Only a small fraction of all sensory input makes it into short-term memory. Sensory memory works as a filter. We scan for importance, which allows us to transfer on to Short-term memory or forget the message.
Short term (working) memory
short-term memory is severely limited. According to an influential study by George Miller (1949),
its capacity is seven units, plus or minus two.
According to the cognitive information processing model, learners can be assisted in moving information from short-term to long-term memory through a variety of strategies.
Long term memory
Cognitive psychologists believe that information that is converted into long-term memory is organized in abstract knowledge structures called schemata which Donald Norman (1982) defines as “packets of knowledge” (p. 51).
When we confront new information, we attempt to match it to an existing schema, and if there is a match—if the material can be assimilated into an existing schema—then the new material is meaningful.
Sometimes, however, it is necessary to create a new schema or to modify an existing one in order to incorporate the new information, a process referred to as accommodation.