Knowledge Acquisition and Memory Development

Curiosity and the availability of advanced technological tools have made it possible to extensively and comprehensively research on the subjects of memory development and acquisition of knowledge. The fields of neuropsychology and neurobiology have developed broadly. The concept of working memory encompasses the ability of human minds to process information within a short duration. Knowledge acquisition is the psychological procedure by which new information is captured and stored in the mind. The performance of the knowledge acquisition can be gauged by determining how the information can later be retrieved from the memory. Implicit memory is determined by the preliminary-memory development system of the brain. This early development is dependent on the early maturation of brain properties such as cerebellum, striatum, and brain stem.

These brain properties are very critical in implicit learning and processing of the memory. Explicit memory develops at a later stage of a child’s life when the brain attains maturity. This starts taking place when the child is around 8-10 months of age. The strength of the three components of the working memory varies due to different functions. The central executive component is closely connected to the other components due to the significance and the weight of its functions. Phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad are completely independent of each other. Studies have demonstrated that there is linear improvement on the performance rate of the working memory in children aged 3-4 years through adolescence to adulthood. Effective Processing Knowledge is primarily based on the effective processing of the information (Pashler, 2014).

The information which is later transformed into knowledge is organized semantically. Knowledge acquisition and the effectiveness of the information processing are optimized when an individual pays attention to meaning of the new substance. For example, when it comes to learning semantic questions, difficulty in processing the questions may vary depending on the nature of the question, whether it is semantic or phonetic. According to Fergus Craik, it is easy to learn the words that are processed semantically than those processed phonemically. Therefore, it is appropriate to argue that the effective processing of the information is pegged on the semantic processing of the subject. There are times that there are too many information than can attract an individual’s attention. In such instances, it is upon the person’s judgment and preference to decide on what to attend to.

It is not possible for an average human to pay attention to wide range information due to certain psychological and biological limitations. Therefore, it is only practical for one to restrict his/her attention to considerable information to avoid attention breakdown. The process by which humans discern, understand, and interpret information is known as perception. Each and every type of memory has its own distinct function. Sematic memory encompasses general world information that is stored in the brain throughout the entire life. They are accumulated from time to time and can also be forgotten in the process of acquiring new ones. Episodic memory is a person’s unique recollection of a particular event thus he/she can have a different perspective from another individual who experienced the event.