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How Short-Term Memory Works

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Armeen Poor, MD, is a board-certified pulmonologist and intensivist. He specializes in pulmonary health, critical care, and sleep medicine.

• Transfer to Long-Term Memory
• Short-Term Memory Loss

Frequently Asked Questions

Short-term memory is the capacity to store a small amount of information in the mind and keep it readily available for a short period of time. It is also known as primary or active memory.

Short-term memory is essential for daily functioning, which is why experiencing short-term memory loss can be frustrating and even debilitating.

• Short-term memory is very brief . When short-term memories are not rehearsed or actively maintained, they last mere seconds.
• Short-term memory is limited . It is commonly suggested that short-term memory can hold only seven items at once, plus or minus two.

How Long Is Short-Term Memory For?

Most of the information kept in short-term memory will be stored for approximately 20 to 30 seconds, or even less. Some information can last in short-term memory for up to a minute, but most information spontaneously decays quite quickly, unless you use rehearsal strategies such as saying the information aloud or mentally repeating it.

However, the information in short-term memory is also highly susceptible to interference . Any new information that enters short-term memory will quickly displace old information . Similar items in the environment can also interfere with short-term memories.

For example, you might have a harder time remembering someone's name if you're in a crowded, noisy room, or if you were thinking of what to say to the person rather than paying attention to their name.

While many short-term memories are quickly forgotten, attending to this information allows it to continue the next stage — long-term memory .

The amount of information that can be stored in short-term memory can vary. In 1956, in an influential paper titled "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two," psychologist George Miller suggested that people can store between five and nine items in short-term memory.

More recent research suggests that people are capable of storing approximately four chunks or pieces of information in short-term memory.

For example, imagine that you are trying to remember a phone number. The other person rattles off the 10-digit phone number, and you make a quick mental note. Moments later you realize that you have already forgotten the number. Without rehearsing or continuing to repeat the number until it is committed to memory, the information is quickly lost from short-term memory.

Short-Term vs. Working Memory

Some researchers argue that working memory and short-term memory significantly overlap, and may even be the same thing. The distinction is that working memory refers to the ability to use, manipulate, and apply memory for a period of time (for example, recalling a set of instructions as you complete a task), while short-term memory refers only to the temporary storage of information in memory.

The Baddeley-Hitch model of working memory suggests that there are two components of working memory: a place where you store visual and spatial information (visuospatial scratchpad), and a place where you record auditory information (phonological loop). In addition, the model suggests there is a "central executive" that controls and mediates these two components as well as processes information, directs attention , sets goals, and makes decisions .

How Short-Term Memory Becomes Long-Term Memory

Memory researchers often use what is referred to as the three-store model to conceptualize human memory. This model suggests that memory consists of three basic stores— sensory , short-term, and long-term—and that each of these can be distinguished based on storage capacity and duration.

While long-term memory has a seemingly unlimited capacity that lasts years, short-term memory is relatively brief and limited. Short-term memory is limited in both capacity and duration. In order for a memory to be retained, it needs to be transferred from short-term stores into long-term memory. The exact mechanisms for how this happens remain controversial and not well understood.

The classic model, known as the Atkinson-Shiffrin model or multi-modal model, suggested that all short-term memories were automatically placed in long-term memory after a certain amount of time.

More recently, researchers have proposed that some mental editing takes place and that only particular memories are selected for long-term retention. Factors such as time and interference can affect how information in encoded in memory.

The information-processing view of memory suggests that human memory works much like a computer. In this model, information first enters short-term memory (a temporary holding store for recent events) and then some of this information is transferred into long-term memory (a relatively permanent store), much like information on a computer being placed on a hard disk.

Some researchers, however, dispute the idea that there are separate stores for short-term and long-term memories at all.

Maintenance Rehearsal

Maintenance rehearsal (or rehearsal) can help move memories from short-term to long-term memory. For example, you might use this approach when studying materials for an exam. Instead of just reviewing the information once or twice, you might go over your notes repeatedly until the critical information is committed to memory.

Chunking is one memorization technique that can facilitate the transfer of information into long-term memory. This approach involves organizing information into more easily learned groups, phrases, words, or numbers.

For example, it will take a large amount of effort to memorize the following number: 65,495,328,463. However, it will be easier to remember if it is chunked into the following: 6549 532 8463.

Easily remembered mnemonic phrases, abbreviations, or rhymes can help move short-term memories into long-term storage. A few common examples include:

• ROY G BIV : An acronym that represents the first letter of each color of the rainbow—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet
• I before E, except after C : A rhyme used to remember the spelling of common words
• Thirty days hath September... : A poem used to remember how many days are in each month

Another mnemonic strategy, which dates back to around 500 BCE, is the method of loci. The method of loci involves mentally placing the items you are trying to learn or remember around a room—such as on the sofa, next to a plant, or on the window seat. To trigger your memory, you then visualize yourself going to each location, triggering your recall for that information.

Memory Consolidation

Memory consolidation is the process in which the brain converts short-term memories into long-term ones. Rehearsing or recalling information over and over again creates structural changes in the brain that strengthen neural networks. The repeated firing of two neurons makes it more likely that they will repeat that firing again in the future.

What Is Considered Short-Term Memory Loss?

For most of us, it's pretty common to experience an episode of memory loss occasionally. This can look like missing a monthly payment, forgetting the date, losing our keys, or having trouble finding the right word to use from time to time.

If you feel like you're constantly forgetting things, it can be irritating, frustrating, and frightening. Short-term memory loss may even make you worried that your brain is too reliant on devices like your smartphone rather than your memory to recall information.

What Is Short-Term Memory a Symptom of?

Mild memory loss doesn't always indicate a problem, and certain memory changes are a normal part of aging. Short-term memory loss can also be caused by other, non-permanent factors , including:

• Alcohol or drug use
• Medication side effects
• Sleep deprivation

If you are concerned about memory lapses or any other brain changes, talk to your healthcare provider. They can give you a thorough exam to determine what might be causing your symptoms and recommend lifestyle changes, strategies, or treatments to improve your short-term memory .

Short-term memory plays a vital role in shaping our ability to function in the world around us, but it is limited in terms of both capacity and duration. Disease and injury as well as increasing reliance on smartphones can also have an influence on the ability to store short-term memories. As researchers continue to learn more about factors that influence memory, new ways of enhancing and protecting short-term memory may emerge.

There are many potential causes of short-term memory loss, and many of them are reversible. Memory loss may be a side effect of medication (or a combination of medications). It can occur after a head injury or as a result of vitamin B-12 deficiency. Hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland) can affect memory. So can stress, anxiety, depression, and alcohol use. Or, memory loss could be a symptom of a serious condition, such as dementia or a brain tumor.

Maintenance rehearsal is a way to preserve information in long-term memory. It might mean repeating or otherwise accessing information that is stored in long-term memory to make sure that you retain it.

Living a healthy lifestyle may help preserve and improve memory. That means getting regular physical activity, eating a healthy diet, limiting alcohol and drug use, and sleeping well.

It's also important to keep your brain active. Regular social interactions, along with cognitive activities like word games and learning new skills, may help keep memory issues at bay.

You can also use techniques like mnemonics, rehearsal, chunking, and organizational strategies (such as taking notes and using phone alarms) to help support your memory.

Cowan N. What are the differences between long-term, short-term, and working memory? .  Prog Brain Res . 2008;169:323-338. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(07)00020-9

Miller GA. The magical number seven plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information . Psychol Rev . 1956;63(2):81–97.

Atkinson RC, Shiffrin RM. The control processes of short-term memory . Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, Stanford University.

Kelley P, Evans MDR, Kelley J. Making memories: Why time matters .  Front Hum Neurosci . 2018;12:400. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00400

Chai WJ, Abd Hamid AI, Abdullah JM. Working memory from the psychological and neurosciences perspectives: A review .  Front Psychol . 2018;9:401. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00401

Zlotnik G, Vansintjan A. Memory: An extended definition .  Front Psychol . 2019;10:2523. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02523

Adams EJ, Nguyen AT, Cowan N. Theories of working memory: Differences in definition, degree of modularity, role of attention, and purpose .  Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch . 2018;49(3):340-355. doi:10.1044/2018_LSHSS-17-0114

Legge ELG, Madan CR, Ng ET, Caplan JB. Building a memory palace in minutes: Equivalent memory performance using virtual versus conventional environments with the Method of Loci . Acta Psychol (Amst) . 2012;141(3):380-390. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.09.002

National Institute on Aging. Do memory problems always mean Alzheimer's disease? .

Mayo Clinic. Memory loss: When to seek help .

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Short-Term Memory: How It Works and How to Improve It

Categories Memory

Short-term memory (STM) is a type of memory that can hold a small amount of information for a limited period of time. The duration and capacity of short-term memory is quite limited, holding between five to nine pieces of information for around 20 to 30 seconds.

You’ve probably experienced these limitations yourself many times. Consider the last time you thought of something you needed to do and walked into another room to do the thing you just thought of, only to discover that you can’t remember what you would do. This is an example of short-term memory failure.

Problems with short-term memory can range from minor annoyances to more severe signs of a serious health problem. Understanding how short-term memory works can help you better spot potential issues and look for ways to boost your short-term memory.

Table of Contents

Characteristics of Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory is distinguished from other types/stages of memory by a few key factors:

• Limited capacity : Short-term memory can only hold a limited amount of information. In his classic research, George Miller suggested that this number was the “magic number seven, plus or minus two. This means STM can hold between 5 and 9 items at a time.
• Limited duration : As the name indicates, short-term memory is brief. While estimates vary, it typically lasts around 15 to 30 seconds unless the information is actively rehearsed.

Understanding How Memory Works

A number of models have been introduced to explain how memory works and the different parts of memory. Some theories describe memory as consisting of distinct types of memory. Others conceptualize these as stages of memory.

In any case, the four main types (or stages) of memory are:

• Sensory memory : This is the initial stage of memory that holds sensory information for a very brief period of time. While it has a large capacity, it is very brief in duration.
• Short-term memory : Information that you attend to can be transferred from sensory memory to the second stage of memory, which is short-term memory. 
• Working memory : This type of memory is sometimes described as a distinct type of memory, it is often identified as a form of short-term memory. It is the part of memory for the immediate, small amount of information you are currently using.
• Long-term memory : Short-term memories that are rehearsed may be transferred to long-term memory, an enduring and virtually limitless store that can last a very long time. Long-term memories can also be identified as either explicit (which form consciously) or implicit (which form unconsciously).

How Short-Term Memory Differs From Working Memory

While short-term and working memory are often described as the same, not all experts agree. Some feel that they are essentially the same thing.

Some important differences that help distinguish between the two:

• Working memory is active : It involves actively using and manipulating small amounts of information.
• Short-term memory is passive : It involves a temporary store for information you have attended to.

Short-term memory is where these memories are briefly stored, while working memory allows them to be actively utilized and manipulated.

Consolidating Short-Term to Long-Term Memory

Because short-term memory is so limited, information has to be transferred into long-term memory in order for it to be retained. So, how exactly does this information go from being the type of information we forget after about 30 seconds to the type of information we remember for years or decades?

Short-term memories become long-term through a process known as memory consolidation. This process involves a few different factors:

Every time you access a memory, the neural network involved in that memory becomes stronger. It’s a bit like walking along a hiking trail; the more frequently you walk it, the more worn it becomes.

As you actively rehearse information in short-term memory, those neural networks fire together and strengthen the “path” for that memory. This means that the next time you want to access that specific information, it will come to mind much more readily.

Elaborative Rehearsal

Repetition is important, but forming meaningful connections with existing information can further cement memories into long-term storage.

Elaborative rehearsal involves thinking about the meaning of new information and memories you have acquired and then making connections or associations with things you have already stored in your memory.

Sleep also plays a crucial role in memory consolidation. Important structures in the brain, specifically the hippocampus and neocortex, are key to this process. During sleep, the hippocampus consolidates short-term memories and moves them into the brain’s cerebral cortex. 

When people experience damage to the hippocampus, they may experience retrograde amnesia, which involves the inability to remember past events stored in long-term memory.

Strategies for Improving Short-Term Memory

If you find yourself constantly forgetting things like where you put your phone, a name you just learned, or other types of information that you need to live your day-to-day life, it might mean your short-term memory could use some work. There are a number of strategies you might try to help boost your short-term memory:

Chunking involves grouping information into smaller and easier to remember, chunks. If you were trying to memorize a list, for example, you might group the items into smaller units based on similar features.

If you want to improve your short-term memory, chunking can be a useful tactic.

Mnemonics are memory strategies that involve using easily remembered elements, like acronyms or rhymes, to remember information. Using mnemonics can boost short-term memory by creating associations between things you’ve just learned and other things you already know that are easy to recall.

Visualization

Visualization involves creating mental images of the information you are trying to remember. This can help keep the information in your short-term memory more readily, and may facilitate the transfer of this information from short-term memory into long-term memory.

Real-World Examples of Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory plays a pivotal role in our lives. Our short-term memory is constantly in use as we live our lives, allowing us to remember what we are doing, what we’ve just said, the things we’ve just heard, and where we place things just moments ago.

Academic Performance

In school, short-term memory is vital to the learning process. It allows us to take in what a teacher says and temporarily hold essential details. It also allows us to remember things we’ve just read, relate what we learn to prior knowledge, and respond to questions the teacher asks.

Learning strategies like taking notes, using visual aids, and chunking related information on flashcards can help facilitate the transfer of short-term memories into long-term storage.

Everyday Life

Short-term memory allows us to function in our daily life, including at home, at work, and in our relationships. When someone tells us about an appointment, name, or phone number, we store that information in short-term memory until we can jot it down for future use. 

Short-term memory also allows us to remember what we look for on the self as we shop for groceries. Plus, it lets us hold information long enough for us to respond to what others have to say.

Short-Term Memory Loss

Short-term memory loss can have a serious impact on a person’s ability to function. Some of the different factors that can contribute to short-term memory loss include:

Anxiety and Stress

Stress hormones can affect the brain’s hippocampus, a region that plays an important role in memory formation. Anxiety can also interfere with your ability to concentrate, which can affect short-term memory.

Sleep Deprivation

Poor quality or inadequate sleep can affect various cognitive functions, including short-term memory. Remember, sleep plays a vital role in memory consolidation. That’s why you might find it more difficult to remember things when you are tired or sleep-deprived.

Head Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries can also affect short-term memory. The degree of impairment that a person experiences depends on the nature, location, and severity of the damage.

Medical Conditions

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia also affect short-term memory. This loss is progressive, which means that it worsens over time.

Certain Medications

Some medications can have an impact on short-term memory. This includes antihistamines, some antidepressants, and benzodiazepines.

People often experience a variety of cognitive symptoms when they are depressed, including difficulties with concentration and memory.

The normal aging process can also lead to changes in short-term memory. Such changes are normal and often mild. If a person experiences more severe impairments as they age, it might be a sign of a more serious problem.

Substance Use

Using alcohol and other types of drugs can also have an effect on memory. Some of these impairments may be more severe when a person is intoxicated, but long-term use can affect the brain’s ability to process information and form memories effectively.

If you have noticed problems with your short-term memory , you might try strategies such as chunking or visualization to improve it. But if these impairments seem serious, are worsening, or are affecting your ability to function, it is important to talk to your doctor to learn more.

Chai WJ, Abd Hamid AI, Abdullah JM. Working memory from the psychological and neurosciences perspectives: A review . Front Psychol . 2018;9:401. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00401

Cowan N. What are the differences between long-term, short-term, and working memory ? Prog Brain Res . 2008;169:323-338. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(07)00020-9

Mayo Clinic. Memory loss: When to seek help .

Squire LR, Genzel L, Wixted JT, Morris RG. Memory consolidation . Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol . 2015;7(8):a021766. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a021766

Vallar G. Short-term memory . In: Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology . Elsevier; 2017:B9780128093245032000. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.03170-9

Zlotnik G, Vansintjan A. Memory: An extended definition . Front Psychol . 2019;10:2523. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02523

Short-Term Memory In Psychology: Types, Duration & Capacity

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Short-term memory is a component of memory that holds a small amount of information in an active, readily available state for a brief period, typically a few seconds to a minute. The duration of STM seems to be between 15 and 30 seconds, and STM’s capacity is limited, often thought to be about 7±2 items.

It’s often likened to the brain’s “working space,” enabling tasks like reasoning and language comprehension. Information not rehearsed or processed can quickly be forgotten.

Short-term memory (STM) is the second stage of the multi-store memory model proposed by Atkinson-Shiffrin. 

Short-term memory has three key aspects:

• Limited capacity (only about 7 items can be stored at a time)
• Limited duration (storage is very fragile, and information can be lost with distraction or the passage of time)
• Encoding (primarily acoustic, even translating visual information into sounds).

Capacity: Magic Number 7

The capacity of short-term memory is limited. A classic theory proposed by George Miller (1956) suggests that the average number of objects an individual can hold in their short-term memory is about seven (plus or minus 2 items).

Miller thought that short-term memory could hold 7 (plus or minus 2 items) because it only had a certain number of “slots” to store items.

However, Miller didn’t specify how much information can be held in each slot. Indeed, if we can “chunk” information together, we can store much more information in our short-term memory.

Miller’s theory is supported by evidence from various studies, such as Jacobs (1887). He used the digit span test with every letter in the alphabet and numbers apart from “w” and “7” because they had two syllables.

He found out that people find it easier to recall numbers rather than letters. The average span for letters was 7.3, and for numbers, it was 9.3.

However, the nature of the items (e.g., simple versus complex) and individual differences can influence this capacity.

It’s also worth noting that techniques like chunking can help increase the effective capacity by grouping individual pieces of information into larger units.

Short-term memory typically holds information for about 15 to 30 seconds. However, the duration can be extended through rehearsal (repeating the information).

The duration of short-term memory seems to be between 15 and 30 seconds, according to Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971). Items can be kept in short-term memory by repeating them verbally (acoustic encoding), a process known as rehearsal.

Using a technique called the Brown-Peterson technique, which prevents the possibility of retrieval by having participants count backward in 3s.

Peterson and Peterson (1959) showed that the longer the delay, the less information is recalled. The rapid loss of information from memory when rehearsal is prevented indicates short-term memory having a limited duration.

If not rehearsed or encoded into long-term memory, the information in short-term memory is susceptible to interference and decay, causing it to be forgotten.

It’s important to note that short-term memory duration can vary among individuals and can be influenced by factors like attention, distraction, and the nature of the information.

Encoding in short-term memory primarily involves a transient representation of information, usually based on the sensory attributes of the input . Here’s a breakdown of how encoding works for short-term memory:

• Acoustic Encoding: This is the most common form of encoding in short-term memory. Information, especially verbal information, is often stored based on its sound. This is why, when trying to remember a phone number, you might repeat it aloud or “hear” it in your mind.
• Visual Encoding: Visual encoding is the process of storing visual images. For example, if you glance at a picture briefly and then try to recall details about it a few moments later, you’re relying on visual encoding.
• Semantic Encoding: This involves processing the meaning of information. Although it plays a more dominant role in long-term memory encoding, there are short-term tasks where meaning can influence memory (e.g., remembering words that form a coherent sentence vs. a random list).
• Tactile Encoding: Information can also be encoded based on touch, though this is less common than acoustic or visual encoding for short-term memory tasks.

Various factors, including attention, repetition, and the nature of the information, can influence the effectiveness of encoding in short-term memory.

However, without further processing, the data held in short-term memory can decay or be displaced, emphasizing the transient nature of this memory store.

More durable and elaborate encoding methods, such as deep processing or the formation of associations, are needed to move information from short-term to long-term memory.

Working memory

Baddeley and Hitch (1974) have developed an alternative model of short-term memory, which they call working memory .

Short-term memory and working memory are not the same, although they are closely related concepts. Short-term memory refers to the temporary storage of information, holding it for a brief period of time.

Working memory, on the other hand, involves not just storing, but also manipulating and processing this information. It’s like the brain’s “workspace” for cognitive tasks, such as problem-solving, reasoning, and comprehension.

Working memory is a more dynamic and complex system than mere short-term storage.

Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1971). The control processes of short-term memory . Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, Stanford University.

Baddeley, A.D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G.H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York: Academic Press.

Miller, G. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. The psychological review , 63, 81-97.

Peterson, L. R., & Peterson, M. J. (1959). Short-term retention of individual verbal items. Journal of experimental psychology , 58(3), 193-198.

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Everything you need to know about short-term memory

Checked : Soha K. , Vallary O.

Latest Update 20 Jan, 2024

10 min read

Table of content

What is Short term memory?

Mechanism of short-term memory, how does short-term memory work anyway, the role of short term memory, functions of short term memory, differences between short term memory and long term memory, the recency effect and the primacy effect:, what to remember from short term memory:, short term memory problems, loss of short term memory, train your short-term memory.

Do you know that there are several types of memory? Today, we will have a look at short-term memory. We will focus on how it works and on the link between short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory is the memory we all use to recall information in a short time. It is, by nature, limited. For example, the average length of time information is retained in short-term memory is 30 seconds. The number of elements that we can "store" simultaneously is also limited: it is seven elements +/- 2. This is called the memory span. Here’s everything you need to know about short term memory.

Short term memory is also called immediate memory; it operates for a maximum of 30 seconds. It kicks in when a stimulus presents itself, just before it is stored in long-term memory. It is difficult to distinguish where working memory ends, and short-term memory begins. The latter includes verbal and visual memories. Used to manage daily activities, it is a good indicator of alertness and learning abilities. Short-term memories are stored briefly in the parietal lobes, and   the neurotransmitter   involved being acetylcholine.

According to the model of Atkinson-Shiffrin (1968), it is made up of several elements:

Its first component is sensory memory. When we talk about the short-term memory, its detention period varies between one hundred milliseconds and 2 seconds. Nevertheless, it allows us to keep faithfully information gathered by one of our senses (smell, hearing, sight, touch). Sensory memory is very busy, but it is difficult to access its information, particularly because of the very short retention period.

If the information is selected, it goes into short-term memory. The information retention time is 30 seconds. If used, it can be repeated to keep it in memory longer.

Finally, when information is useful and repeated, it can be transferred to long-term memory. The information is then kept for a very long time.

What information ends up in short-term memory depends on the content. If information is important to you because it interests you, affects you personally, or is emotionally charged, it moves on to your short-term memory. Only when you have learned something seven times does the information arrive in long-term memory. It's quite normal that we don't remember every detail. Short-term memory erases 90% of the information stored. After all, it is not necessary to know years later that you had a pizza with pizza hut on April 2nd, 2018 at 12 noon. On average, the brain deleted irrelevant data after just 18 seconds. Several   brain   areas interact with each other so that you can remember details. You can actively train this interaction and thus improve a poor short-term memory.

Our short-term memory is one of the four major areas of the brain. In fact, it consists not of just one memory, but of a whole group of memories that are all strongly interlinked. And it has to be because, without the many cognitive skills that our short-term memory gives us, we would not be able to survive.

Our short-term memory has many functions. In the last few decades, it has been established that our short-term memory not only stores and retrieves some information, but is actually one of the most important areas in our brain.

Nowadays, short-term memory is mainly called working memory, and it is responsible for the reception and processing of all information and stimuli that we are exposed to. That means all skills like:

• concentration

And much more are all taken over by our short-term memory. Unfortunately, despite its many tasks, our short-term memory only has a relatively small capacity. This is because, in the past, our brain only had to focus on relatively few things at the same time.

Short-term memory differs from long-term memory in several ways. The first concerns its ability to memorize information. In fact, it is limited in retention time and in its capacity for memorization, unlike long term memory, which is described as almost unlimited memory. And the difference does not end there.

The recency effect refers to the ease of recalling the last items in a list of stimuli. At the same time, the primacy effect expresses the ease of recalling the first elements of a list of stimuli.

To show these effects, scientists have developed an experiment. It consists of teaching a list of words to a subject and asking him to recall this list. Scientists have been able to demonstrate the existence of the effect of recency and primacy when the subject is asked to repeat the words directly after the memorization work. Conversely, the recency effect disappears if the subject waits 30 seconds before returning the list of words.

The researchers concluded that the recency effect was linked to short-term memory. In addition, the primacy effect is intact because the information is already encoded in short-term and then long-term memory. This shows that the primacy effect is related to long term memory.

• Short-term memory has a limited capacity. Its memory span is 7 +/- 2 elements. Its duration is approximately 30 seconds.
• The information stored spend of a sensory memory to the short term memory, and possibly long-term memory
• It is therefore interesting to learn to focus your attention on a limited number of elements at a time to improve the efficiency of memorization. This is why mnemonics are effective, as are advanced memorization tools such as the Mental Palace.

Short-term memory ensures attention and concentration in everyday life. Sometimes the short-term memory does not filter properly so that important learning material is also classified as "unimportant" and does not make its way into long-term memory.

However, if you keep getting things wrong and can no longer remember where they are, and if you regularly forget topics or names, your short-term memory is likely to deteriorate. People who are forgetful or bumbling worry that they may have a bad memory - especially the fear of dementia and Alzheimer's disease increases with age. However, it is normal for short-term memory to deteriorate with age.

Some people fear short-term memory loss. Those affected cannot then take in and evaluate new memories. This means an enormous restriction in everyday life, under which communication with fellow human beings and orientation suffers. Short-term memory loss can be caused by brain disease, dementia, infection, or a stroke.

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It is normal for memory to weaken with age. You can improve your short-term memory with specific exercises. Memory training creates new neural networks in the brain. This improves not only short-term memory but also all other cognitive skills such as:

• Logical thinking
• Understanding of language

Since nowadays everything can be looked up and checked due to smartphones immediately, this impairs the ability to memorize things. But what can you do yourself? With small brain jogging units, you challenge your short-term memory and keep yourself mentally fit. Possibilities are:

• Memorize phone numbers
• Go shopping without a memo
• Spelling difficult words correctly
• Learn the multiplication tables by heart

You can also use special memory exercise programs or solve brain teasers. A healthy lifestyle with good nutrition and regular exercise can also have positive effects on brain performance.

Sperling et al. wanted to prove the existence of sensory memory. For that, they developed an experiment which consists of placing an individual in front of a matrix of 3 X 3 letters. The image is broadcast for 1/20 of a second. The goal is for the individual to find the nine letters. Subject results were approximately 4 to 5 letters found.

Several causes are possible at this stage. Indeed, it is possible that the subjects did not have time to see all the letters, and it is as much possible that they did not manage to memorize everything.

The experience becomes more interesting when the researchers decided to add an element. Right after the image disappears, the researchers play sound called stimuli that can have multiple tones. Each tone represents a row of the matrix. The high tone designates the top line, the middle tone, the middle line etc. The objective of the individual is to transcribe the line expressed by the sound. The results of this new experiment show that the subjects systematically give the correct answer.

This effectively proves that there is indeed a sensory memory because once the matrix is encoded; it remains in visual space for a few seconds. It is the stimuli that will indicate where the subject's attention should be. The conclusion of this study shows that when we have a visual stimulus, it persists a few seconds after its disappearance.

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• How Memory Works

Memory is the ongoing process of information retention over time. Because it makes up the very framework through which we make sense of and take action within the present, its importance goes without saying. But how exactly does it work? And how can teachers apply a better understanding of its inner workings to their own teaching? In light of current research in cognitive science, the very, very short answer to these questions is that memory operates according to a "dual-process," where more unconscious, more routine thought processes (known as "System 1") interact with more conscious, more problem-based thought processes (known as "System 2"). At each of these two levels, in turn, there are the processes through which we "get information in" (encoding), how we hold on to it (storage), and and how we "get it back out" (retrieval or recall). With a basic understanding of how these elements of memory work together, teachers can maximize student learning by knowing how much new information to introduce, when to introduce it, and how to sequence assignments that will both reinforce the retention of facts (System 1) and build toward critical, creative thinking (System 2).

Dual-Process Theory

Think back to a time when you learned a new skill, such as driving a car, riding a bicycle, or reading. When you first learned this skill, performing it was an active process in which you analyzed and were acutely aware of every movement you made. Part of this analytical process also meant that you thought carefully about why you were doing what you were doing, to understand how these individual steps fit together as a comprehensive whole. However, as your ability improved, performing the skill stopped being a cognitively-demanding process, instead becoming more intuitive. As you continue to master the skill, you can perform other, at times more intellectually-demanding, tasks simultaneously. Due to your knowledge of this skill or process being unconscious, you could, for example, solve an unrelated complex problem or make an analytical decision while completing it.

In its simplest form, the scenario above is an example of what psychologists call dual-process theory. The term “dual-process” refers to the idea that some behaviors and cognitive processes (such as decision-making) are the products of two distinct cognitive processes, often called System 1 and System 2 (Kaufmann, 2011:443-445). While System 1 is characterized by automatic, unconscious thought, System 2 is characterized by effortful, analytical, intentional thought (Osman, 2004:989).

Dual-Process Theories and Learning

How do System 1 and System 2 thinking relate to teaching and learning? In an educational context, System 1 is associated with memorization and recall of information, while System 2 describes more analytical or critical thinking. Memory and recall, as a part of System 1 cognition, are focused on in the rest of these notes.

As mentioned above, System 1 is characterized by its fast, unconscious recall of previously-memorized information. Classroom activities that would draw heavily on System 1 include memorized multiplication tables, as well as multiple-choice exam questions that only need exact regurgitation from a source such as a textbook. These kinds of tasks do not require students to actively analyze what is being asked of them beyond reiterating memorized material. System 2 thinking becomes necessary when students are presented with activities and assignments that require them to provide a novel solution to a problem, engage in critical thinking, or apply a concept outside of the domain in which it was originally presented.  

It may be tempting to think of learning beyond the primary school level as being all about System 2, all the time. However, it’s important to keep in mind that successful System 2 thinking depends on a lot of System 1 thinking to operate. In other words, critical thinking requires a lot of memorized knowledge and intuitive, automatic judgments to be performed quickly and accurately.

How does Memory Work?

In its simplest form, memory refers to the continued process of information retention over time. It is an integral part of human cognition, since it allows individuals to recall and draw upon past events to frame their understanding of and behavior within the present. Memory also gives individuals a framework through which to make sense of the present and future. As such, memory plays a crucial role in teaching and learning. There are three main processes that characterize how memory works. These processes are encoding, storage, and retrieval (or recall).

• Encoding . Encoding refers to the process through which information is learned. That is, how information is taken in, understood, and altered to better support storage (which you will look at in Section 3.1.2). Information is usually encoded through one (or more) of four methods: (1) Visual encoding (how something looks); (2) acoustic encoding (how something sounds); (3) semantic encoding (what something means); and (4) tactile encoding (how something feels). While information typically enters the memory system through one of these modes, the form in which this information is stored may differ from its original, encoded form (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014).

• Retrieval . As indicated above, retrieval is the process through which individuals access stored information. Due to their differences, information stored in STM and LTM are retrieved differently. While STM is retrieved in the order in which it is stored (for example, a sequential list of numbers), LTM is retrieved through association (for example, remembering where you parked your car by returning to the entrance through which you accessed a shopping mall) (Roediger & McDermott, 1995).

Improving Recall

Retrieval is subject to error, because it can reflect a reconstruction of memory. This reconstruction becomes necessary when stored information is lost over time due to decayed retention. In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted an experiment in which he tested how well individuals remembered a list of nonsense syllables over increasingly longer periods of time. Using the results of his experiment, he created what is now known as the “Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve” (Schaefer, 2015).

Through his research, Ebbinghaus concluded that the rate at which your memory (of recently learned information) decays depends both on the time that has elapsed following your learning experience as well as how strong your memory is. Some degree of memory decay is inevitable, so, as an educator, how do you reduce the scope of this memory loss? The following sections answer this question by looking at how to improve recall within a learning environment, through various teaching and learning techniques.

As a teacher, it is important to be aware of techniques that you can use to promote better retention and recall among your students. Three such techniques are the testing effect, spacing, and interleaving.

• The testing effect . In most traditional educational settings, tests are normally considered to be a method of periodic but infrequent assessment that can help a teacher understand how well their students have learned the material at hand. However, modern research in psychology suggests that frequent, small tests are also one of the best ways to learn in the first place. The testing effect refers to the process of actively and frequently testing memory retention when learning new information. By encouraging students to regularly recall information they have recently learned, you are helping them to retain that information in long-term memory, which they can draw upon at a later stage of the learning experience (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014). As secondary benefits, frequent testing allows both the teacher and the student to keep track of what a student has learned about a topic, and what they need to revise for retention purposes. Frequent testing can occur at any point in the learning process. For example, at the end of a lecture or seminar, you could give your students a brief, low-stakes quiz or free-response question asking them to remember what they learned that day, or the day before. This kind of quiz will not just tell you what your students are retaining, but will help them remember more than they would have otherwise.
• Spacing.  According to the spacing effect, when a student repeatedly learns and recalls information over a prolonged time span, they are more likely to retain that information. This is compared to learning (and attempting to retain) information in a short time span (for example, studying the day before an exam). As a teacher, you can foster this approach to studying in your students by structuring your learning experiences in the same way. For example, instead of introducing a new topic and its related concepts to students in one go, you can cover the topic in segments over multiple lessons (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014).
• Interleaving.  The interleaving technique is another teaching and learning approach that was introduced as an alternative to a technique known as “blocking”. Blocking refers to when a student practices one skill or one topic at a time. Interleaving, on the other hand, is when students practice multiple related skills in the same session. This technique has proven to be more successful than the traditional blocking technique in various fields (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014).

As useful as it is to know which techniques you can use, as a teacher, to improve student recall of information, it is also crucial for students to be aware of techniques they can use to improve their own recall. This section looks at four of these techniques: state-dependent memory, schemas, chunking, and deliberate practice.

• State-dependent memory . State-dependent memory refers to the idea that being in the same state in which you first learned information enables you to better remember said information. In this instance, “state” refers to an individual’s surroundings, as well as their mental and physical state at the time of learning (Weissenborn & Duka, 2000). 
• Schemas.  Schemas refer to the mental frameworks an individual creates to help them understand and organize new information. Schemas act as a cognitive “shortcut” in that they allow individuals to interpret new information quicker than when not using schemas. However, schemas may also prevent individuals from learning pertinent information that falls outside the scope of the schema that has been created. It is because of this that students should be encouraged to alter or reanalyze their schemas, when necessary, when they learn important information that may not confirm or align with their existing beliefs and conceptions of a topic.
• Chunking.  Chunking is the process of grouping pieces of information together to better facilitate retention. Instead of recalling each piece individually, individuals recall the entire group, and then can retrieve each item from that group more easily (Gobet et al., 2001).
• Deliberate practice.  The final technique that students can use to improve recall is deliberate practice. Simply put, deliberate practice refers to the act of deliberately and actively practicing a skill with the intention of improving understanding of and performance in said skill. By encouraging students to practice a skill continually and deliberately (for example, writing a well-structured essay), you will ensure better retention of that skill (Brown et al., 2014).

For more information...

Brown, P.C., Roediger, H.L. & McDaniel, M.A. 2014.  Make it stick: The science of successful learning . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Gobet, F., Lane, P.C., Croker, S., Cheng, P.C., Jones, G., Oliver, I. & Pine, J.M. 2001. Chunking mechanisms in human learning.  Trends in Cognitive Sciences . 5(6):236-243.

Kaufman, S.B. 2011. Intelligence and the cognitive unconscious. In  The Cambridge handbook of intelligence . R.J. Sternberg & S.B. Kaufman, Eds. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Osman, M. 2004. An evaluation of dual-process theories of reasoning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review . 11(6):988-1010.

Roediger, H.L. & McDermott, K.B. 1995. Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition . 21(4):803.

Schaefer, P. 2015. Why Google has forever changed the forgetting curve at work.

Weissenborn, R. & Duka, T. 2000. State-dependent effects of alcohol on explicit memory: The role of semantic associations.  Psychopharmacology . 149(1):98-106.

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Types of Memory

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

A person’s memory is a sea of images and other sensory impressions, facts and meanings, echoes of past feelings, and ingrained codes for how to behave—a diverse well of information. Naturally, there are many ways (some experts suggest there are hundreds) to describe the varieties of what people remember and how. While the different brands of memory are not always described in exactly the same way by memory researchers, some key concepts have emerged.

These forms of memory, which can overlap in daily life, have also been arranged into broad categories. Memory that lingers for a moment (or even less than a second) could be described as short-term memory , while any kind of information that is preserved for remembering at a later point can be called long-term memory . Memory experts have also distinguished explicit memory , in which information is consciously recalled, from implicit memory , the use of saved information without conscious awareness that it’s being recalled.

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• Episodic Memory
• Semantic Memory
• Procedural Memory
• Short-Term Memory and Working Memory
• Sensory Memory
• Prospective Memory

When a person recalls a particular event (or “episode”) experienced in the past, that is episodic memory . This kind of long-term memory brings to attention details about anything from what one ate for breakfast to the emotions that were stirred up during a serious conversation with a romantic partner. The experiences conjured by episodic memory can be very recent or decades-old.

A related concept is autobiographical memory , which is the memory of information that forms part of a person’s life story. However, while autobiographical memory includes memories of events in one’s life (such as one’s sixteenth birthday party), it can also encompass facts (such as one’s birth date) and other non-episodic forms of information.

• The details of a phone call you had 20 minutes ago

• How you felt during your last argument

• What it was like receiving your high-school diploma

Semantic memory is someone’s long-term store of knowledge: It’s composed of pieces of information such as facts learned in school, what concepts mean and how they are related, or the definition of a particular word. The details that make up semantic memory can correspond to other forms of memory. One may remember factual details about a party, for instance—what time it started, at whose house it took place, how many people were there, all part of semantic memory—in addition to recalling the sounds heard and excitement felt. But semantic memory can also include facts and meanings related to people, places, or things one has no direct relation to.

• What year it currently is

• The capital of a foreign country

• The meaning of a slang term

Sitting on a bike after not riding one for years and recalling just what to do is a quintessential example of procedural memory . The term describes long-term memory for how to do things, both physical and mental, and is involved in the process of learning skills—from the basic ones people take for granted to those that require considerable practice. A related term is kinesthetic memory , which refers specifically to memory for physical behaviors.

• How to tie your shoes

• How to send an email

• How to shoot a basketball

The terms short-term memory and working memory are sometimes used interchangeably, and both refer to storage of information for a brief amount of time. Working memory can be distinguished from general short-term memory, however, in that working memory specifically involves the temporary storage of information that is being mentally manipulated.

Short-term memory is used when, for instance, the name of a new acquaintance, a statistic, or some other detail is consciously processed and retained for at least a short period of time. It may then be saved in long-term memory, or it may be forgotten within minutes. With working memory , information—the preceding words in a sentence one is reading, for example—is held in mind so that it can be used in the moment.

• The appearance of someone you met a minute ago

• The current temperature, immediately after looking it up

• What happened moments ago in a movie

• A number you have calculated as part of a mental math problem

• The person named at the beginning of a sentence

• Holding a concept in mind (such as ball ) and combining it with another ( orange )

Sensory memories are what psychologists call the short-term memories of just-experienced sensory stimuli such as sights and sounds. The brief memory of something just seen has been called iconic memory, while the sound-based equivalent is called echoic memory. Additional forms of short-term sensory memory are thought to exist for the other senses as well.

Sense-related memories, of course, can also be preserved long-term. Visual-spatial memory refers to memory of how objects are organized in space—tapped when a person remembers which way to walk to get to the grocery store. Auditory memory , olfactory memory , and haptic memory are terms for stored sensory impressions of sounds, smells, and skin sensations, respectively.

• The sound of a piano note that was just played

• The appearance of a car that drove by

• The smell of a restaurant you passed

Prospective memory is forward-thinking memory: It means recalling an intention from the past in order to do something in the future. It is essential for daily functioning, in that memories of previous intentions, including very recent ones, ensure that people execute their plans and meet their obligations when the intended behaviors can’t be carried out right away, or have to be carried out routinely.

• To call someone back

• To stop at the drugstore on the way home

• To pay the rent every month

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It may require very little daily cannabis consumption to produce long-term neuroprotection in the older brain.

The phenomenon is known as the Zeigarnik Effect.

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25 Short-Term Memory Examples

Short-term memory refers to the temporary storage of information that is currently being processed or used.

Short-term memory has two main components:

• limited capacity:  A famous study by Miller (1956) found that it can only contain 7 items at once (plus or minus two).
• limited duration:  We tend to be able to hold items in our short-term memory for about 15-30 seconds (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1971) unless we continually rehearse it using a process called maintenance rehearsal .

Despite its short duration, short-term memory has undeniable benefits. It aids in daily tasks, such as recalling a phone number momentarily or following directions. It also plays a vital role in cognitive abilities like reading and problem-solving (Eysenck & Keane, 2020).

There are 6 types of short-term memory , including auditory, visual, spatial, tactile, olfactory, and gustagory.

Short-Term Memory Examples

1. Remembering a Phone Number If someone tells you a phone number, you use your short-term memory to recall it long enough to dial it. It’s a perfect demonstration of short-term memory in action, as the number usually fades from your memory shortly after you’ve dialed it, unless it’s committed to long-term memory through repeated use or memorization methods like mnemonics, the chunking method , memory linking or the peg word system .

2. Following Directions When you read or hear instructions and then follow them, you are utilizing your short-term memory. You keep those details in your mind just long enough to complete the task. If you’ve ever assembled furniture from a manual or followed a recipe, you’ve made excellent use of your short-term memory. A good way to commit directions from short-term to long-term memory is to use the method of loci method .

3. Listening to a Lecture When you attend a seminar or lecture, your short-term memory allows you to process and understand the information presented in real-time. It allows you to maintain a mental “thread” of the conversational context, which is essential for comprehending the full message. Because you need to remember this information longer, you need to use a method such as note-taking or rote memorization to help to convert the information to long-term memory.

4. Playing Games Many games, both mental and physical, tap into short-term memory. Whether it’s recalling the sequence of colors, remembering the last move your opponent made at chess, or memorizing the cards played in a hand of bridge, games often require the use of short-term memory to succeed. This can help you to get an advantage on your competitors. Some people have mastered this skill, such as card counters, who can have a great advantage in gameplay.

5. Reading a Book If you’re engrossed in a novel, your short-term memory is working hard. It allows you to remember the start of a sentence when you reach the end, keeps track of the various characters, and enables you to follow the plot. Without short-term memory, reading would be a much more challenging and less enjoyable pursuit. Generally, paragraphs are written so that they contain one ‘chunk’ of information, enough to keep in short-term memory, but if a paragraph gets too long, your short-term memory starts to fail, and you lose your spot in the book.

6. Taking Notes Taking notes during a lecture or a meeting utilizes your short-term memory to retain information long enough to record it. Remembering points long enough to jot them down in condensed form facilitates auditory and visual learning . It also helps translate larger information chunks into manageable bits, boosting your understanding and retention of the topic. In addition, note-taking also aids in enhancing organizational skills .

7. Multiplication and Division When working on multiplication or division problems, especially those involving several digits, you use short-term memory. You must retain the carryover number in your mind as you proceed to the next calculation step. Additionally, you have to remember the original problem and the steps you’ve already completed. This active engagement enhances your computational skills and overall numeracy.

8. Recalling Recent Events When remembering recent events, like the breakfast menu or conversations from a few hours back, your short-term memory comes into play. It temporarily stores recent experiences for quick recall. Interestingly, the human brain tends to favor short-term memories with emotional connections, hence why you might remember a stimulating conversation more than a mundane one. These fleeting memories constitute a significant portion of our daily cognitive activities.

9. Mental Grocery Lists Making mental grocery lists is a demonstration of short-term memory. Remembering a handful of items long enough to grab them from the store can be challenging, yet it’s a task we often perform. This act of attempting to retain and retrieve data in a short span promotes mental agility. Plus, it shows us how effectively we can use short-term memory in our day-to-day routines.

10. Learning a New Language In the process of language acquisition, short-term memory plays a critical role. Retaining new vocabulary words and fresh grammar rules in your mind helps in speaking, writing, or understanding a new language. Your short-term memory allows you to juggle this new information in the context of a conversation. In essence, it’s an indispensable tool in the challenging yet rewarding journey of language learning.

11. Remembering Passwords and PINs Your short-term memory is instrumental when it comes to remembering passwords or PIN numbers momentarily. You recall them just long enough to unlock a device or complete a transaction. This temporary retention highlights the role of short-term memory in safeguarding personal information. However, over-reliance on it for password recall can lead to forgetfulness, hence the need for unique, memorable, yet secure passphrases.

12. Completing Puzzles When you complete a puzzle, be it a Sudoku or crosswords, you’re actively using your short-term memory. You have to remember previously noted numbers or words to fill out the remaining spaces correctly. This activity not only strengthens short-term memory but also harnesses analytical and problem-solving skills, making it a great cognitive exercise.

13. Cooking a New Recipe When you’re trying out a new recipe, your short-term memory plays a significant part. You have to remember each ingredient and the sequence in which they’re added, often while multitasking with various cooking processes. This process reinforces the link between short-term memory and task execution, and it shows how effective information recall aids in real-life skills like cooking.

14. Remembering Dates and Appointments Your short-term memory helps you recall the dates and times of appointments in the near future. Until you write them down or enter them into a digital calendar, this information is held in your short-term memory. This aspect emphasizes the supportive role of short-term memory in managing our time and daily schedules efficiently, contributing to personal organization and responsibility.

15. Learning to Play a Musical Instrument When learning to play a new musical instrument, short-term memory is heavily relied on. It allows you to remember scales, notes, and sequences that you need to play a piece of music. You often need to store information in short-term memory to know seconds in advance where to move your hands next. This use of memory doesn’t just cultivate musical skills, but it also enhances mental flexibility  and cognitive strength, thus contributing to broader personal development.

16. Memorizing Steps to a Dance Routine When you begin learning a new dance routine, your short-term memory is put to the test. It’s the temporary storage that keeps the choreography steps in check before they become ingrained through practice and repetition to a part of long-term memory. The ability to remember and execute these movements in sequence also helps improve bodily coordination and rhythm. Furthermore, as patterns become more complex and additional steps are added, you begin to stretch the capacity of this memory system. Consequently, this process aids in enhancing cognitive abilities, kindling creativity, and fostering the self-discipline needed to master an art form.

17. Recognizing Faces in a Crowd Your short-term memory comes into play when you’re scanning a crowd to recognize a familiar face. The mind briefly stores the image of the person you’re seeking, comparing it against the multitude of faces in the crowd. This complex task not only involves visual perception but also quick memory retrieval, underlining how essential short-term memory is in everyday situations. It is this cognitive function that enables us to pick a friend’s face out of a crowd or identify a known face amongst strangers. Beyond social recognition, it’s a testament to human adaptability and survival instincts in navigation through social environments .

18. Calculating Tips in Your Head When you’re figuring out a tip at a restaurant or cafe, you’re putting your short-term memory to work. You need to remember the total bill amount for a short while in order to perform the percentage calculation accurately. This math-on-the-fly showcases the use of short-term memory in real-world financial decision-making. It’s a simple task which underscores short-term memory’s utility in basic everyday arithmetic, financial judgment, and quick decision-making . Moreover, it reflects the practical role our cognitive abilities play in social etiquette and norms.

19. Recalling Product Details While Shopping While shopping, particularly for complex items or major purchases, your short-term memory becomes vital. You might need to remember the details of various products, including specifications, prices, and brands, to make a comparative and informed choice. This information, often discussed or read minutes to hours before, is held in the short-term memory for quick access. Rendered as a consumer tool, this memory function aids in making the right choice to maximize satisfaction and value for money. The process underscores the crucial role that short-term memory plays in decision-making, consumer behavior, and savvy resource management.

20. Remembering Names in an Introduction Your short-term memory is actively engaged when you’re introduced to new people at a social event or professional gathering. You need to remember names and associate them with faces almost immediately after the introduction. The need to recall this data moments after hearing it underscores the function of short-term memory in social interactions and networking. It’s a perfect illustration of its role in maintaining social cohesion . In essence, this ability enhances social communication, impacts human interaction, and can significantly influence professional relationships when nurtured well.

21. Memorizing Lines for a Presentation When preparing for a presentation or public speaking engagement, your short-term memory is key. You need to remember key points, quotes, and any specific phrasing that you plan to use. In the short period before you present, these lines are held in your short-term memory, ready to be retrieved. This utilization of short-term memory explains how speakers manage to deliver speeches without always resorting to written notes. Thus, it’s not only inherent in learning and information recall, but also vital in communication and public representation.

22. Recognizing Turn Sequences in a Board Game While engaging in board games, your short-term memory helps to keep track of the sequences and instructions. You need to remember turn orders, game rules, and the actions of other players. This information, stored temporarily, assists in strategizing your next move. Hence, the game of strategy also becomes a test of one’s cognitive ability, displaying the relationship between memory, comprehension, and competitive success. This mental exercise benefits cognitive agility, decision-making, and social interaction in a group setting.

23. Understanding a New Concept in Class When you’re exposed to a new topic in a class or lecture, your short-term memory serves as an essential tool. You need to remember facts, relate them to each other and to prior knowledge, helping compound understanding of the subject matter. This retention of information forms the first step in the journey from learning to long-term memory storage. Highlighting the role of short-term memory in education and knowledge acquisition, it serves as the initial filter in the learning process. Moreover, it underscores how our cognitive functions aid in personal growth, academic achievement, and overall intellectual development .

24. Recalling Tasks in a To-do List Creating and remembering a to-do list for the day is a routine task heavily dependent on short-term memory. Details of each task, their sequence, and priority levels are held in your short-term memory, often until they’re completed or jotted down somewhere. This process emphasizes the practical use of short-term memory in productivity and task management, which is integral to efficient day-to-day functioning. It also helps to cultivate personal organization, discipline, and even stress management by effectively decluttering our mental workspace.

25. Listening to and Responding in a Conversation In any conversation, short-term memory helps to keep track of what’s being said so that we can form appropriate responses. It plays a vital role in understanding the context, recalling related experiences, and keeping pace with the dialogue flow. This function proves how short-term memory is instrumental in social communication, linguistic comprehension, and interpersonal skills . Its role in conversations also enhances our ability to empathize, understand perspectives, and build connections, establishing its significance not just on a cognitive level, but on a socio-emotional plane too.

Short-Term Memory vs Long-Term Memory

We tend to compare short-term memory to long-term memory (LTM). LTM is where we store information that we need to recall well into the future, but in order to convert information from STM to LTM, we need to engage in conscious memorization practices such as rote learning.

There are substantial differences between STM and LTM, such as how much can be stored, how the information is forgotten, where it’s stored in the brain, and the accessibility of the memories.

Below is a table summary of the key differences:

See Also: Examples of Long-Term Memory

Summary of Key Points

• Short-term memory holds about 7 items of information (plus or minus 2).
• It can hold information for about 15-30 seconds.
• It’s contrasted to long-term memory, which can hold infinite items for a potentially infinite amount of time.
• STM is vital for completing daily tasks, such as holding information in our brains during a conversation or while playing games.
• We can prolong the how long a piece of information is kept in STM through strategies such as whispered repetition.
• To commit information from STM to LTM, learning strategies are required, such as spaced repetition.

Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1971).  The control processes of short-term memory . Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, Stanford University.

Baddeley, A.D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G.H. Bower (Ed.),  The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory  (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York: Academic Press.

Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M. W., & Anderson, A. C. (2009). Memory. New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Eysenck, M. W., & Keane, M. T. (2020). Cognitive Psychology: A Student’s Handbook. Taylor & Francis.

García-Rueda, L., Poch, C., & Campo, P. (2022). Forgetting Details in Visual Long-Term Memory: Decay or Interference?   Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience ,  16 , 887321.

Miller, G. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information .  The psychological review , 63, 81-97.

Nairne, J. S., & Neath, I. (2012). Sensory and working memory. In Weiner, I. B. (Ed.). Handbook of Psychology, Experimental Psychology . London: Wiley.

Slotnick, S. (2017). Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Psychology Discussion

Essay on memory: (meaning and types).

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Read this Comprehensive Essay on Memory: Meaning, Nature and Types of Memory !

Meaning and Nature :

Memory is one of the important cognitive processes. Memory involves remembering and forgetting.

These are like two faces of a coin. Though these two are opposed to each other by nature, they play an important role in the life of an individual.

Remembering the pleasant experiences makes living happy, and on the other hand remembering unpleasant experiences makes living unhappy and miserable. So here forgetting helps individual to forget unwanted and unpleasant experiences and memories and keeps him happy.

In this way, remembering the pleasant and forgetting the- unpleasant both are essential for normal living. In the case of learners, remembering is very important, because without memory there would be no learning.

If learning has to progress, remembering of what is already learnt is indispensable, otherwise every time the learner has to start from the beginning.

The memory is defined as ‘the power to store experiences and to bring them into the field of consciousness sometime after the experience has occurred’. Our mind has the power of conserving experiences and mentally receiving them whenever such an activity helps the onward progress of the life cycle.

The conserved experience has a unity, an organisation of its own and it colours our present experience.

However, as stated above we have a notion that memory is a single process, but an analysis of it reveals involvement of three different activities- learning, retention and remembering.

This is the first stage of memory. Learning may be by any of the methods like imitation, verbal, motor, conceptual, trial and error, insight, etc. Hence, whatever may be the type of learning; we must pay our attention to retain what is learnt. A good learning is necessary for better retention.

Retention is the process of retaining in mind what is learnt or experienced in the past. The learnt material must be retained in order to make progress in our learning. Psychologists are of the opinion that the learnt material will be retained in the brain in the form of neural traces called ‘memory traces’, or ‘engrams’, or ‘neurograms’.

When good learning takes place –clear engrams are formed, so that they remain for long time and can be remembered by activation of these traces whenever necessary.

Remembering:

It is the process of bringing back the stored or retained information to the conscious level. This may be understood by activities such as recalling, recognising, relearning and reconstruction.

Recalling is the process of reproducing the past experiences that are not present. For example, recalling answers in the examination hall.

Recognising:

It is to recognise a person seen earlier, or the original items seen earlier, from among the items of the same class or category which they are mixed-up.

Relearning:

Relearning is also known as saving method. Because we measure retention in terms of saving in the number of repetition or the time required to relearn the assignment. The difference between the amount of time or trials required for original learning and the one required for relearning indicates the amount of retention.

Reconstruction:

Reconstruction is otherwise called rearrangement. Here the material to learn will be presented in a particular order and then the items will be jumbled up or shuffled thoroughly and presented to the individual to rearrange them in the original order in which it was presented.

Types of Memory :

There are five kinds of memory. These are classified on the basis of rates of decay of the information.

a. Sensory memory:

In this kind of memory, the information received by the sense organs will remain there for a very short period like few seconds. For example, the image on the screen of a TV may appear to be in our eyes for a fraction of time even when it is switched off, or the voice of a person will be tingling in our ears even after the voice is ceased.

b. Short-term memory (STM):

According to many studies, in STM the memory remains in our conscious and pre-conscious level for less than 30 seconds. Later on this will be transferred to long-term memory.

c. Long-term memory (LTM):

LTM has the unlimited capacity to store information which may remain for days, months, years or lifetime.

d. Eidetic memory:

It is otherwise called photographic memory in which the individual can remember a scene or an event in a photographic detail.

e. Episodic memory:

This is otherwise called semantic memory which is connected with episodes of events. The events are stored in the form of episodes and recalled fully in the manner of a sequence.

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• 11 Factors that Influence Memory Process in Humans
• 7 Main Factors that Influence Retention Power | Memory | Psychology
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• Memory Types: 3 Main Types of Memory | Remembering | Psychology

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• Front Psychol

Memory: An Extended Definition

Gregorio zlotnik.

1 Clinique de la Migraine de Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

Aaron Vansintjan

2 Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom

Recent developments in science and technology point to the need to unify, and extend, the definition of memory. On the one hand, molecular neurobiology has shown that memory is largely a neuro-chemical process, which includes conditioning and any form of stored experience. On the other hand, information technology has led many to claim that cognition is also extended, that is, memory may be stored outside of the brain. In this paper, we review these advances and describe an extended definition of memory. This definition is largely accepted in neuroscience but not explicitly stated. In the extended definition, memory is the capacity to store and retrieve information. Does this new definition of memory mean that everything is now a form of memory? We stress that memory still requires incorporation, that is, in corpore . It is a relationship – where one biological or chemical process is incorporated into another, and changes both in a permanent way. Looking at natural and biological processes of incorporation can help us think of how incorporation of internal and external memory occurs in cognition. We further argue that, if we accept that there is such a thing as the storage of information outside the brain – and that this organic, dynamic process can also be called “memory” – then we open the door to a very different world. The mind is not static. The brain, and the memory it uses, is a work in progress; we are not now who we were then.

Introduction

In the short story “Funes, the memorious,” Jorge Luis Borges invites us to imagine a man, Funes, who cannot forget anything. The narrator is ashamed in the inexactness of his retelling: his own memory is “remote and weak,” in comparison to that of his subject, which resembles “a stammering greatness.” Unlike Funes, he says, “we all live by leaving behind” – life is impossible without forgetting. He goes on to note that, even though Funes could remember every split second, he couldn’t classify or abstract from his memories. “To think is to forget a difference, to generalize, to abstract.” The reader may be led to wonder how Funes’ brain has the capacity to store all of that memory. doesn’t it reach its limits at some point? Borges leaves that question to our imagination.

In popular culture, memory is often thought of as some kind of physical thing that is stored in the brain; a subjective, personal experience that we can recall at will. This way of thinking about memory has led many to wonder if there is a maximum amount of memories we can have. But, this idea of memory is at odds with advances in the science of memory over the last century: memory isn’t really a fixed thing stored in the brain, but is more of a chemical process between neurons, which is not static. What’s more, advances in information technology are pushing our understanding of memory into new directions. We now talk about memory on a hard drive, or as a chemical change between neurons. Yet, these different definitions of memory continue to co-exist. A more narrow definition of memory, as the storage of experiences in the brain, is increasingly at odds with an extended definition, which acknowledges these advances. However, while this expanded definition is often implicitly used, it is rarely explicitly acknowledged or stated. Today, the question is no longer, how many memories can we possibly have, but, how is the vast amount of memory we process on a daily basis integrated into cognition?

In this paper, we outline these advances and the currently accepted definitions of memory, arguing that these necessarily imply that we should today adopt an extended definition. In the following, we first describe some key advances in the science of memory, cognitive theory, and information technology. These suggest to us that we are already using a unified, and extended, definition of memory, but rarely made explicit. Does this new definition of memory mean that everything is now a form of memory? We argue that looking at natural and biological processes of incorporation can help us think of how incorporation of internal and external memory occurs in cognition. Finally, we note some of the implications of this extended definition of memory.

Background: Advances in the Science of Memory

Already in the 19th century, the recognition that the number of neurons in the brain doesn’t increase significantly after reaching adulthood suggested to early neuroanatomists that memories aren’t primarily stored through the creation of neurons, but rather through the strengthening of connections between neurons ( Ramón y Cajal, 1894 ). In 1966, the breakthrough discovery of long-term potentiation (LTP) suggested that memories may be encoded in the strength of synaptic signals between neurons ( Bliss and Lømo, 1973 ). And so we started understanding memory as a neuro-chemical process. The studies by Eric Kandel of the Aplysia californica , for which he won the Nobel prize, for example, show that classical conditioning is a basic form of memory storage and is observable on a molecular level within simple organisms ( Kandel et al., 2012 ). This in effect expanded the definition of memory to include storage of information in the neural networks of simple lifeforms. Increasingly, researchers are exploring the chemistry behind memory development and recall, suggesting these molecular processes can lead to psychological adaptations (e.g., Coderre et al., 2003 ; Laferrière et al., 2011 ).

Memory is today defined in psychology as the faculty of encoding, storing, and retrieving information ( Squire, 2009 ). Psychologists have found that memory includes three important categories: sensory, short-term, and long-term. Each of these kinds of memory have different attributes, for example, sensory memory is not consciously controlled, short-term memory can only hold limited information, and long-term memory can store an indefinite amount of information.

Key to the emerging science of memory is the question of how memory is consolidated and processed. Long-term storage of memories happens on a synaptic level in most organisms ( Bramham and Messaoudi, 2005 ), but, in complex organisms like ourselves, there is also a second form of memory consolidation: systems consolidation moves, processes, and more permanently stores memories ( Frankland and Bontempi, 2005 ). Today, there are many models of how memory is consolidated in cognition. Single-system models posit that the hippocampus supports the neocortex in encoding and storing long-term memories through strengthening connections, finally leading the memory to become independent from the hippocampus (Ibid.). Multiple-trace theory instead proposes that each memory has a unique code or memory trace, which continues to involve the hippocampus to an extent ( Hintzman and Block, 1971 ; Hintzman, 1986 , 1990 ; Whittlesea, 1987 ; Versace et al., 2014 ; Briglia et al., 2018 ). In another theory, memory is understood as a form of negative entropy or rich energy ( Wiener, 1961 , 1988 ), which is then processed in a way that minimizes the expenditure of energy by the brain ( Friston, 2010 ; Van der Helm, 2016 ). Our heightened capacity to store information may be due to our ability to reduce disorder and process large amounts of information rapidly, a necessarily non-linear process ( Wiener, 1961 , 1988 ). The forgetting and fading of memories is also understood as being an important aspect of the functioning and utility of these memories ( Staniloiu and Markowitsch, 2012 ). As with a computer hard drive, memories can also be “corrupted” – false memories are commonly studied within forensic psychology ( Loftus, 2005 ). Together, these advances highlight how different kinds of memory storage are non-linear – that is, subject to complex systems interactions – contextual, and plastic. They also shed light on why, and how, we are able to live with such large quantities of information. It may not be that Funes has the special ability to remember everything, but that he lacks our ability to incorporate, and sort through, a potentially infinite amount of information.

The advance of the fields of genetics and epigenetics has also given us new metaphors to describe memory. We understand DNA as a structure that carries information that we call “genetic code” – kind of like a computer chip for biological processes. Today, the metaphor has come full circle and we can now use DNA to store and extract digital data ( Church et al., 2012 ). The study of epigenetics suggests that simple lifeforms pass on memories across generations through genetic code ( Klosin et al., 2017 ; Posner et al., 2019 ), suggesting a need to study whether humans and other complex life forms may do so as well. With these advances, our understanding of how memory is stored has expanded once again.

Further, we can now store memory in places that we haven’t been able to before. Smartphones, mind-controlled prosthetic limbs, and Google Glasses all offer new ways to store information and thereby interact with our surroundings. Our ability to produce information alters how we perceive the world, with far-reaching implications. As Stephen Hawking, the Nobel prize-winning physicist explained in his 1996 lecture, “Life in the universe,”

What distinguishes us from [our ancestors], is the knowledge that we have accumulated over the last 10000 years, and particularly, over the last three hundred. I think it is legitimate to take a broader view, and include externally transmitted information, as well as DNA, in the evolution of the human race ( Hawking, 1996 ).

The sheer quantity of available information today, as well as developments in an understanding of memory – from fixed and physical to dynamic, chemical, and a process of rich energy transfer – lead to a very different picture of memory than the one we had 100 years ago. Memory seems to exist everywhere, from an Aplysia ’s ganglion to DNA to a hard drive.

To account for these developments, cognitive scientists now propose that human cognition is actually extended beyond the brain in ways that theories of the mind did not previously recognize ( Clark and Chalmers, 1998 ; Clark, 2008 ). This approach is being called 4E cognition (Embodied, Embedded, Extended, and Enactive). For example, enactivism posits that cognition is a dynamic interaction between an organism and its environment ( Varela et al., 1991 ; Chemero, 2009 ; Menary, 2010 ; Rowlands, 2010 ; Favela and Chemero, 2016 ; Briglia et al., 2018 ). According to this framework, cognition is a process of incorporation between the environment and the body/brain/mind. To be clear, cognition is not incorporated in the surroundings, only the corpus can incorporate, and thus cognition (or what we call “mind”) is a product of the interaction between the brain, the body, and the environment.

Extending Memory

These developments indicate that we need to reconceptualize our definition of memory. What is the difference between trying to recall a childhood experience, and searching for an important email archived years ago? This distinction is best represented through the difference in how we use the words “memory” and “memories.” Usually, “memories” tends to refer to events recalled from the past, which are seen as more representational and subjective. In contrast, “memory” now is used to refer to storage of information in general , including in DNA, digital information storage, and neuro-chemical processes. Today, science has moved far beyond a popular understanding of memory as fixed, subjective, and personal. In the extended definition, it is simply the capacity to store and retrieve information . To illustrate why memory has extended beyond this original use, we want to ask the reader: what do a stressed-out driver and a snail have in common?

(1). A homeowner has been trying to sell her house for a year, and worrying about it. One day, she’s driving to work and becomes extremely anxious, for no apparent reason. She wasn’t thinking of anything in particular at the time. Confused, she looks around, and notices a billboard advertising a real estate agency. She realizes that she had seen it out of the corner of her eye, and her brain had then processed the information while she was thinking of something else, which then triggered the anxiety attack.

(2). Consider a nerve cell of an A. californica , a kind of sea snail, which is prodded vigorously for a short time period, provoking an immediate withdrawal response. Shortly afterward, it is prodded less intensely, but, it elicits the same withdrawal response. It is found that the slugs’ nerve cell is sensitive for up to 24 h – the nerve cells “remember” past pain.

Each example illustrates a different kind of chemical, biological process. In the first example, an outside stimulus triggers a stress response for the homeowner. We can surmise that though she didn’t “remember” anything, non-consciously, she did. In the second example, the snail certainly “remembers” the provocation, even though this memory is only stored in a few cells. But can we really call this memory?

However, on closer examination, we are forced to concede that each of them should be called a form of memory. First, consider the homeowner: her brain “remembers” something that does not occur to her as a conscious thought. It is clearly a chemical process occurring in the background. Most would grant that this would nevertheless be a form of memory, as it involves recalling information stored in her brain. Already, a broader definition of memory is used that does not imply conscious attention. Now, consider the snail: it is also storing information chemically. Once again, this does not involve a conscious, subjective process of storing and remembering – it is purely reactive, but information is being stored and recalled nonetheless. We would need to concede that if the homeowner’s experience counts as memory, then the slug’s automatic response does as well. There is in fact little difference between the first two examples: there is a transfer of information that causes a reaction. Both should be considered forms of memory.

A Slippery Slope?

If we agree with this expanded definition of memory, then it follows that experience is also a form of stored information, kinds of memory . We are not saying that a particular experience, as an event , is a memory. Rather, we here use the word “experience” as connoted by the phrase “an experienced driver,” an “experienced writer.” They have a set of experiences, remembered through practice, and retrieved when they drive, or write. When we accumulate knowledge, information, and techniques, then the accumulation of those separate processes constitute experience . This experience involves retrieval of information, conversely, being experienced is the process of retrieving memory.

Under this definition, even immunological and allergy processes may be considered memory. There is a storage of information of the allergen or the viral/bacterial aggressor and when the aggressor or allergen re-appears there is a cascade of inflammatory processes. This can be considered the storage and retrieval of information, and thus a form of memory. This does not contradict the accepted definition of memory within psychology, as it is still seen as the ability to encode, store, and recall information. Rather, it extends it to processes not just bound by the brain.

If memory is indeed defined as “the capacity to store and/or retrieve information,” then this may lead anyone to ask – what isn’t memory? Wouldn’t this definition of memory be far too broad, and include a vast range of phenomena? Is the extended definition of memory, as is being proposed by neurobiologists and cognitive theorists, a slippery slope?

As we suggested above, however, memory still involves a process of incorporation, that is, requiring a corpus . While memory may be stored on the cloud, it requires a system of incorporation with the body and therefore the mind. In other words, the “cloud” by itself is not memory, but operates through an infrastructure (laptops, smart phones, Google Glasses) that are integrated with the brain-mind through learned processes of storage and recall. The conditioning of an Aplysia ’s ganglion is incorporated into an organism. Memory, it seems, is not just mechanistic, but a dynamic process. It is a relationship – where one biological or chemical process is incorporated into another, and changes both in a permanent way. A broadened definition must account for this dynamic relationship between organisms and their environment.

How can we understand this process of incorporation? It appears that symbiotic incorporation of biological processes is quite common in nature. Recent studies offer more evidence that early cells acquired mitochondria by, at some point, incorporating external organisms into their own cell structure ( Thrash et al., 2011 ; Ferla et al., 2013 ). Mitochondria have their own genome, which is similar to that of bacteria. What was once a competitor and possibly a parasite became absorbed into the organism – and yet, the mitochondrion was not fully incorporated and retains many of its own processes of self-organization and memory storage, separate from the cell it resides in. This evolutionary process highlights the way by which external properties may become incorporated into the internal, changing both. Looking at natural and biological processes of incorporation can help us think of how incorporation of internal and external memory occurs in cognition.

Implications

This extended definition of memory may seem ludicrous and hard to accept. You may be tempted to throw up your hands and go back to the old, restricted, definition of memory – one that requires the transmission of subjective memories.

We beg you not to. There are several benefits of this approach to memory. First, in biology, expanding the definition of memory helps us shift from a focus on “experience” (which suggests an immaterial event) to a more material phenomenon: a deposit of events that may be stored and used afterward. By expanding the concept of memory, the study of memory within molecular neurobiology becomes more relevant and important. This expanded definition is in large part already widely accepted, for example, in Kandel’s Aplysia , conditioning is acknowledged to be a part of memory, and memory is not a part of conditioning. Memory would become the umbrella for learning, conditioning, and other processes of the mind/brain. Doing so changes the frame of observation from one which understands memory as a narrow, particular process, to one which understands it as a dynamic, fluid, and interactive phenomenon, neither just chemical or digital but integrated into our experience through multiple media. Second, it helps to conceptualize the relationship between biology, psychology, cognitive science, and computer science – as all three involve studying the transfer of information.

Third, it opens up an interesting way to imagine our own future. If we accept that there is such a thing as the storage of information outside the brain – and that this organic, dynamic process can also be called “memory” – then we open the door to a very different world. The mind is not static. Rather, like early cells acquiring mitochondria, it incorporates information from its surroundings, which in turn changes it. The brain, and the memory it uses, is a work in progress; we are not now who we were then. Many have already noted the extent to which we are cyborgs ( Harraway, 1991 ; Clark, 2003 , 2005 ); this neat line between human and technology may become more and more blurred as we develop specialized tools to store all kinds of information in our built environment. In what ways will the mind-brain function differently as it becomes increasingly more incorporated in its milieu, relying on it for information storage and processing?

Now let’s talk about Funes. His inability to forget his memories may seem familiar to some, a metaphor for our current condition. We may now recognize a bit of ourselves in him: we don’t see limits in our capacity to store new information, and the sheer availability of it is sometimes overwhelming. Even without the arrival of the Information Age, we carry with us through life a heavy load of disappointments, broken dreams, little tragedies and many memories. We know that forgetting is a must and a challenge. Yet, we are learning rapidly how to incorporate and use the massive amounts of data now available to us. The main challenge for each of us is to harness and control the unleashed powers given to us by technology. The future is uncertain, but some things remain the same. As Kandel (2007 , p. 10) wrote, “We are who we are in great measure because of what we learn, and what we remember.”

Author Contributions

GZ and AV drafted and edited the manuscript. Both authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Michael Lifshitz, Ph.D. for reading an early copy of this article and providing feedback. The authors also wish to thank Steven J. Lynn, Alan M. Rapoport, and Morgan Craig for the feedback and encouragement.

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Essay on the Capacity of Short Term Memory | Psychology

Short-term memory is the memory for a stimulus that lasts for a short while (Carlson, 2001).  In practical terms visual short-term memory is often used for a comparative purpose when one cannot look in two places at once but wish to compare two or more possibilities.  Tuholski and colleagues refer to short-term memory as being the concomitant processing and storage of information (Tuholski, Engle, & Baylis, 2001).  They also highlight the fact that cognitive ability can often be adversely affected by working memory capacity.  It is particularly important to be clear on the normal capacity of short term memory as, without a proper understanding of the intact brain’s functioning it is difficult to assess whether an individual has a deficit in ability (Parkin, 1996).

This review outlines George Miller’s historical view of short-term memory capacity and how it can be affected, before bringing the research up to date and illustrating a selection of ways of measuring short-term memory capacity. The historical view of short-term memory capacity

Span of absolute judgement

The span of absolute judgement is defined as the limit to the accuracy with which one can identify the magnitude of a unidimensional stimulus variable (Miller, 1956), with this limit or span traditionally being around 7 + 2. Miller cites Hayes memory span experiment as evidence for his limiting span. In this participants had to recall information read aloud to them and results clearly showed that there was a normal upper limit of 9 when binary items were used. This was despite the constant information hypothesis, which has suggested that the span should be long if each presented item contained little information (Miller, 1956). The conclusion from Hayes and Pollack’s experiments (see figure 1) was that the amount of information transmitted increases in a linear fashion along with the amount of information per unit input (Miller, 1956). Figure 1. Measurements of memory for information sources of different types and bit quotients, compared to expected results for constant information. Results from Hayes (left) and Pollack (right) cited by (Miller, 1956)

Bits and chunks

Miller refers to a ‘bit’ of information as ‘the amount of information needed to make a decision between two equally likely alternatives’. Thus a simple either or decision requires one bit of information; with more required for more complex decisions, along a binary pathway (Miller, 1956). Decimal digits are worth 3.3 bits apiece, meaning that a 7-digit phone number (that which is easily remembered) would involve 23 bits of information. However an apparent contradiction to this is the fact that, if an English word is worth around 10 bits and only 23 bits could be remembered then only 2-3 words could be remembered at any one time, obviously incorrect. The limiting span can better be understood in terms of the assimilation of bits into chunks. Miller distinguishes between bits and chunks of information, the distinction being that a chunk is made up of multiple bits of information. It is interesting to note that whilst there is a finite capacity to remember chunks of information, the amount of bits in each of those chunks can vary widely (Miller, 1956). However it is not a simple case of being able to remember large chunks immediately, rather that as each bit becomes more familiar, it can be assimilated into a chunk, which is then remembered itself. Recoding is the process by which individual bits are ‘recoded’ and assigned to chunks. Thus the conclusions that can be drawn from Miller’s original exposition is that, whilst there is an accepted limit to the number of chunks of information that can be stored in immediate (short-term) memory, the amount of information within each of those chunks is able to be quite high, without adversely affecting the recall of the same number of chunks. The modern view of short-term memory capacity Millers magic number 7+2 has been more recently redefined to the magic number 4+1 (Cowan, 2001). The challenge has come from results such as those from Chen and Cowan, in which the predicted results from an experiment were that immediate serial recall of absolute numbers of singleton words would be the same as the number of chunks of learned pair words. However in fact it was found that the same number of pre-exposed singleton words was recalled as the number of words within learned pairs – eg 8 words (presented as 8 singletons or 4 learned pairs). However 6 learned pairs could be recalled as successfully as 6 pre-exposed singleton words (Chen & Cowan, 2005). This suggested a different mechanism for recall depending on the circumstances. Cowan refers to the maximum number of chunks that can be recalled as the memory storage capacity (Cowan, 2001). It is noted that the number of chunks can be affected by long-term memory information, as indicated by Miller in terms of recoding – with additional information to enable this recoding coming from long-term memory.

Factors affecting apparent short-term memory

The propensity to use rehearsal and memory aids is a serious complication in accurately measuring the capacity of short-term memory. Indeed many of the studies ostentatiously measuring short-term memory capacity have been argued to be actually measuring the ability to rehearse and access long-term memory stores (Cowan, 2001). Given that recoding involves rehearsal and the use of long-term memory formation, anything that prevents or influences these will obviously affect the ability to recode successfully (Cowan, 2001).

Information overload

Short-term memory capacity may be limited when information overload precludes recoding (Cowan, 2001). For instance, if attention is directed away from the target stimulus during presentation there is too much information being processed to attend properly to the target stimulus. Therefore fewer items would be remembered as they would have been replaced by information from this alternate direction. Similarly, but actually distinguished quite definitively by Cowan, are techniques such as the requirement to repeat a separate word during the target stimulus presentation, which acts to prevent rehearsal.

Altering stimulus frequency and format

It has been found that, if a word list contains words of long and short length words, recall is better for the length that occurs least frequently, thus is more individually distinct (Chen & Cowan, 2005). Similarly the word length effect indicates that memory span is higher for words with a shorter spoken duration; syllable length varying as long as the spoken duration remains relatively constant (Parkin, 1996). This is similar to Miller’s chunking of information, if one were to assume that the spoken duration was a chunk of information and the syllable length was the bit of information.

Associations between components of information

Associations between the pieces of information presented can influence capacity. Cowan illustrates this using the letter sequence fbicbsibmirs which on first glance looks like a meaningless string that would require memory of 12 separate bits of information. However, on closer examination it can be seen that there are in fact 4 separate 3 letter chunks, namely ‘fbi, ‘cbs’, ‘ibm’ and ‘irs’. Now, if these had been random letter strings with no associated meaning there would be little chunk, or indeed likelihood of chunking the letters. However it is suggested that the well known acronyms of governmental and industry organisations considerably aids recoding, thus memory. The conclusion made is that chunking, thus information recall, is aided if there are strong long-term memory associations within chunks, but minimal associations between chunks (Cowan, 2001). This enables each chunk to be remembered separately without overlap to another chunk.

Time limitation

Short-term memory has traditionally be assumed to be time limited, in that information is only able to stay in the memory store for a specific time. However this assertion has been challenged and instead a form of information replacement has been suggested, whereby a finite capacity to short-term memory ensures that the entry of a new piece of information displaces an older one (Cowan, 2001).

Methods of measuring the capacity of short-term memory

There are a variety of methods used to measure the capacity of short-term memory. These include enumeration, whole report and alphanumeric span tasks (taken to have a 4 chunk upper limit), and recall of visual stimuli, multi-object tracking and repetition priming (all argued to show an upper limit of less than 4) (Avons, Ward, & Russo, 2001). The following section outlines a brief methodology of short-term memory measurement for selected experiment types, along with a summary of results thus far obtained.

Enumeration

Enumeration tasks involve presenting a participant with n objects to count, and measuring the reaction time for each number. It is argued that the smaller the working memory capacity, the steeper the reaction time slopes would be (Tuholski et al., 2001). As can be seen from figure 2 below; using lines as the object to count; the reaction time is relatively constant until more than 4 lines are presented, at which point reaction time increases sharply. This indicates that 4 lines is the easy upper limit in terms of this particular version of short-term memory. The authors conclude that it is the controlled processing element of counting that limits the working memory span. This has been described as subitizing, in which a few items can be readily and rapidly attended, but more items require a steep increase in both reaction time and overall time required to attend to the items (Cowan, 2001).

Figure 2. An example of results obtained from an enumeration task (adapted from (Tuholski et al., 2001)

This ‘elbow’ in the enumeration curve has been proposed to be caused by an increase in memory load, specifically a less automatic method of processing, which allows more time in which engrams within the short-term memory can be overwritten, thus reducing accuracy (Green & Bavelier, 2005). It could be argued, however, that enumeration isn’t measuring short-term memory as much as counting ability. Further it has been indicated that enumeration is invariably only related to individuated items (Cowan, 2001), eg bits rather than chunks, so it is not clear what results would occur if it were not.

Whole Report

Whole report procedures involve recalling all possible stimuli from an array presented. This contrasts to partial report procedures, in which only specific stimuli need to be recalled, usually in response to a specific cue. Cowan reports results indicating that short-term memory capacity is 4 for whole report procedures and links this to sensory memory (Cowan, 2001). Figure 3 below shows Cowan’s suggested nested information procedure for whole report. In this any and all information is elevated from the activated long-term memory store into the focus of attention until this latter is full (Cowan, 2001). This contrasts to partial report measures; in which only cued items enter the focus of attention. Figure 3. Processing in whole report procedures (Cowan, 2001)

An obvious criticism of whole report measures is that they are assessing the ability to access long-term memory, not necessarily short-term memory capacity.

Multi-object tracking

Multi-object tracking is carried out using flashing dots on a computer screen. Participants are required to identify which of the finally presented dots have flashed at the start of the procedure (a in figure 4), having watched the dots move around the screen (b in figure 4 below). Figure 4. An example of the dots used in a multi object tracking procedure (Cavanagh & Alvarez, 2005)

Memory capacity appears to be around 4 for this task, as 3 dots can easily be tracked, whereas the majority of participants experience difficulty with 5 (Cowan, 2001). A recent study also found that the limit for tracking independent targets was 4 (Cavanagh & Alvarez, 2005) but Avons and colleagues (Avons et al., 2001) disagree with this (but do not provide a viable alternative) . However, Cavanagh and Alvarez do highlight the need for further research to separate the effects of visual tracking from memory capacity, when measuring performance in multi-object tracking experiments. Further research concludes that visual short-term memory capacity is actually limited by a whole chain of capacity bound operations (Delvenne, 2005).

Repetition priming

Repetition priming involves the presentation of a series of words and nonwords, which includes repetition of words with a variable number of other items intervening. The repeated word is said to be primed and the specific measure is the reaction time to this repeated word. It has been found that up to 4 items can be reliably recognised in this way (Cowan, 2001) (see figure 5 below). McKone argues that repetition priming is an accurate measure of short-term memory capacity as the long lists of words prevent rehearsal, as does the inclusion of nonwords (McKone, 2000). Indeed she goes on to explain that capacity, as measured by primed repetition is related to the limited nature of the focus of attention. Figure 5. The reaction time and number of words recognised from primed (old) words in a repetition priming experiment (McKone, 2000)

There is still much debate about the capacity of short-term memory and the accuracy of measuring it. It is difficult to separate genuine short-term memory capacity from the more working memory capacity that is affected by rehearsal. Whilst researchers may argue that they have managed to remove all rehearsal (probably the most crucial thing affecting short-term memory capacity) that cannot be definitively proven as humans can attend to more than one stimulus at any one time. Nevertheless whilst Miller’s original work is still seminal in the area of short-term memory capacity it is true to say that his conclusions of 7 + 2 has now been superseded to 4 + 1.

• Avons, S. E., Ward, G., & Russo, R. (2001). The dangers of taking capacity limits too literally. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 114-115.
• Carlson, N. (2001). Learning and memory: Basic mechanisms. Physiology of behaviour (7th ed.) (pp. 423-465). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
• Cavanagh, P., & Alvarez, G. A. (2005). Tracking multiple targets with multifocal attention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(7), 349-354.
• Chen, Z., & Cowan, N. (2005). Chunk limits and length limits in immediate recall: A reconciliation. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31(6), 1235-1249.
• Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory : A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 87-114; discussion 114-85.
• Delvenne, J. F. (2005). The capacity of visual short-term memory within and between hemifields. Cognition, 96(3), B79-88.
• Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2005). Enumeration versus multiple object tracking: The case of action video game players. [Electronic version]. Cognition, in press, 1-29.
• McKone, E. (2000). Capacity limits in continuous old-new recognition and in short-term implicit memory. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 130-131.
• Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81-97.
• Parkin, A. J. (1996). Spoken language impairments. In A. J. Parkin (Ed.), Explorations in cognitive neuropsychology (1st ed.) (pp. 129-153). Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press.
• Tuholski, S. W., Engle, R. W., & Baylis, G. C. (2001). Individual differences in working memory capacity and enumeration. Memory & Cognition, 29(3), 484-492.

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Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Short Term Memory — Technology And Short-time Memory

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Can short-term memory loss be cured? Exploring causes, symptoms, treatment, and more

A re you intrigued by the concept of short-term memory loss? If you're seeking answers about its curability, causes, symptoms and potential treatments, you're in the right place.

In this article, let's uncover the intricacies of this phenomenon. Delve into the world of memory with us as we investigate the factors that contribute to short-term memory loss, its observable signs and the possible ways to address it.

Understanding short-term memory loss

Short-term memory loss is like that friend who occasionally leaves you hanging – it happens unexpectedly.

Think of it as those moments when you can't recall where you placed your keys or the name of that new cafe you visited last week. However, rest assured, this forgetfulness isn't necessarily a sign of permanent brain fog.

Short-term memory loss causes

Stress and anxiety: Imagine a bustling circus of tasks in your mind. Stress and anxiety might be the ringleaders, affecting your memory's ability to function optimally.

Sleep deprivation: A night of tossing and turning doesn't just make you groggy; it can play tricks on your memory. Lack of sleep disrupts memory consolidation processes.

Nutritional deficiencies: The brain requires proper nourishment. Insufficient intake of vital nutrients, like B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids , can impact memory function.

Medications: Some medications come with memory-related side effects. If you're suspicious, consult your healthcare provider to explore alternatives.

Short-term memory loss symptoms: Signs to observe

Forgetfulness: The classic telltale sign. Struggling to recollect recent events or conversations is a common symptom.

Multitasking challenges: If multitasking resembles a juggling act, your short term memory might need a bit of fine-tuning.

Name-recall difficulty: Ever met someone and instantly forgot their name? It's relatable, but if this becomes persistent, it's worth investigating.

Misplacing items: Frequent instances of misplacing everyday items can hint at short-term memory hiccups.

Exploring short-term memory loss treatment

Now, let's address the pressing query – can short-term memory loss be treated? The answer isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, but you have options:

Lifestyle adjustments: The brain thrives on a healthy lifestyle. Regular exercise, balanced diet and quality sleep can significantly benefit your memory.

Cognitive stimulation: Keep your brain engaged. Puzzles, games, reading or learning new skills provide your memory with the workout it needs.

Stress management: Taming stress is a gift to your memory. Experiment with relaxation techniques like meditation and deep breathing.

Seeking professional help: If memory issues persist or exacerbate, it's wise to consult a healthcare professional to rule out underlying medical conditions.

Reasons for short-term memory loss

Let's delve even deeper into the reasons for short-term memory loss:

Medical conditions: A range of medical issues – from depression to thyroid disorders – can contribute to short term memory challenges. Consulting a medical professional is advisable.

Age-related changes: As we age, it's common for memory functions to undergo shifts. Age-related memory lapses are part of the natural progression.

Can short-term memory loss be cured?

While there's no instant remedy, there's certainly optimism. Making lifestyle adjustments, engaging in cognitive exercises and managing stress can provide a boost to your memory.

Remember, a touch of forgetfulness is inherent to being human. Occasional memory lapses, like momentarily forgetting where you parked, don't necessarily foretell a decline in memory prowess.

Nevertheless, if memory concerns persist, seeking advice from a healthcare expert can provide valuable insights.

Interview with Rachel Nadon, CIRM's BMO 2024 postdoctoral fellow

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It was a busy spring for Rachel Nadon! On April 2nd, she began her stay as the  BMO Posdoctoral Fellow at CIRM for the year 2024 , and on July 1st, she will take up her new position as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Québec Literature in the Département de littérature, théâtre et cinéma at Université Laval!  Despite her short stay with us, we are eager to find out more about her fascinating research project, which she hopes to pursue as a professor.

But first and foremost, a brief biography is in order. With a PhD in French-language literatures from Université de Montréal, Rachel Nadon works on the relationship between emotions and the sensational press. Member of the Groupe de recherches et d’études sur le livre au Québec (GRÉLQ) , she works at the crossroads of cultural studies and literary history. She co-edited the collective Relire les revues québécoises : histoire, formes et pratiques (PUM, 2021). She is also director of Mens : revue d’histoire intellectuelle et culturelle .

Her research project as a BMO Postdoctoral Fellow, which she plans to pursue,  is “Emotions and archives of feelings: reading Montreal through Allô Police, 1970-2004”.

The question on everyone's mind: why Allô Police?

I've already been working on yellow newspapers for a few years ("yellow newspapers", just to get everyone on the same wavelength, is an expression that includes all sorts of different newspapers, crime papers, gossip papers, saucy cartoon papers, etc.). These are newspapers that are often ephemeral, that don't last long and whose circulation is difficult to evaluate. Allô Police had a very long life, from 1953 to 2004. It also had a huge circulation, between 100,000 and 200,000 copies a week in the 1950s. So, on the one hand, there's the duration and popularity of this newspaper.

And on the other, I have noticed that everyone has one or more anecdotes about Allô Police. When I was a kid, my parents used to cover my eyes a little when we passed the Allô Police in the convenience store! But just about everyone has something to say about Allô Police: reading it only on vacations (like a little party), cutting it up for scrapbooking, reading it on the sly, despite parental prohibitions, etc. It is this conjecture of two elements that intrigues me: its popularity, the widespread yet almost intimate nature of its reading. Although few people mention Allô Police as a legitimate reading habit...

What motivates you to study the relationship between emotions and the sensational press?

When I started reading Allô Police, I realized that emotion was quite important in my reading. I was confronted with articles about mutilated and decapitated people; there were lots of photos of corpses. Itis something that really grabbed me, and which seems to me to go beyond the notion of sensationalism. Starting from my emotions of fascination and disgust, and perplexity too, I came to pay attention to the texts, to the way emotions like fear, disgust, even love, were named. I realized that all this, the mobilization of emotion in different ways, was part of the reading pact of these newspapers. I should point out that my reading emotions are probably not the same as those of another readership, that of the 1950s for example; I cannot assume that, at least!

What are your goals and expectations for your residency as a postdoctoral fellow at CRIEM?

The project is structured in two parts. First, I will be reading copies of Allô Police from the 1976 Olympics to the end of the newspaper's activities in 2004. I'm particularly interested in the 1980s and 1990s, because I want to see how the paper stages the city. For example, what neighborhoods are named, what events are covered? Does it resemble the years I've already studied (the 1950s-1960s)? I will be able to pursue these questions, analyzing the ways in which the city of Montréal is constructed over the course of the articles. I am also going to see how a newspaper like Allô Police situates itself in relation to the pro-sex and anti-sex feminist movements, and everything to do with pornography and sex work. As it's a newspaper that makes a living out of sexuality and its particular circles, I'm interested.

There's a second aspect to the project, that of archives. I want to explore people's memories of this diary, with the idea of reconstructing an archive of readings, or rather an "archive of feelings", to use Ann Czetkovich 's words. The aim is to seek out stories, objects of all kinds, business cards, photocopied editions, photos, scrapbook pages made from Allô Police clippings, etc. This will be a good way to reflect on the different uses of the newspaper and the ways in which people interacted with Allô Police, but also on the memories they retain of it and what it tells us about a way of living in or representing Montréal. It goes beyond a simple "broadcast-reception" type of reading, I want to touch on the uses of the newspaper and its ways of circulating, and of "orienting" us in the city.

Can you explain the concept of the archive of feelings?

Ann Czetkovich is interested in the experience of trauma among lesbian and queer people. According to her, this experience isn't "officially" documented, but is associated with objects or narratives. These objects - it could be a diary or pulp collections - are not necessarily linked to the experience of trauma, but evoke it in different ways for someone or for a community. These objects, figures or photos (for example), are invested with sentimental value and meaning, but they are not considered archives in the institutional sense of the term. Ann Czetkovich, in her book An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures , analyzes these archives and "produces" them, too. There is a double movement of analysis and creation (she "constitutes" cultural productions as archives, so to speak), and that is what I want to do too. Does the experience of emotionally reading a newspaper like Allô Police produce an archive of feelings? I would like to collect objects and stories that would enable us to reflect on the relationship between emotions, memory and the city.

This implies creative work.

For the project, I'd like to set up a website, collect alternative archives of Allô Police, meet people who still remember it, and explore different modes of distribution, such as fanzines. I have co-written a "detective serial" in the cultural magazine Liberté, in which I've used the device of fiction to integrate interviews I have already done with Allô Police actors. I'm also thinking of organizing a round-table discussion on the 20th anniversary of Allô Police's demise.

For me, in this project, there is a dimension of research and creation in the strict sense, i.e. reading and research on the one hand, and "reconstituting" the archives on the other. More broadly, it allows me to reflect on the question of archives, which is a complicated one when it comes to large-scale cultural productions. The documents that bear witness to the production of these periodicals are often not intended for conservation or archiving. In fact, the product itself - the newspaper - was never intended for preservation!

Why is it important to study a crime news journal like Allô Police?

On the one hand, it is a place of memory, in the sense of a space of memory that bears witness to many events affecting Montreal and many other places. This place of memory allows us to read the watermark of changes affecting society, but also relationships between people, the way we conceive of crime and criminals. In short, it allows us to reflect on what affects people, and what constitutes an era. And at the same time, it is a place of memory in the most fundamental sense: people remember it. Many readers meet there. It's important to highlight how a newspaper that has had bad press has brought together a community of readers, a community that could be reconstituted by, among other things, the very diverse uses to which this newspaper has been put.

What are your plans for your first months (or rather first years!) as an assistant professor of Québec literature?

One thing is for sure: I want to pursue this project! It is very close to my heart. I am interested in pursuing all these reflections on how a tabloid newspaper like Allô Police has left an emotional, concrete and material mark on people's lives and on the city of Montréal. More broadly, I have a project on the cultural history of bad taste in Québec; to be continued, as they say!

A perfect day in Montréal? It's summer, I get on my bike, I go swimming in Parc Jarry, I have a coffee in the Mile End and we eat hot dogs at Orange Julep..   3 essential symbols of Montréal? Olympic Stadium, Caffè Italia and Milano (together), and the Lachine Canal   Favorite neighborhood? My neighborhood, Little Italy, because of my neighbors!   Bibliography on emotions and cultural & literary studies: Sara Ahmed (2014), Cultural Politics of Emotion , Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press,2 nd ed., 256 p. Ann Czetkovich (2003), An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures , Duke University Press, 368 p. Michel de Certeau (1990), L’invention du quotidien, tome 1 : Arts de faire , Folio, 416 p. Richard Hoggart (1970), La Culture du pauvre , trad. de l’anglais par Jean Claude Passeron, Paris, Minuit, 420 p. Will Straw (2021), «The Pastness of Allo Police» , dans Martha Langford et Johanne Sloan (ed.), Photogenic Montreal: Activisms and Archives in a Post-Industrial City, Montréal, McGill/Queen’s University Press, p. 199-216.

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