By comparison, we can hold large amounts of unsorted auditory information for longer-up to four seconds. We can hold large amounts of unsorted visual information but only for about a tenth of a second. Our sensory storage is very large in terms of capacity but limited in terms of length of storage. Our memory consists of multiple “storage units,” including sensory storage, short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory (Hargie, 2011). We forget about half of what we hear immediately after hearing it, recall 35 percent after eight hours, and recall 20 percent after a day (Hargie, 2011). Overall, our memories are known to be fallible. Our ability to recall information is dependent on some of the physiological limits of how memory works. But neither then nor now could I tell you the significance or function of most of those organs, meaning I didn’t really get to a level of understanding but simply stored the information for later recall. In fact, I might still be able to do that now over a decade later. I remember earning perfect scores on exams in my anatomy class in college because I was able to memorize and recall, for example, all the organs in the digestive system. After all, we can move something to our long-term memory by repetition and then later recall it without ever having understood it. In situations where understanding the information we receive isn’t important or isn’t a goal, this stage may be fairly short or even skipped. If we have difficulty interpreting information, meaning we don’t have previous experience or information in our existing schemata to make sense of it, then it is difficult to transfer the information into our long-term memory for later recall. Through the process of comparing new information with old information, we may also update or revise particular schemata if we find the new information relevant and credible. When we understand something, we are able to attach meaning by connecting information to previous experiences. It is through the interpreting stage that we may begin to understand the stimuli we have received. The interpreting stage engages cognitive and relational processing as we take in informational, contextual, and relational cues and try to connect them in meaningful ways to previous experiences. We can enhance our ability to receive, and in turn listen, by trying to minimize noise.ĭuring the interpreting stage of listening, we combine the visual and auditory information we receive and try to make meaning out of that information using schemata. Psychological noise like stress and anger interfere primarily with the cognitive processes of listening. Environmental noise such as other people talking, the sounds of traffic, and music interfere with the physiological aspects of hearing. While hearing leads to listening, they are not the same thing. Some noise interferes primarily with hearing, which is the physical process of receiving stimuli through internal and external components of the ears and eyes, and some interferes with listening, which is the cognitive process of processing the stimuli taken in during hearing. It is important to consider noise as a factor that influences how we receive messages. Think about how it’s much easier to listen to a lecture on a subject that you find very interesting. Recall that salience is the degree to which something attracts our attention in a particular context and that we tend to find salient things that are visually or audibly stimulating and things that meet our needs or interests. Some stimuli never make it in, some are filtered into subconsciousness, and others are filtered into various levels of consciousness based on their salience. These perceptual filters also play a role in listening. Our chapter on perception discusses some of the ways in which incoming stimuli are filtered.
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