HOW MEMORY WORKS

Memory is the brain’s ability to store and retrieve information related to previous experiences.Memory occurs in two stages: short-term and long-term.Short-term memory reflects an immediate sensory perception of an object or idea that occurs before the image is stored. Short-term memory enables you to dial a telephone number after looking it up but without looking at the number directly.If you call the number frequently, it becomes stored in long-term memory and can be recalled several weeks after you originally looked it up. Short-term memory and long-term memory can be thought of as memory structures, each varying as to how much information it can hold and for how long.

Memory relies on the ability to process information. Information processing begins with the environmental stimuli that you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. These experiences are initially recorded in the brain’s sensory register, which holds information just long enough (one to three seconds) for you to decide whether to process it further. Information that you do not selectively attend to will disappear from the system. However, if you recognize and attend to the information as meaningful or relevant, it is sent to short-term memory. Short-term memory can hold approximately seven unrelated bits of information at a time.

Short-term memory is often called working memory because it holds information that you are working with at a given moment, but only for about 20 seconds. Then, unless the information is processed further, it is quickly forgotten. For example, if you were asked to dial an unfamiliar telephone number, received a busy signal, and were then distracted by something else for 20 seconds, you probably would have forgotten the number at that point. Unless information in short-term memory is processed further, it does not make it to long-term memory.

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