Short-Term Memory: The Second Stage in Memory Processing

Introduction to psychology Psychology 101, Section 8 October 26, 2010 Short-Term Memory The short-term fund is the lead to our big measure remembers. Short-term retrospection is the second stage in the shop affect (Huffman). The short-term keeping is the part of the memory that temporarily stores and processes culture from the sensory memory and holds it until it decides if the in make wateration will be sent to the third stage or long-term memory (Huffman). The short-term memory stores a mixture of perceptual analyses information (Huffman).The short-term memory works in distinct ways to increase its small force it uses rehearsal and chunking to be able to remember to a greater extent things at once (Huffman). Rehearsal is when a person repeats information over and over again to maintain it fresh in the memory and chunking is group separate pieces of information into a single group (Huffman). The short-term memory is also known as the working memory because its always rec eiving information from the sensory memory and sending to the long-term memory (Huffman).I will be discussing the difference in the midst of short-term memory and long-term memory, the theory of decay, and the working memory. disagreement The main difference between short-term memory and long-term memory is the capacity that each unrivaled has. According to Michael E. Martinez the two memories work together a cognitive architecture or the minds basic structure. In the short-term memory a person can only think of a few ideas at a time (Martinez). One of the characteristics of the short-term memory is that is small comp atomic number 18 to the long-term memory which has a larger capacity (Martinez).Information flows between the short-term memory to the long-term memory, depending on the direction and different kinds of thinking results (Martinez). Short-term memory is the route entry to long-term memory or the prop template until the long-term memory processes are complete (Lewis) . One example the Martinez accepts is when information flows from short-term memory into long-term memory it produces learning. When information leaves flows from long-term memory screening to short-term memory is called recognition or recall, which happens whenever we think about a previously known fact, person, or event (Martinez).Each memory has its owe limitations the short-term memory has a small capacity making it hard to think about many things at once, plot the long-term memory does non record experience completely and accurately (Martinez). Unlike the long-term memory the short-term memory has chunking, which allows the short-term memory to hold more and more information. The capacity does not change but chunk grows in complexity which allows the short-term memory to handle more data (Martinez). DecayDecay is a theory that has a long history in accounting for forgetting (Berman, Jonides, and Lewis). This is said to happen because as time passes, information in the memor y erodes and is less available for retrieval (Berman, Jonides, and Lewis). Berman, Jonides, and Lewis present different experiment to examine if decay is a cause of forgetting. One study that they present is the classic study of Peterson and Peterson (1959) Consider the classic study of Peterson and Peterson (1959), originally thought to provide strong evidence for decay.In this experiment, participants were given a letter trigram to store, followed by a retention interval that varied from 3 to 18 s. During the retention interval, participants were inevitable to count backward by threes to prevent rehearsal of the memorandum. Following the retention interval, participants recalled the item in memory. Peterson and Peterson found that performance declined as retention intervals increased, and the authors attributed this decline to increase decay of the memory trace with increasing time.The attribution of this effects to decay mechanism is, however, suspect. The arguments that count ing backward could not be a source of hoo-ha because their secondary labour differed from the item to be stored in memory (Berman, Jonides, and Lewis). But the case is that counting task requires short-term memory retention, which is the main memory task (Berman, Jonides, and Lewis). Another problem in assessing the role of decay on short-term memory is the habitual tendency of rehearse materials that are to retain (Berman, Jonides, and Lewis).An example that Berman, Jonides, Lewis give is when we look up a phone number in the directory and then walk to the phone, we rehearse the number in our head until it is dialed. They are trying to dress up with different techniques to prevent rehearsal, to get an accurate gauge of whether decay has an effect on memory (Berman, Jonides, and Lewis). Working Memory Theory based interrogation has revealed that working memory is a system that allows a person to maintain task goals, update memory to meet current demands, and to separate memory t o form relationships (Shelton, Matthews, Hill, and Gouvier).The working memory is also referred to a general purpose system that is responsible for the active task or goal relevant information while simultaneously processing other information (Unsworth, Spillers, and Brewer). The general purpose system includes problem solving, meter reading, coordination and planning, and the basic intellectual functions, which leads to research on the capacity of the working memory (Unsworth, Spillers, and Brewer). Beginning with Daneman and Carpenter (1980), most researchers have utilized complex working memory span tasks in which to-be-remembered items are interspersed with some processing activity. For nstance, in the reading span task participants attempt to remember words or letters while reading and comprehending sentences. These tasks can be contrasted with simple memory span tasks in which TBR items are presented without any additional processing activities.The complex span tasks nicely c apture the idea that the of processing and storage are conducted to fully find the essence of working memory and tap its capacity. Furthermore, these tasks can be used to estimate an individuals working memory capacity and examine the coefficient of correlation between this capacity and other important cognitive abilities (Unsworth, Spillers, and Brewer). The possible that the complex span tasks do not file overall resources abilities but rather that the processing task displaces items from the working memory (Unsworth, Spillers, and Brewer). Also according to the task- displacement view, a person may place an item in the working memory, and a rapid switching mechanism is needed to refresh the item before it is lost collectable to decay (Unsworth, Spillers, and Brewer). The faster the information can be complete and switch back to decaying representations, the better the overall performance will be (Unsworth, Spillers, and Brewer).There is also a difference in the amount of capa city from individual to individual (Unsworth, Spillers, and Brewer). There are two components that individuals may differ on first component is the need to actively maintain information over the short term and the second is the need to retrieve information that could not be actively maintain due to a large number of incoming items (Unsworth, Spillers, and Brewer). The short-term memory has its mysteries due to the amount of information that one can keep and pass on.One thing is for sure is that without it we will not know what information are relevant for one to keep or decay. Now one can understand the relationship and difference between short-term and long-term memory, the theory of decay, and why the short-term memory is the working memory.References Berman, M. , Jonides, J. , & Lewis, R. (2009). In search of decay in verbal short-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning, Memory, and Cognition,35(2), 317-333. doi10. 1037/a0014873. Retrieved from Academic bet pri me(a) database. Huffman, K. (2010). Memory,(9th ed. Psychology in action. (242-275) Hoboken, NJ John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Lewis, D. (1979). Psychobiology of active and inactive memory. Psychological Bulletin,86(5), 1054-1083. doi10. 1037/0033-2909. 86. 5. 1054. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Martinez, M. (2010). Human Memory The Basics. Phi Delta Kappan,91(8), 62-65. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Shelton, J. , Elliott, E. , Matthews, R. , Hill, B. , & Gouvier, W. (2010). The relationships of working memory, secondary memory, and general fluid intelligenceWorking memory is special. Journal of Experimental PsychologyLearning, Memory, and Cognition,36(3), 813-820. doi10. 1037/a0019046. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Unsworth, N. , Spillers, G. , & Brewer, G. (2010). The contributions of first-string and secondary memory to working memory capacity An individual differences analysis of immediate free recall. Journal of Experimental Ps ychology Learning, Memory, and Cognition,36(1), 240-247. doi10. 1037/a0017739. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.