sensory memory
Brief perceptual echo
Sensory memory is the brief retention of sensory information—visual, auditory, tactile—lasting only fractions of a second to a few seconds.
It's the mind's first filter, holding raw perceptions just long enough for the brain to decide what deserves attention.
The afterimage when you close your eyes is sensory memory at work.
Distinguished from short-term and long-term memory by its fleeting duration and high capacity.
Widely recognized, enduring
- echoicImitating a sound
- hapticOf touch perception
- olfactoryOf the sense detecting odors
- gustatoryOf the sense of taste
encoding · preconscious · attention · neural · cortex · synapse · psychology · cognition
Widely recognized, enduring
- echoicImitating a sound
- hapticOf touch perception
- olfactoryOf the sense detecting odors
- gustatoryOf the sense of taste
tactile · visual · auditory · proprioceptive · vestibular · kinesthetic · channel · input
Passing very quickly
- ephemeralLasting very briefly
- momentaryLasting very briefly
- briefShort in duration
- transientTemporary, soon departing
evanescent · trace · afterimage · fading · vanishing · decay · milliseconds · volatile
Continued holding or possession
- retrievalAct of getting back
- encodingConverting data to format
- storageSpace for keeping goods
- traceMinute remnant or pursue
recognition · remembering · consolidation · persistence · representation · mental image · residue · echo
What prompts a reaction
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
- awarenessState of perceiving reality
- detectionAct of finding something
- thresholdPoint of beginning
adaptation · signal · transduction · receptor · input · raw data · unprocessed · bottom-up
iconic
Widely recognized, enduring
gustatory · encoding · preconscious · attention · neural · cortex · synapse · psychology · cognition · neuroscience
iconic
Widely recognized, enduring
gustatory · tactile · visual · auditory · proprioceptive · vestibular · kinesthetic · channel · input · receptor
fleeting
Passing very quickly
transient · evanescent · trace · afterimage · fading · vanishing · decay · milliseconds · volatile · impermanent
retention
Continued holding or possession
trace · recognition · remembering · consolidation · persistence · representation · mental image · residue · echo · imprint
stimulus
What prompts a reaction
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
- awarenessState of perceiving reality
- detectionAct of finding something
threshold · adaptation · signal · transduction · receptor · input · raw data · unprocessed · bottom-up
- memoryremember, forget, recall, memorize, recollect
- sensessight, smell, taste, hearing, touch
- memory trainingmemorization, mnemonics, card matching, flashcards, concentration
- mental imagerymental image, mental picture, mind's eye, inner vision, visual imagery
- phantom sensationsphantom limb, phantom pain, phantom touch, phantom limb pain, phantom vibration
- Proustmadeleine, The Fugitive, Sodom and Gomorrah, Odette
memory, sensitive, senses, sensation, sensible, sensitivity, senseless, sensory, sensors