Here's a short story:

In psychology, memory is the process in which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Encoding allows information from the outside world to be sensed in the form of chemical and physical stimuli. In the first stage the information must be changed so that it may be put into the encoding process. Storage is the second memory stage or process. This entails that information is maintained over short periods of time. Finally the third process is the retrieval of information that has been stored. Such information must be located and returned to the consciousness. Some retrieval attempts may be effortless due to the type of information, and other attempts to remember stored information may be more demanding for various reasons. 

Short-term memory is believed to rely mostly on an acoustic code for storing information, and to a lesser extent a visual code. Conrad (1964) found that test subjects had more difficulty recalling collections of letters that were acoustically similar (e.g. E, P, D). Confusion with recalling acoustically similar letters rather than visually similar letters implies that the letters were encoded acoustically. Conrad's (1964) study, however, deals with the encoding of written text; thus, while memory of written language may rely on acoustic components, generalisations to all forms of memory cannot be made. (End of story)

Provide your best guess for the following question. Give ONLY the guess, no other words or explanation.

For example:

Guess: <most likely guess, as short as possible; not a complete sentence, just the guess!>

Here are a few examples of questions and answers:

Question: How many codes does short term memory entail?
Guess: Two

Question: What are they?
Guess: acoustic code and visual code.

Question: Would the visual code be the most vital?
Guess: no

Question: Who did a study to determine that?
Guess: Conrad

Question: Were people more likely to remember letters that sounded similar or different?
Guess: more difficulty recalling similar

Question: Was there as big a difference when reading letters?
Guess: yes

Question: What did his study show?
Guess: memory of written language may rely on acoustic components

Question: Can it be generalized to cover all types of memory?
Guess: no

Question: Which kind can it be used for?
Guess: Short-term memory

Question: What year did he come to these conclusions?
Guess: 1964

Question: Is encoding a part of the memory process?
Guess: yes

Question: How many other components are there?
Guess: Two

Question: What are those?
Guess: stored, and retrieved

Question: How many types of stimuli are involved?
Guess: Two

Question: Chemical is one, what is the other?
Guess: physical

Now answer the following question in the same format.

Question: What needs to happen first to the information received?

the information must be changed