We remember through Acoustic Encoding

The argument

Acoustic encoding is our brain processing and encoding sounds: we hear something and it is processed into our memory based upon the sound we hear, rather than on how it looks or what it means. This argument presents it as one of the principal routes by which experience becomes memory, and therefore as evidence that memory works by encoding. Its importance is argued from the frequency of the input. Sound is one of the most common forms in which humans receive stimuli, so the process that handles sound accounts for a large share of what enters memory at all. A process operating on that much of a person's daily experience is, on this reasoning, one of the most important encoding processes rather than a specialised one. The everyday evidence offered is the recall of lyrics. When we sing along to the lyrics of a song, we are recalling information entered into our memory through acoustic encoding — and the phenomenon is telling because such recall often succeeds where deliberate memorisation fails. Few people set out to learn the words; the sound pattern carried them in. That the process can be exploited deliberately is the second piece of evidence. Acoustic encoding is utilized as a technique when rhymes or songs are created to help memorize information, such as the alphabet song. A mnemonic of that kind works by supplying the sound structure the encoding process responds to, which indicates that the encoding is doing the work rather than the content itself. Because material committed to memory through sound is retained and recalled in this way, this argument holds that we remember through acoustic encoding, and that our brain cements memories in by encoding.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Acoustic encoding is not very important to our memories. Although it can be used sometimes, we remember other aspects much more often than sound. Taking in a scene of information, one is much more likely to remember the visual information or the meaning of the scene than how it sounded. Semantic and visual encoding are much more integral parts to our memory processes.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Other senses, like sight, are more important in encoding memories.