The Importance Of Memory And Short-Term Memory

According to philosopher-psychologist William James, memory is a generalized concept that encompasses the long term and short term memory. Kendra Cherry, psychologist expert, defines long term memory as “storage of information over an extended period.” (Cherry n.d.) An individual’s long term memory is structured by a semi-permanent chemical and the anatomical hippocampus. The hippocampus is in the center of both hemispheres of the brain and works in accordance with the amygdala to allow information to be imported to form memories. In relation to her research of the long term memory, Cherry also provided information on the characterization of the short memory which is described as, the “primary or active memory” that presently takes in information. (Cherry n.d.) The thalamus is a large portion of a dual lobed mass of matter that is located under the cerebral cortex.

Memory is divided into three categories. These categories consist of: sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory, out of these short term memory is the main focus in this essay. It has been widely researched due to interest of how much memory can be stored, how long this memory can be stored for and what information is memorised.

“Information flows from the outside world through our sight, hearing smelling, tasting and touch sensors. Memory is simply ways we store and recall things we 've sensed.” When we recall memories, the original neuron path that we used to sense the experience that we are recalling is refined, and the connection is made stronger. Sensory information in stored for only a few seconds in the cortex of the brain. This information can then progress to short-term memory, and then long-term memory, depending on the importance of the information received.

The multi-store model of memory (eg, Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968) claims the memory can be sectioned into three distinctive parts: sensory store, short-term store (STM) and long-term store (LTM). Eysenck and Keane (2005:190) states that data is first encountered by the sensory store, then depending on the attention given, is processed to the STM and finally - if rehearsed - continues to the LTM.

Messages become shorter when passed from one person to the next. Memories can be modified to fit one’s personal social experiences (i.e., conventionalization). Memory is unreliable, sensory stimuli are not stored as is but are actively transformed by the brain for storage depending on individual factors such as personal relevance and expectations. The most essential information is better remembered, but what is considered “most essential” may depend on an individual’s experiences. This suggests memory does not function as a video recording, but is a highly complex process that is influenced by an individual’s levels of attention, motivation, expectations, experiences, emotional state, etc. It also suggests that memory is an active process that involves constructing narratives out of events rather than passively recording

The stage of skill acquisition in which a skill no longer relies on conscious effort is the:

Research has shown that there is “greater activation in the left inferior frontal and medial temporal lobes” (Stanford, 2006, p. 208) during the encoding of words which were later remembered as compared to those which were forgotten. The sensations perceived by sensory nerves are decoded in the hippocampus of the brain into a single experience (Mastin, 2010). The hippocampus analyses new information and compares and asssociates it with previously stored memory (Mastin, 2010). Human memory is associative in that new information can be remembered better if it can be associated to previously acquired, firmly consolidated information (Mastin, 2010). The various pieces of information are then stored in different parts of the brain (Mastin, 2010). Though the exact method by which this information is later identified and recalled has yet to be discovered, it is understood that ultra-short term sensory memory is converted into short term memory which can then later be consolidated into long term memory (Mastin, 2010).

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec once said “You can close your eyes to reality but not to memories.” Stanislaw Jerzy Lec’s quote relates to the theme of the importance of memory by saying that reality can fade away however memory will always stay in your heart no matter what. Scrooge knows this however doesn’t see it until the Ghost of Christmas Past shows him his past memories of Christmas. For example, the Ghost of Christmas Past shows his first Christmas all alone in his old school’s room as a child. As well as when Scrooge is shown his past Christmas with his family for the first time since his father had changed. Lastly when he enjoys his Christmas with his friends from his work with their annual Christmas party and has a wonderful time. “The Christmas Carol” displays the importance of memory.

Why do you think the author talks about doubling the capacity of short-term memory when in the rest of the article he talks about issues related to long-term memory?

Why would someone remember all of the multiplication facts they were ever taught, but not what they ate for dinner two days ago? Why would someone be more apt to recall the capitals of all fifty states, but not what they wore last Friday? All memories, while some may appear more important than others, are all stored in the brain, which is the central command center of the human nervous system, controlling every part of daily life. Some memories are more easily retrieved from the brain because emotionally charged events and recurring experiences are better remembered. How emotions allow memories to be more easily remembered, and the application of the five senses and experience on learning all help to explain why some memories are more clear

7). The Sensory memory could be compared to a sorting table of information. Everything collected by our senses from the environment around us is dumped onto a sorting table known as Sensory Memory. This information does not stay there long, only a few seconds before it is saved into our short-term memory if it is valuable or discarded if it is not. Once in the short-term memory the information needs to be repeated to be remembered and moved into the long-term memory. This process is known as memory consolidation, rehearsal or consciously repeating information is a requirement for long-term memory retention. Otherwise, the information is lost after twenty seconds in the short-term memory. The long-term memory is limitless in its capacity to store information, it holds memories from just a few minutes ago, to years and years ago. As an example, if I were studying for a mid-term exam, I would use a three-step process to retain the information. First, I would read the information start to finish, highlighting information I found interesting or pertinent to lessons objectives. Thus, I am taking the information in though my sensory memory and recognizing that I want to retain it. Second within the twenty seconds the information is in my short-term memory I repeat the information by highlighting it. Thus, through rehearsal the information is consolidated and moved into long term memory. Lastly, I would put the information on flash cards using my own words, for more repetition, to assist me in the recognition and recall of the information during the

As Elizabeth Loftus describes in her book Memory: Surprising New Insights into How We Remember and Why We

Some scientists believe that parts of long term memory are permanent while others will eventually weaken over time. (3) Long term memory can be divided into three sections: procedural memory, declarative memory, and remote memory. Procedural memory includes motor skills such as learning how to ride a bike or how to drive a car. "Such memories are slow to acquire but more resistant to change or loss." (4) Declarative memory is used to remember facts, such as names, dates and places. It is easy to learn but also easy to lose. Finally there is episodic memory, which is the record of events that a person stores throughout his or her experience. Recent studies show that these events, as soon as they occur, are sent to a temporary part of the brain called the hippocampus, and that over time they are moved to the neocortex for permanent storage. (5).

Short Term Memory Loss. Ironically most of us don’t even think about memory that often, much less Short Term Memory. Because of that, this psychological disorder often tends to get overlooked for a small problem that no one wants to take serious. Most people would recognize this disorder from the popular movie, Finding Nemo. In which one of the main characters suffers from short term memory loss. In the film it’s taken as a lovable flaw, instead of the serious disorder that it is. But Short Term Memory is a lot more than one disorder found in a character in a movie. It is a somber disorder that could happen to any of us. This paper will be going through the gravity of this disorder and the causes to its victims.

Prior to the early 1970s the prominent idea of how memories were formed and retrieved revolved around the idea of processing memory into specific stores (Francis & Neath, 2014). These memory stores were identified as sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. In contrast to this idea, two researchers named Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart proposed an idea linking the type of encoding to retrieval (Goldstein, 2015). This idea is known as the levels of processing theory. According to this theory, memory depends on the depth of processing that a given item is received by an individual (Goldstein, 2015). Craik and Lockhart stressed four points in supporting their theory. First, they argued that memory was the result of a series of analyses, each level of the series forming a deeper level of processing than the preceding level (Francis & Neath, 2014). The shallow levels of processing were believed to hold less importance and are defined as giving little attention to meaning of an item. Examples of which include focusing on how a word sounds or memorizing a phone number by repeating it over and over again (Francis & Neath, 2014) (Goldstein, 2015). The deeper levels processing involve paying close attention to the meaning of an item and relating that meaning to something else, an example of which would be focusing on the meaning of a word rather than just how the word sounds (Francis & Neath, 2014) (Goldstein, 2015). The second point Craik and Lockhart