The major methods which are used for memory measurement are as follows:

(i) Free Recall and Recognition (for measuring facts/episodes related memory): In free recall method, participants are presented with some words which they are asked to memorise and after some time they are asked to recall them in any order. The more they are able to recall, the better their memory is. In recognition, instead of being asked to generate items, participants see the items that they had memorised along with distracter items (those that they had not seen) and their task is to recognise which one of those they had learnt. The greater the number of recognition of ‘old terms’, better is the memory.

(ii) Sentence Verification Task (for measuring semantic memory): In sentence verification task, the participants are asked to indicate whether the given sentences are true or false. Faster the participant’s respond, better retained is the information needed to verify those sentence.

(iii) Priming (for measuring information we cannot report verbally): In priming method, participants are shown a list of words, such as garden, playground, house, etc. and then they are shown parts of these words like gar, pla, ho, along with parts of other words they had not seen. Participants complete parts of seen words more quickly than parts of words they had not seen. When asked, they are often unaware of this and report that they have only guessed.