Short-Term Memory - Research Paper Example

?Short Term Working Memory: Short term memory essentially serves as a scratch pad for the information’s temporal recall. It is an individual’s tendency to remember the information and process it simultaneously. Information stored in the mind at a certain point in time in the brain is limited; usually no more than 7 items and is readily-available for a limited time which in most of the cases, is 10 to 15 seconds and seldom exceeds a minute. Short term memory plays an important role in comprehension of language (Rumelhart, Lindsay, and Norman, 1972), long term learning (Waugh and Norman, 1965), and problem solving (Hunter, 1964). The experiments conducted by George Miller hold a special significance in the discussion of short term working memory. In 1956, he conducted several experiments to show that an average human can retain anything between 5 and 9 objects in the working memory. Miller referred to this number as the magical number (The Human Memory, n.d.). These results are slightly overestimated as they pertain to the college students who are in their youth. If the estimates of older population are also accounted for, the memory span can be estimated to drop to 4 or 5 items. An example of the short term memory in action is temporal sticking of information for the completion of a task. Nevertheless, this piece of information will permanently vanish without a conscious effort to hold it. In this way, the short term memory is in itself, compulsory for attaining the long term memory which is the stage of retention following the short term memory. The repetition of a piece of information in the mind allows its sustained storage and it transforms to long term memory. A potential means of achieving this is providing the particular piece of information with a meaning and linking it to the knowledge, previously acquired. Another consideration is motivation, which allows an individual to relate the information to a subject of interest. One term that is interchangeably used with the short term memory is the working memory, though in technical language, working memory is concerned more with the theoretical procedural and structural framework which is employed for the temporal placement and handling of information which comprises the short term memory as a component. At the front section of the brain, part of the prefrontal cortex called as the central executive part seems to play a cardinal function in the development of working and short term memory. The role of prefrontal cortex in the storage of short term memory was first realized by Carlyle Jacobsen in 1935 who found a deficiency of short term memory in the primates whose prefrontal cortex was damaged (The Human Memory, n.d.). It not only stores the short term memory temporarily so that the required information is there in the hour of need but also information from other regions in the brain is called up. Two neural loops are controlled by the central executive, one of which is for the language and the other one is for the visual data. The two scratch pads jointly function to retain the information till the time, the next activity erases it. The prefrontal cortex achieves its functions by cooperation and coordination with various other regions of cortex which are contacted for the retrieval of information for temporary storage. The capacity of short term memory is quite limited. Once can try to assess this capacity by making an attempt to memorize random items and look for the time when errors start to show up provided that the items are not repeated. Number of items the brain is able to store for the short term memory is also affected by the characteristics of information and its type. Words that are in common use or are shorter can be recalled better as compared to others that are lengthy or less common ones. If the digits or words are read out loud instead of in a low voice, they can be remembered for a longer duration of time. The relatively small capacity of the short-term memory, compared to the huge capacity of long-term memory, has been attributed by some to the evolutionary survival advantage in paying attention to a relatively small number of important things (e.g. the approach of a dangerous predator, the proximity of a nearby safe haven, etc) and not to a plethora of other peripheral details which would only interfere with rapid decision-making. (The Human Memory, n.d.). One way to increase the capacity of shirt term memory is the chunking of information because it allows the material to be organized into several meaningful groups so that they are more manageable. For instance, it is easier to remember a hyphenated cell number which is divided into groups of some digits as compared to one long cell number. Hybert Simon recommends that the chunks be divided into digits of 3 to gain optimum meaning. When more content is added to the memory, the older content is replaced by the newer one as long as it is not protected against the displacement by persistent rehearsal or attention. The fear of displacement encourages the people to accomplish the tasks of the short term memory in the least possible time. In physiological terms, STM is considered as maintained neuronal ?ring while LTM is referred to as sustained potentiation of synapses (Burgess and Hitch, 2005, p. 535). Some researchers who include Eugen Tarnow are of the view that there is no real difference between the short term memory and the long term memory. “Control processes act within the short term working memory to make decisions and regulate information flow, thereby controlling learning and forgetting.” (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1971). In order to increase the capacity of short term memory, the use of mnemonic devices should be employed. The process of forgetting the short term memories is different from the long term memories. In the case of forgetting in the short term memory, a nerve impulse is essentially kept from being transmitted through the specific neural network. Without re-activation, it takes an impulse only few seconds to cease flowing through a network. References: Atkinson, R. C., and Shiffrin, R. M. (1971). The Control Processes of Short-Term Memory. Stanford University. Retrieved from http://suppes-corpus.stanford.edu/techreports/IMSSS_173.pdf. Burgess, N., and Hitch, G. (2005). Computational models of working memory: putting long-term memory into context. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences. 9(11): 535-541. Retrieved from http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/nburgess/papers/BurgessHitch05.pdf. Hunter, I. M. L. (1964). Memory. London: Penguin Books. Rumelhart, D. E., Lindsay, P. H., and Norman, D. A. (1972). A process model for long- term memory. In Organization and memory. New York: Academic Press. The Human Memory. (n.d.). Short-Term (Working) Memory. Retrieved from http://www.human-memory.net/types_short.html. Waugh, N. C., and Norman, D. A. (1965). Short-term memory for phonemically similar lists. American Journal of Psychology. 78: 565-574. Read More