MEMORY

MEMORY REFERS TO THE STORAGE, RETENTION AND RECALL

OF INFORMATION INCLUDING PAST EXPERIENCES,
KNOWLEDGE AND THOUGHTS. MEMORY FOR SPECIFIC
INFORMATION CAN VARY GREATLY ACCORDING TO THE
INDIVIDUAL AND THE INDIVIDUAL’S STATE OF MIND. IT CAN
ALSO VARY ACCORDING TO THE CONTENT OF THE
INFORMATION ITSELF; THUS INFORMATION WHICH IS NOVEL
OR EXCITING TENDS TO BE BETTER REMEMBERED THAN
INFORMATION WHICH IS UNINTERESTING OR ORDINARY.
FAILURE OF MEMORY CAN NORMALLY RESULT FROM FAILURE
TO ADEQUATELY STORE THE MEMORY IN THE FIRST PLACE,
FAILURE TO RETAIN THE INFORMATION (FORGETTING) AND
FAILURE TO RETRIEVE THE INFORMATION LATER.
THE PRECISE BIOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF MEMORY ARE NOT
FULLY UNDERSTOOD, BUT MOST SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT
MEMORY RESULTS FROM CHANGES IN CONNECTIONS OR
CONNECTION STRENGHTS BETWEEN NEURONS IN THE BRAIN.
ONE POSSIBLE MECHANISM IS LOND-TERM POTENTIATION
(LTP). ROUGHLY STATED, LTP REFERS TO A PROCESS WHEREBY
IF TWO NEURONS ARE USUALLY ACTIVE TOGETHER, THE
CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM WILL BE STRENGHTENED; OVER
TIME, THIS MEANS THAT ACTIVITY IN ONE NEURON WILL TEND
TO PRODUCE ACTIVITY IN THE OTHER NEURON.
 CATEGORIES OF MEMORY
SYSTEMS
PSYCHOLOGISTS AND MEMORY RESEARCHES OFTEN DIVIDE
MEMORY INTO CATEGORIES DEFINED BY THE DURATION FOR
WHICH THE MEMORY IS EXPECTED TO LAST.

SENSORY MEMORY-REFERS TO THE FACT THAT, AFTER

EXPERIENCING A STIMULUS, INFORMATION ABOUT STUMULUS
IS BRIEFLY HELD IN MEMORY IN THE EXACT FROM IT WAS
RECEIVED, UNTIL IT CAN BE FURTHER PROCESSED. TYPICALLY,
SENSORY MEMORIES MAY LAST ONLY A FEW SECONDS BEFORE
DECAYING OR BEING OVERWRITTEN BY NEW, INCOMING
INFORMATION. BUT, WHILE THEY LAST, SENSORY MOMERY
CONTIANS DETAILED INFORMATION: ALMOST LIKE AN
INTERNAL “COPY” OF THAT STIMULUS, IN PERFECT DETAIL. FOR
EXAMPLE, PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE ASSUMED THAT THERE IS A
MEMORY AREA (CALLED A “BUFFER”) WHERE INCOMING
VISUAL INFORMATION IS STORED AS A PICTURE OR ICIN. THIS IS
SOMETIMES CALLED ICONIC MEMORY. WHILE VISUAL
INFORMATION REMAINS IN ICONIC MEMORY, AN INDIVIDUAL
CAN ANSWER DETAILED QUESTIONS, SUCH AS WHAT IS THE
THIRD ROW OD NUMBERS IN A NUMERICAL DISPLAY.
PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE ASSUMED THAT THERE IS ALSO AN
ECHOIC MEMORY FOR AUDITORY INFORMATION (STORED AS
AN ECHO) AND OTHER BUFFERS FOR INFORMATION RELATED
TO THE OTHER SENSES: TASTE, SMELL AND TOUCH.

SHORT-TERM MEMORY- REFERS TO MEMORIES

WHICH LAST FOR A FEW MINUTES. UNLIKE SENSORY MEMORY,
WHICH IS STORED IN THE EXACT FORM IT WAS EXPERIENCED,
SHORT-TERM MEMORY IS RECEIVED SOME PROCESSING; THUS,
“A” IS STORED NOT AS A VISUAL STIMULUS, BUT AS AN
ABSTRACT CONCEPT OF THE LETTER Ä”. SHORT-TERM MEMORY
IS OF LIMITED CAPACITY, NEW USUALLY 5-9 ITEMS(“7-PLUS OR
MINUS TWO”). BEYOND THIS CAPACITY, NEW INFORMATION
CAN “BUMP”OUT OTHER ITEMS FROM SHORT-TERM MEMORY.
THIS IS ONE FORM OF FORGETTING. OBJECTS IN SHORT-TERM
MEMORY CAN BE OF INDEFINITE COMPLEXITY: THUS SHORT-
TERM MEMORY CAN HOLD SEVERAL NUMBERS, OR SEVERAL
WORDS, OR SEVERAL COMPLEX CONCEPTS SIMULTANEOUSLY.
THUS, WHILE AN INDIVIDUAL MAY ONLY BE ABLE TO
REMEMBER SEVEN RANDOM DIGITD, IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO
REMEMBER MORE DIGITS IF THEY ARE “CHUNKED” INTO
MEANINGFUL OBJECTS: THUS, “1776-2001-1941” REPRESENTS
TWELVE SEPARATE DIGITS – WELL BEYOND MOST PEOPLE’S
CAPACITY – BUT ONLY THREE EASILY REMEMBERED CHUNKS.
ITEMS CAN BE MAINTAINED INDEFINITELY IN SHORT-TERM
MEMORY BY REHEARSAL: EG BY REPEATING THE INFORMATION
OVER AND OVER AGAIN. AN EXAMPLE WOULD BE A SEVEN-
DIGIT PHONE NUMBER, WHICH IS MAINTAINED IN SHORT
TERM MEMORY BY REPETITION UNTIL THE NUMBER IS DIALED,
AND THE FADES FROM SHORT TERM MEMORY ONCE THE
CONVERSATION STARTS. REPETITION MAY ALSO INCREASE THE
PROBABILITY THAT ITEM IS SHORT TERM MEMORY WILL ENTER
PERMANENT STORAGE IN LONG-TERM MEMORY.
INTERMEDIATE-TERM OR WORKING MEMORY IS SOMETIMES
CONSIDERED A SYNONYM FOR SHORT-TERM MEMORY.
HOWEVER, MEMORY RESEARCHES OFTEN CONSIDER THIS A
SPECAILIZED TERM REFERRING FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE
CURERNT TASK. THUS, EVEN THOUGH A SPECIFIC PHONE
NUMBER MAY OCCUPY SHORT-TERM MEMORY, WORKING
MEMORY CONTAINS THE INFORMATION THAT LETS YOU
REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE IN THE PROCESS OF PHONING THE
GAS COMPANY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT A RECENT BILLING
ERROR.

LONG-TERM MEMORY- IS MEMORY THAT LASTS FOR

YEARS OR LONGER. IT CONTAINS EVERYTHING WE KNOW
ABOUT THE WORLD, INCLUDING SEMANTIC AND FACTUAL
INFORMATION AS WELL AS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL EXPERIENCE.
IN GENERAL, LONG-TERM MEMORY IS ORGANIZED SO THAT IT
IS EASY TO REACH A STORED ITEM BY A NUMBER OF ROUTES.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE CONCEPT “UMBRELLA” MAY BE RETRIEVED
BY SEEING AN UMBRELLA, EXPERIENCING A RAINSTORM,
HEARING TO THE WORDS TO THE SONGS “LET A SMILE BE
YOUR UMBRELLA”, AND SO ON. RETRIEVAL OF AN ITEM ALSO
FACILITATES OTHER RELATED ITEMS: SO THAT RETRIEVING
INFORMATION ABOUT A CAT CAN LEAD TO RETRIEVAL OF
INFORMATION ABOUT DOGS, LIONS, SPECIFIC INSTANCES OF
CATS (GRANDMOTHER’S TABBY), THE CHESHIRE CAT FROM
ALICE IN WONDERLAND, AND SO ON.
NOTE: CLINICIANS (EG: NEUROLOGISTS) OFTEN USE A SLIGHTLY
DIFFERENT CLASSIFICATION, IN WHICH SHORT-TERM MEMORY
IS MEMORY FOR EVENTS WHICH OCCURRED RECENTLY (EG: A
FEW DAYS OR WEEKS AGO) AND LONG-TERM MEMORY IS
MEMORY FOR EVENTS WHICH OCCURRED IN THE DISTANT
PAST (EG: CHILDHOOD).

KINGS OF LONG-TERM MEMORY

DECLARATIVE MEMORY IS A TERM FOR INFORMATION WHICH
IS AVAILABLE TO CONSCIOUS RECOLLECTION AND VERBAL
RETRIEVAL (I.E, IT CAN BE “DECLARED”). TWO SUBCLASSES OF
DECLARATIVE MEMORY ARE EPISODIC MEMORY, WHICH IS
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, AND SEMANTIC MEMORY,
WHICH IS FACTUAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORLD
(VOCABULARY ITEMS, KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT A HARMMER IS
USED FOR, MEMORY OF MULTIPLICATION TABLES).

PATHOLOGY OF MEMORY
MEMORY CAN BE IMPAIRED BY VARIOUS INJURIES AND
DISEASES. DAMAGE TO THE MEDIAL TEMPORAL LOBE AND
HIPPOCAMPUS CAN DEVASTATE THE ABILITY TO ACQUIRE NEW
DECLARATIVE MEMORY; DAMAGE TO THE STORAGE AREAS IN
CORTEX CAN DISRUPT RETRIEVAL OF OLD MEMORIES AND
INTERFERE WITH ACQUISITION OF NEW MEMORIES –SIMPLY
BECAUSE THERE IS NOWHERE TO PUT THEM.
ANOTHER CRITICAL FACTOR IS ATTENTION. ITEMS ARE MORE
LIKELY TO BE REMEMBERED IF THEY ARE ATTENTED TO IN THE
FIRST PLACE; THIS IS WHY NOVEL OR EXCITING ITEMS ARE
LIKELY TO BE REMEMBERED THAN DULL OR ORDINARY ONES.
DAMAGE TO THE FRONTAL LOBES, WHICH DISRUPTS
ATTENTION, MAY AFFECT MEMORY.
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CAUSES MEMORY IMPAIRMENTS FROM
THE EARLY STAGES, PROBABLY BECAUSE OF CELL DEATH IN THE
BASAL FOREBRAIN, AN AREA THAT PRODUCES THE CHEMICAL
ACETYLCHOLINE WHICH FACILITATES PLASTICITY (LEARNING).
RECENT MEMORIES TEND TO BE POORLY REMEMBERED, WHILE
THERE MAY BE GOOD MEMORY FOR LONG-AGO EVENTS.
OTHER CONDITIONS SUCH AS VIRAAL INFECTIONS, DEPRESSION
AND USE OF DRUGS CAN AFFECT MEMORY BY DISRUPTING
BRAIN CHEMICALS AS WELL.

HOW AGING AFFECTS MEMORY

FORGETTING MAY BE ALMOST AS IMPORTANT AS
REMEMBERING, IN TERMS OF BRAIN FUCTIONS. RETAINING, IN
YOUR BRAIN,EVERY SINGLE BIT OF INFORMATION YOU’VE BEEN
EXPOSED TO THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFE WOULD BE
CATASTROPHIC. FOR THIS REASON, OUR BRAINS SORT OUT
WHAT WILL AND WHAT WON’T BECOME LONG-TERM
MEMORIES.
 EMOTIONAL STATES
 STRESS LEVELS
 ENVIRONMENTS
 PREVIOUS MEMORIES
 BIASES
 PERCEPTIONS
BRAIN SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT THE EFFECTS OF NORMAL
AGING ON MEMORY MAY RESULT FROM SUBTLE CHANGES
WITHIN OUR BRAIN.

STORING NEW MEMORIES