrieval (Ormrod, 2016).
Remembering cannot simply be regarded as the mere revival of past experience; rather remembering is an active process of reconstruction" (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009, p. 519).
Trauma and memory retrieval
Strategies utilized to cope with trauma in the midst of the experience can have long-lasting and unintended consequences.
Flashbacks can happen whenever a piece of information is connected to a traumatic memory either consciously or unconsciously and similar emotional reactions are then connected to triggers in the present (Siegel, 2010). Survival strategies such as disconnecting from reality during a traumatic event can seem to prevent emotional impacts at the time, but does not prevent the encoding of the experience (Siegel, 2010). The details of blocked experiences can resurface years later and be relived as if they are happening in the moment (Siegel, 2010).