Memory Types

Memory 1
Running head: MEMORY

Memory Types
Andy Doerfler
Troy University

Memory 2
Memory Types Memory actually takes many different forms. We know that when we store a memory, we are storing information. But, what that information is and how long we retain it determines what type of memory it is. The biggest categories of memory are short-term memory (or working memory) and long-term memory, based on the amount of time the memory is stored. Both can weaken due to age, or a variety of other reasons and clinical conditions that affect memory. Short-term memory which is closely related to "working memory" is like a receptionist for the brain. As one of two main memory types, short-term memory is responsible for storing information temporarily and determining if it will be dismissed or transferred on to long-term memory. Although it sounds complicated, this process takes your short-term memory less than a minute to complete. For example, it is helping you right now by storing information from the beginning of this sentence, so that you can make sense of the end of it. Short-term memory allows recall for a period of several seconds to a minute without rehearsal. Its capacity is also very limited: George A. Miller (1956), conducted experiments showing that the store of short- term memory was 7±2 items. (Kalat, pg. 241) Modern estimates of the capacity of short-term memory are lower, typically on the order of 4–5 items, (Kowan, 2001) however, memory capacity can be increased through a process called chunking. (Kalat, pg. 241) For example, in recalling a ten-digit telephone number, a person could chunk the digits into three groups: first, the area code (such as 215), then a three-digit chunk (123) and lastly a four-digit chunk (4567).
This method of remembering telephone numbers is far more effective than attempting to remember a string of 10 digits; this is because we are able to chunk the information into meaningful groups of numbers. Herbert Simon showed that the ideal size for chunking letters and numbers, meaningful or not, was three. This may be reflected in some countries in the Memory 3 tendency to remember telephone numbers as several chunks of three numbers with the final four-number groups, generally broken down into two groups of two. Short-term memory is supported by transient patterns of neuronal communication, dependent on regions of the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe.(Fuster, 1997) More recently, scientists have begun to dive a little deeper into "short-term" brain functions and have added a separate but similar type of memory,
"working" memory. The term "working memory" was coined by Miller, Galanter, and Pribram (1960), and was used in the 1960s in the context of theories that likened the mind to a computer. Atkinson and
Shiffrin (Atkinson & Shiffrin, pg. 89-195) also used the term, "working memory" to describe their "short-term store." Working memory is the ability to actively hold information in the mind needed to do complex tasks such as reasoning, comprehension, and learning. The storage in short-term memory generally has a strictly limited capacity and duration, which means that information is available only for a certain period of time, but is not retained indefinitely. By contrast, long-term memory can store much larger quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration, sometimes a whole life time. For example, given a random seven-digit number we may remember it for only a few seconds before forgetting, suggesting it was stored in our short-term memory. On the other hand, we can remember telephone numbers for many years through repetition; this information is said to be stored in long-term memory.
Long-term memories are maintained by more stable and permanent changes in neural connections widely spread throughout the brain. The hippocampus is essential to the consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory. (Kalat, pg. 235-269)
Without the hippocampus, new memories are unable to be stored into long-term memory, and there will be a very short attention span. Long-term memory can further be divided into four other types of memory. Memory 4 J. R. Anderson (1976) divides long-term memory into declarative or explicit and procedural
Or implicit memories. Explicit memory requires conscious recall, in that some conscious
Process must call back the information. It is sometimes called explicit memory, since it consists
Of information that is explicitly stored and retrieved. Explicit memory can be further sub- divided into semantic memory, which is memory of principles and facts, like most everything you learn in school; and episodic memory, which is memory for specific events in your life.
Semantic memory allows the encoding of abstract knowledge about the world, such as "Bagdad is the capital of Iraq". Episodic memory, on the other hand, is used for more personal memories, such as the sensations, emotions, and personal associations of a particular place or time. Though there are several types of memory, memory can be broken down into two main types: short-term and long-term. Which one you use depends on the information to be remembered.
Memories are filed in the human brain much like a computer stores files on a hard drive. One key thing to remember is garbage in, garbage out.

Memory 5

References

Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (1960). “Plans and the Structure of Behavior”. Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, New York.

Atkinson, R.C. & Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). “Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K.W. Spence & J.T. Spence (Eds.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 2, pp. 89-195. New York: Academic Press.

Fuster, J.M. (1997). The Prefrontal Cortex: Anatomy, physiology, and neuropsychology of the frontal lobe (2 ed.): Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins.

Cowan, N. (2001). “The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 24, pp. 97-185.

Anderson, J.R. (1976). Language, Memory, and Thought. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kalat, J.W. (2008, 2011). Introduction to Psychology, 9 ed, pp. 235-269: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Miller, G.A. (1956). “The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information”. Psychological Review, Vol. 63, pp. 81-97.

References: Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (1960). “Plans and the Structure of Behavior”. Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, New York. Atkinson, R.C. & Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). “Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K.W. Spence & J.T. Spence (Eds.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 2, pp. 89-195. New York: Academic Press. Fuster, J.M. (1997). The Prefrontal Cortex: Anatomy, physiology, and neuropsychology of the frontal lobe (2 ed.): Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins. Cowan, N. (2001). “The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 24, pp. 97-185. Anderson, J.R. (1976). Language, Memory, and Thought. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Kalat, J.W. (2008, 2011). Introduction to Psychology, 9 ed, pp. 235-269: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Miller, G.A. (1956). “The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information”. Psychological Review, Vol. 63, pp. 81-97.