Simultaneous Encoding

Simultaneous Encoding is one of the ways our brains process sensory information and store it in memory. In simultaneous encoding, we perceive two or more stimuli or aspects of a stimulus at the same time rather than perceiving them one by one in a sequence.

For example, in the blink of an eye we can see a red car whizzing by us and know which direction it is traveling in and whether it’s going fast or slow. Our brains do not have to process the car color, speed, and direction separately. We are better at simultaneous encoding in vision than in the other senses. For example, in the sense of touch, it is difficult to perceive more than texture at a time.