Posted by The Mystery of Short Term Memory
What is the short term memory, you may ask? In this article you will discover what you need to know about short term memory and its functions. I hope you get lots of new information to enhance your knowledge.
Introduction
Ever wondered why your memory isn’t quite what it used to be? Memory, and the ability to remember, are all important aspects of cognitive functioning, and studies show that both short term memory loss and long term memory loss in older adults are common.
Short term memory loss can affect anyone at any time, but if you have noticed an unusual amount of memory issues in the past few months or years, then you might be suffering from an underlying medical condition or mental illness that is affecting your ability to remember things easily. This article will explain exactly what short term memory loss is, and what you can do about it!
Short Term Memory Explained
Short term memory is a place in our brain that can hold limited pieces of information for a brief period of time. If you want to learn more about how it works, keep reading! First, let’s review what we mean by limited information.
It has a capacity around seven plus or minus two pieces of information. What does that mean? Let’s say you were trying to memorize some small task that took seven steps, you could probably do it pretty easily (so long as those steps weren’t too complicated).
This would also give you enough space in your short term memory bank to repeat some phone numbers back, recite some lines from a book or poem, or even repeat a series of numbers back to someone else.
How to Improve Your Memory Skills
In order to understand how short term memory works, it is important to know about long term memory. Long term memory is our ability to store and recall information that we have been exposed to in our lifetime.
This can be through sight, sound, touch or even smell. All of these senses are available for us use at any given time without having to think about them much at all. Things we experience are stored in our brain by way of electrical impulses where they can be recalled when needed in later life as part of our short term memory system.
Studies have shown that humans possess an extremely large capacity for storing information and it has been calculated that we can process around 200 bits per second!
What is Working Memory?
Working memory, also known as short term memory, is a system that allows us to keep information in mind while we use it. It’s like a buffer in your brain, once you’ve accessed it, information moves out of working memory and into another part of your brain so you can make sense of it.
The term working implies that you’re actively using (or working with) something: Working memory is not passive storage! Instead, if information enters working memory and then isn’t used for a certain amount of time (around 15 to 20 seconds), it drops out and goes back into long term storage.
Strengthen Your Short Term Memories with Brain Training Games
You may have noticed you’re having trouble remembering where you put your keys or why you walked into a room in a daze. It’s not just old age, your memory is slipping, and there are ways to combat it. Your short term memory is affected by everything from stress to depression to chronic pain.
Tackling these issues can be stressful on its own, but luckily, there are brain training games that claim to help improve short term memory naturally. Brain training games work much like physical exercise does for your body: They challenge different parts of your brain so they get stronger over time.
While you won’t see results overnight, with continued use, you should notice an improvement in how well you remember things.
What Are Some Examples
First, let’s take a look at how short term memory works and what happens when we lose it. The part of our brain responsible for short term memory is called, appropriately enough, our short term memory. This is an area that allows us to remember small details and experiences for a limited amount of time.
For example, if someone asked you to remember their name until you met them five minutes later you would use your short term memory; but if they walked away after introducing themselves you would move that information into your long term memory (if they were memorable). Our memories can be stored as long as we need them. However, memories are eventually forgotten as new information enters our brains.
Short Term and Long Term Memory?
Short term memory can last from few seconds to 25 minutes. The duration depends on what information is stored in your brain and how it is structured. The long term memory can last for years. It stores information about people, places, things and events that have happened to you throughout your life or to someone close to you like a child or a grandparent.
There are different theories that try to explain what happens in our brain while we store information in long term memory: semantic network theory; Atkinson–Shiffrin theory; sensory register theory; multi-store model etc..These theories don’t explain every piece of memory loss, but they do allow researchers to understand some things better, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Short Term Memory vs Working Memory
What is short term memory and what does it do? As you can probably guess, long term memory helps us remember information over a long period of time, from days to years. It allows us to store and recall these memories without much effort. Our short term memory, on the other hand, allows us to maintain a limited amount of information for just seconds or minutes.
This kind of memory allows us to keep track of items in our immediate environment, such as remembering where we parked our car in a busy parking lot or taking down someone’s phone number right before dialing it.
What Is the Short Term Memory Conclusion
As you’ve learned, short term memory is crucial to day to day life. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to perform simple tasks like driving or tying our shoes. When we store information in short term memory, neurons in a specific area of our brain encode and transmit messages through a set sequence.
In other words, it stores facts but doesn’t store associations between those facts, that’s long term memory territory. In order for information to move from short term memory into long term storage, it must be rehearsed repeatedly.
Ever wondered why your memory isn’t quite what it used to be? Memory, and the ability to remember, are all important aspects of cognitive functioning, and studies show that both short term memory loss and long term memory loss in older adults are common.
Short term memory loss can affect anyone at any time, but if you have noticed an unusual amount of memory issues in the past few months or years, then you might be suffering from an underlying medical condition or mental illness that is affecting your ability to remember things easily.
