Driscoll defined the pattern of recognition as the process where environmental stimuli are recognized as exemplars of principles and concepts already in the memory (Craik & Lockhart, 2008). She was determined to prove how new stimuli are received through sensory memory. To accomplish this study, she analyzed three models of pattern recognition which include the prototype, feature analysis, and template matching (Craik & Lockhart, 2008). The template matching model asserts that in the human brain, there are literal representations of previous stimuli originally held in the mind. Recognition, therefore, occurs when a new stimulus is matched with its perfect specimen originally stored in the memory. The prototype model asserts that the stored unit of information is an abstracted form of the original information. Pattern recognition will then take place when a new stimulus is compared to the prototype (Craik & Lockhart, 2008). However, some stimuli closely match with the prototype, and when this takes place, new information can be developed as the existing class. Template matching and prototype models are similar in the sense that they match an incoming stimulus with another already stored in the mind (Craik & Lockhart, 2008). The feature analysis model, on the other hand, analyzes the characteristics of incoming information, other than comparing it with that stored in the memory.

Studies also established that maintenance rehearsal schemes are used to store information in memory for a short time. However, more complex analysis is required to transfer it into long-term memory (Craik & Lockhart, 2008). There are several suggested methods of encoding. however, the three basic ones, which relate to the standard information processing model, are as different. First, a new stimulus that exactly matches an existing structure in the memory is simply added to the mental and no change is made. Second, when an incoming stimulus does not exactly match the existing structure, it will respond by allowing the new stimulus to make additional changes which may eventually change the existing structure, thus broadening how that structure is defined in the memory (Craik & Lockhart, 2008).