SHORT TERM - LONG

TERM MEMORY
SHORT-TERM MEMORY

• Short-term memory (or "primary" or "active memory") is the capacity

for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in
mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time.
•
SUB TOPICS
Duration
The limited duration of short-term memory (~18 seconds without a form of memory rehearsal[18]) quickly
suggests that its contents spontaneously decay over time citation needed].

Capacity
The capacity of short-term memory is often called memory span, in reference to a common procedure of
measuring it. In a memory span test, the experimenter presents lists of items (e.g. digits or words) of
increasing length.

Rehearsal
that information is reentered into the short-term memory, this keeping that information for another 10 to 20
seconds (the average storage time for short-term memory).[
SUB TOPICS

Chunking is a process by which one can expand his/her ability to remember

things in the short term. Chunking is also a process by which a person
organizes material into meaningful groups. Although the average person may
retain only about four different units in short-term memory, chunking can
greatly increase a person's recall capacity. For example, in recalling a phone
number, the person could chunk the digits into three groups: first, the area
code (such as 123), then a three-digit chunk (456), and, last, a four-digit
chunk (7890).
• For example, short-term memory can be used to
remember a phone number that has just been recited.
The duration of short-term memory (when rehearsal or
active maintenance is prevented) is believed to be in
the order of seconds. "little more than a joke" (Miller,
1989, page 401)).
LONG TERM MEMORY

• Long-term memory (LTM) is the stage of the Atkinson–

Shiffrin memory model where informative knowledge
is held indefinitely. It is defined in contrast to short-
term and working memory
ENCODING OF INFORMATION

Long-term memory encodes information semantically for storage,

as researched by Baddeley. In vision, the information needs to
enter working memory before it can be stored into long-term
memory.
• Synaptic Consolidation is the process by which items are transferred from short-term to
long-term memory. Within the first minutes or hours after acquisition,
SLEEP

• According to Tarnow's theory, long-term memories are stored in

dream format (reminiscent of the Penfield & Rasmussen's findings
that electrical excitations of the cortex give rise to experiences similar
to dreams). During waking life an executive function interprets long-
term memory consistent with reality checking (Tarnow 2003)
DIFERENCES

• Long- and short-term memory could differ in two fundamental ways, with only short-
term memory demonstrating (1) temporal decay and (2) chunk capacity limits.
• Both properties of short-term memory are still controversial but the current literature is
rather encouraging regarding the existence of both decay and capacity limits.
THE SHORT-TERM MEMORY/LONG-TERM MEMORY DISTINCTION

• If there is a difference between short- and long-term memory stores,

there are two possible ways in which these stores may differ:
in duration, and in capacity.
• A duration difference means that items in short-term storage decay
from this sort of storage as a function of time. A capacity difference
means that there is a limit in how many items short-term storage can
hold.