Memory classification: long-term and short-term. Short-term memory (STM) Short-term memory is capable of simultaneously holding up to

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Short term memory.

The next step in information processing is short term memory –a memory subsystem that provides operational retention and transformation of data coming from the senses and from long-term memory. Its main characteristics:

1) information storage time in the absence of repetition - from 20 to 30 seconds;

2) the capacity of the CP is limited, the volume of the CP does not exceed 7 ± 2 elements;

3) the form of information storage - an acoustic code (a hypothesis accepted by most researchers, an alternative hypothesis suggests the presence of visual codes in the CP);

4) the mechanism of forgetting - substitution or displacement.

There are a number of facts proving the legitimacy of singling out the CP as a separate memory subsystem. One of them is Milner syndrome - damage to a certain area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe brain (hippocampus), in which long-past events are easily remembered, and recent ones are practically not saved. The literature describes the medical history of music producer K.V., who suffered rare form encephalitis. His memories of current events were disappearing very quickly - he could not remember what he ate for breakfast, what song he had just sung, etc. However, his musical abilities were preserved - he could conduct a choir, remembered by heart many musical parts learned before his illness, etc. It can be assumed that short-term memory in this case is impaired, and long-term memory is preserved, i. there are two different memory subsystems.

Another evidence is the various recall errors from CP and DP. The same fact proves that the information in the CP is stored in an acoustic form: during playback from the CP, acoustic recall errors, those. reproduction of a word similar in sound to the one being searched for- for example, the word "brother" can be reproduced as "marriage". When playing from DP more common semantic errors, i.e. reproduction of a word that is close in meaning(work - work). According to acoustic coding concepts, when we read the letter "A" we hold it in the CP by encoding it in sound"A".

According to R. Klacki, the KP stores and processes information in the same way as a carpenter works on a workbench: he can use the available space for work or storage, so allocating space for one means reducing space for the other. About 7 ± 2 elements (words, letters, larger units) can be processed simultaneously in the CP, i.e. there are on average 7 cells (jobs), and the removal of former elements (forgetting) occurs by replacing them with new elements, i.e. as a result of substitution. However, we can keep information in the CP for an unlimited time if we repeat it (repetition loop, see Fig. 8: for example, if you need to remember the phone number, but there is no way to write it down, then you have to repeat it to yourself or out loud. Summarizing what has been said, three repeat functions: 1) retention of information in the CP for a long time, 2) transfer of information from the CP to the DP (i.e., it is remembered for a long time), 3) strengthening of memory traces in the DP.

M. Posner's experiment. There is evidence that information in the CP is encoded not only acoustically, but also visually. M. Posner and his colleagues conducted an experiment, the main results of which are shown in Figure 10. The subjects were presented with two letters that should be recognized as the same or different; the reaction time (RT) was recorded - the subject gave an answer and pressed the button. The scheme for presenting letters in M. Posner's experiment is given in Table. 3. Presentation interval - 0.2 s.

It turned out that the reaction time upon presentation of a pair of Aa compared with a pair of AA was longer. This could not happen if the letters were determined only by auditory codes, because they are pronounced the same way. The results can be explained as follows: the same letters were compared in terms of their external, visual characteristics, which took less time, while different in terms of appearance letters must be additionally checked for verbal characteristics, which increases the reaction time. Therefore, Posner's experiment proves the existence of visual codes in the CP.

Short-term memory allows us to perform many different actions here and now. In the process of washing dishes, the hostess automatically remembers which dishes have already been washed and which have yet to be rubbed with a soapy washcloth. But remembering this all your life or for many years is not at all necessary. Therefore, memories from the working storage cell are erased absolutely painlessly for a woman.

Short Term Memory: What is it?

Short-term memory, which we need for everyday, momentary work, is the ability to retain information received from life experience in our minds for a short time. It is limited to a small amount of memories. Moreover, these images are usually connected and stored in one cell of the brain.

Miller's law states that short-term memory can store no more than 7 objects or words. Permissible error - plus, minus two. When going to the store, we will more easily remember 5 necessary products than 9. When do we need to write down a list of necessary products on a piece of paper? When there are more than 5. This suggests that short-term memories are very limited.

Usually they are related. In this example, these are the products needed for dinner. Remembering that guests are invited to you today, it is easy to use the long-term memory chain and then all the products will float in your head, in connection with what dish they are intended for. Now they are easy to transfer to a working cell and buy.

Operational thinking is able to look into long-term storage, extract the necessary information from there, combine it with the momentary and accept correct solution. In this example, the hostess remembered what dish she needed to cook and, without a list, remembered what she needed to buy for this.

Each new variable information erases from the working memory that first component that is no longer needed right now. The operational cell of thinking actively works during reading, storytelling, it cuts off distracting and incorrect information. Helps to understand the current reality.

How to improve short term memory

How to improve short term memory? Various exercises have been developed for this. Why do we need large working memory? In order to more successfully solve their professional and domestic tasks. In general, a person constantly uses the short-term or working cell of his memories: when he cooks borscht, does the cleaning in the apartment, develops a drawing of a complex detail.

Of course, if during the course of the working day you use a large amount of information at your fingertips, the faster you complete your tasks. Naturally, if the salary depends on the number of tasks completed, each employee will strive to complete the work faster. A large number of knowledge stored in the operational cell will improve the performance of work, speed it up.

Therefore, even adults are interested in increasing the amount of their operational knowledge.

The operational reservoir of knowledge helps us to cut off unnecessary, distracting information, to focus attention on doing one thing. This improves productivity.

In adults

Adults can train the ability to remember without spending too much time on it. For example, during a long trip in a trolleybus, it is enough to close your eyes and try to remember what color your neighbor's hat is.

Reading books, learning poetry, learning foreign languages, solving puzzles - all this strengthens the ability to memorize new information. This includes not only auditory memory, but also visual. This further enhances the effect. After all, it is known that the optic nerve is much thicker than the auditory. This means that a greater number of neurons are involved in the process of figurative thinking.

There is a special training that allows you to train RAM. In the process of training, a person is asked to follow a number of images, determining which one appeared first. Improvement will come if you practice 25 minutes daily.

In children (schoolchildren, preschoolers) and adolescents

A child with a large stock of knowledge is easy to learn and understand adults. He is less stressed, has good grades and happy parents.

How to develop a large stock of current memories in a child? It's all about educational toys and games. Buy him a modern miracle - a LEGO constructor. Collecting more and more new models of cars, planes, starplanes, the child learns to remember the current creative process and develops his hands.

Light gymnastics with simple movements of the arms and legs, tilts and squats turn on the brain. Physical and logical exercises improve the baby's thinking.

If a boy's operative memory deteriorates with age, this should be treated. Failure to study can be avoided if you consult a doctor in time. Often in boys there is increased intracranial pressure at the age of 13-16 years, due to too rapid growth.

The drugs will stop the aggravation. A teenager recovers quickly if he eats well and sleeps enough. He still has time to train his abilities. Further disorders can be avoided if you lead a correct lifestyle: do not smoke, do not drink alcohol and read. Regular reading strengthens creative thinking and enhances memories.

Restoration of memory in a student occurs gradually if he learns lessons, adheres to the correct daily routine and nutrition.

Exercises for training short-term memory

The development of short-term memory is important for a person. Yogis recommend meditation to lower blood pressure, avoid depression, and improve working memory. Scientists say that this is due to the fact that in the process of meditation a person focuses on one thought, sweeping aside others.

8 minutes of meditation per day is enough to increase the volume of the cell of working memories.

Going in for sports improves not only the work of the whole body and muscles of the body, but also the work of the brain, the ability to remember a lot of information.

You need to sleep at least 8 hours a day. Experience shows that students who sleep 8-9 hours a day perform current tasks 60% faster and more accurately.

Adults sometimes show symptoms of impaired short-term memory. In this case, you must consult a doctor. If it turns out that a person is healthy, he just needs to do certain exercises. Read prose aloud, memorize poems, declare them loudly, tell fairy tales to grandchildren, walk in the garden with children and friends. Such training is the best treatment for the brain and its abilities.

When studying new information, systematize it, read it in rhyme, divide it into common parts. Then the volume of memorable moments will increase.

Try to use in conversation short words. They are remembered more precisely and better. Playing checkers and corners, volleyball and tennis is very useful for developing short-term memory.

The volume of human memory is a characteristic of memory that determines the amount of information that can be extracted from it after a certain time has passed after the moment of memorization.

The amount of short-term memory is equal to the Miller number - this is 7 +/- 2. This is the set of words or the number of numbers that the average person is able to keep in memory.

It is impossible to determine the amount of long-term memory of a person. Currently, some researchers believe that everything that is in a person's long-term memory can fit on several laser disks. It is quite obvious that this conclusion is erroneous, and at least not proven.

The amount of human memory is individual. However, there is an opinion that the more a person can remember, the better. But this is not always the case. In Soviet psychology, there are known cases of studies of patients with "super" memory. These people could involuntarily memorize unlimited amounts of information. However, as it turned out, they suffered greatly from their capabilities. Moreover, they constantly had to work on themselves and make special exercises to restore the ability to "forget". Considering that they remembered "everything", it is logical to conclude that a person's memory capacity is indeed unlimited. The question is only whether we are able to use our memory to the fullest.

Every person has an unlimited supply of memory. However, given the characteristics of each individual, the amount of memory that can be used for the purpose of memorization necessary information Long term, it's different for everyone. This volume primarily depends on the type of activity that you regularly engage in, determining the amount of memory that you use in your daily life.

Let's take a simple example. Everyone who has studied knows perfectly well that to learn something after summer holidays much harder than at the end school year. It's all about training. If you do not use memory, then the ability to memorize weakens, or rather, the amount of information that you can remember decreases.

Conduct in-depth volume testing various kinds You can use the “Memory” package of the Effecton Studio software package: the volume of mechanical memorization of numbers, numbers and syllables, the volume of semantic visual and auditory memory, logical memory, operational, associative and figurative memory.

In order to increase and maintain the amount of memory at the level you need, you need to meet two important conditions. The first is to use memory regularly. The second is to periodically train the amount of memory.

Exercise "Information stress"

As an example of memory training, we offer you a non-standard exercise called "Information stress". It is performed "on the job" and is even more effective for use at work or school.

Exercise is done during the whole working day. Select the day of the week when you plan to have this procedure. We recommend choosing Friday, because after this exercise you should take a day or two off from active mental work and change the type of activity.

Purpose of the exercise- load yourself with the maximum amount of information throughout the day. What does it mean? Your task is to read as much as possible, to write out the main thing as much as possible, to remember as much as possible from what you have read and written out. When reading, you should have the intention to highlight the main thing, as well as the intention to understand and remember as much as possible. Read and think. Read and memorize. Read and write down the essentials. Toward the end of the day, start rereading and memorizing the main thing, rethinking and repeating.

Everything that you wrote down as the main thing - express in one or two words. So after reading them, the whole picture of what you read will immediately pop up in your memory, and after it, what else you read on this topic during the day.

At the end of the day, take your short notes and try to remember as much detail as possible about each one. If you did everything right and did not feel sorry for yourself, then by the end of the day you will be overloaded with information, and your memory will be "passive". After you rest, its volume will increase slightly, and will increase every time after such an exercise. If the information that you received is important to you, then try to restore everything in your memory in a day or two. To do this, first go through your short entries, and then through the main information entries. We recommend that you do this exercise at least once a month, but not more than once a week.

Man lives in a world of continuous information. Moreover, information is understood not only as verbal and written meanings, but also as surrounding objects, things, people that have their own meaning, create situations, make a person turn on his memory. Short-term memory is always necessary. If you need to remember something for a short period of time in order to use this information later, this is called short-term memory. However, it is not always possible to remember everything at once. And here you need to use exercises that can improve short-term memory.

Why does a person need short-term memory? To answer this question, it is necessary to clarify the definition of the phenomenon under consideration. Short-term memory is the ability of the mind to remember information in this moment time for further use. Unlike long-term memory, you remember not to use this information months and years later, but to use it now.

Here are some examples of when short-term memory is needed:

• You write from dictation, so you listen and memorize what the teacher says so that you can later reflect what was said on the letter. In doing so, you use long-term memory when you remember how individual words are spelled and what grammar rules to apply.
• You memorize the prices of a particular category of goods in order to compare them and choose where the product is more profitable to buy.
• You listen to the interlocutor to understand his thoughts, so you use the information you hear to build your thoughts.
• You are interested in the weather forecast to decide how to dress for the street.

Short-term memory is needed to remember information that is important at a given moment in time. However, it also has difficulties. A person cannot remember information, remembers it partially and even incorrectly. That is why it is difficult to use it..

What is Short Term Memory?

Already from the name itself, you can determine what short-term memory is. Its difference from long-term memory lies in the duration of information storage. With short-term memory, you need to remember information for a few seconds or minutes. So, students often use it when they write off: they read information from a cheat sheet, memorize it, and then express it on a piece of paper.

Short-term memory is a type of memory in which a person remembers information for a short period of time. After a person remembers it and uses it for its intended purpose, the information can be forgotten. However, in some cases, information that was stored in short-term memory goes into long-term memory - when you can reproduce it months and years later.

With short-term memory, information is used once at the moment. Only the information that is needed now is remembered. A person uses short-term memory constantly and everywhere. You can recall information that you have learned a long time ago, however, using short-term memory, you measure the need for it in a given period of time. How useful is your knowledge at this particular moment? This is what short-term memory does when long-term memory is used.

Short-term memory affects a person's intelligence - when he can quickly navigate in space and use the knowledge from long-term memory that is needed in a specific period.

Short-term memory in children can include up to 5-6 elements, while in adults - up to 7-8 elements. However, these numbers are relative. Often in adults, short-term memory does not work well. But in children in preschool age short term memory is fine. It is its development that contributes to what it will be like in the future and how developed long-term memory will be.

Why do problems with short-term memory occur?

Every adult has a deterioration in short-term memory - when a person is not able to remember partially or completely the information that contacted him just a few seconds or minutes ago. What is the problem with such an occurrence? There are many reasons why short-term memory suffers:

1. Damage, brain injury. If a person suffers from some kind of brain disease, this can affect the ability to remember.
2. Mental disorders. Pathological disorders also affect the functioning of the brain. So, with schizophrenia, a problem with remembering information develops.
3. Senile or just old age. Here, memory deteriorates due to the development of various diseases, disorders and atrophic processes.
4. Use of drugs or alcohol, exposure to chemicals or poisons. When intoxicated, a person loses the ability to remember information normally.
5. Chronic fatigue. Try to memorize something if you have not slept for two days or are very tired, want to sleep, or are so exhausted that you are no longer interested in anything.

A modern person is very tired, so this factor becomes the most frequent. Not only short-term, but also long-term memory does not work well for a person, because he does not rest much, constantly gets tired, exhausts himself with work and other duties.

1. Wrong nutrition. When the body does not receive the necessary vitamins and elements, then the body cannot work effectively.
2. . This factor, combined with constant fatigue and impotence, leads to the fact that a person becomes helpless. During stress, the perception of the situation narrows. A person is only concerned with protecting himself by flight or stupor, and not by solving the problem, when short-term memory should be used.

The work of short-term memory is quite limited by the amount that it can accommodate. However, it is she who affects the work of long-term memory. Short-term memory is not "rubber", so it remembers only what is considered important at a given time. Depending on what a person remembers now, this information enters long-term memory.

It is necessary to distinguish between information from the subconscious and long-term memory. Everything that a person has seen, heard, encountered is recorded in the subconscious. However, everything that a person consciously remembered and used in short-term memory is recorded in long-term memory.

Significant information goes into long-term memory, as well as that which a person has heard, seen, felt several times. For the functioning of short-term memory, you need to be conscious and active. For effective memorization, a person must be attentive and not be distracted by other processes. And distraction of attention often occurs during fatigue.

How to improve short term memory?

Everyone would like to improve their memory. To improve short-term memory, you can use many exercises:

1. To better remember information, you need to present it. The brain does not perceive words and numbers, but images. Remembering information, present it in a figurative form.
2. Make associations. Some information should be related to what you already know and know well. For example, the number two can be remembered by the fact that it resembles a floating swan.
3. Repeat. In order for information to go into long-term memory, it must be repeated many times. However, it must be repeated correctly. To memorize the information, you need to repeat it several times after it has been mastered, and then repeat it several times in the following days every day. It is not necessary to memorize in one day, as this is not effective. It takes several days to repeat the necessary information.
4. Associate the new information with some activity. It is easiest to remember what is meaningful to you in the process of solving a task or problem. Don't try to memorize dry material. It is best to memorize the information that you immediately apply in the course of your activities.

Modern man does not understand the full significance of the words that he says to other people. Understanding that you can say whatever you want and then retract your words has allowed many people not to watch what they say. However, everything matters. After all, as you know, even a word can kill. But the killing will not take place on a physical level, but on an emotional or spiritual level. Therefore, it is very important to watch what you say and how your words affect other people.

Ancient people spoke little, but listened a lot. What is the benefit of this rule? While you are silent, you have a chance to consider your words. It is not known where you get the desire to say this or that word. However, if you remain silent, then other people will not know what you later want to renounce. But in this case, you no longer have to justify yourself to someone or offend someone. You didn’t say anything that you really didn’t want to say, which means you just forget about it, without offending either yourself or other people.

While you are thinking about the correctness and usefulness of your words, other people are telling you something. It is better to listen to what they tell you than to interrupt them and choose words to prove their truth, which may turn out to be unimportant and inappropriate. What do people around you say? They tell you about their desires, about what they think, feel. Sometimes they say something unpleasant and even false. However, people themselves will then be responsible for their words, although many are sure that one can not be held responsible for words. At the same time, think for yourself, you get useful information about what the other person thinks and wants. Isn't that the best thing another person could give you?

The words you said leave wounds and cut into memory. Don't think that people don't hear you and don't remember what you say. It may seem to you that you were just joking or talking nonsense, and for another person your words turned out to be more than serious, meaningful. He remembered everything that you told him, although you yourself have already forgotten everything.

What happens to a person if you say something unpleasant to him? You can even apologize for what you said, but memory does not obey the will of people, so it remembers everything hurtful words that you spoke. Do you need the other person, willy-nilly, to remember everything offensive that you said to him? If not, then why do you say something for which you will later repent and apologize? A partner may forgive you, but memory may not do this, periodically reminding his master of those offensive speeches that were addressed to him. And why do you need a person to forgive you, but still keep hurtful moments in your memory?

Using this information, you can derive a formula for improving short-term memory: turn on emotions. It does not matter if you experience negative or positive emotions, information is remembered in any case. And information is always remembered well when a person experiences some kind of it.

How to improve short-term memory?

For short-term memory to always work well, you need to train it daily. Just as you keep your muscles in good shape through constant physical training, memory needs to be developed. Every day memorize any information, even the most unnecessary. Try to remember, and after a couple of minutes to reproduce. Such training will soon affect your ability to remember more serious and important information.

Turning to the issue of the duration of information storage in short-term memory, it is first of all worth considering the now classic experiments that were carried out at the very end of the 50s. last century, American psychologists Loyd and Margaret Peterson (Peterson & Peterson, 1959). Similar studies independently of them were carried out at about the same time by the British psychologist Brown.

In these experiments, subjects were presented with aurally a series of three consonants, such as PSQ. Such a series is called trigram. Then the subject was called a three-digit number, for example 167. He had to count back in triplets (167, 164, 161,158 ...) in time with the beats of the metronome for a certain time interval, from 3 to 18 s. The end of the interval was indicated by a special sound signal, according to which the subject had to immediately recall the letters presented earlier that made up the trigram.

It turned out that after a three-second hold interval, the success of trigram recall was about 80%, after 6 seconds the success decreased to about 55%, after 9 seconds to about 35%, after 12 seconds to 20%, and after 15 seconds it stabilized at about 10%. %, not significantly changing to the 18-second hold interval.

Thus, it can be assumed that the retention time of information in short-term memory in the absence of its active processing by means of a system of repetitions (an articulatory loop) is approximately 15 s. During this interval, information is either lost altogether or transferred to long-term storage. It is clear that with the help of a system of repetitions, we can extend the process of processing and retaining information in short-term memory almost indefinitely.

Let us also pay attention to the fact that long-term observations of patient H. M., who suffered from Milner's syndrome, also known as Korsakov's syndrome, which we mentioned in the first chapter, was shown that he could retain new information for up to 10 minutes, after which the information was completely lost without going into long-term storage. There are also some neurophysiological data that allow us to say that a short-term trace of excitation in the central nervous system may be kept for several days. However, in general, it is generally accepted that the time of information storage in short-term memory is still commensurate with 1 min.

Accordingly, questions arise about why information does not remain in short-term memory for an indefinitely long time and what processes ensure that this information is forgotten?

Two alternative hypotheses were offered as answers. One of them, called the hypothesis fading, suggests that in short-term memory there is a rapid degradation of the trace due to its aging over time. The second hypothesis indicates that information stored in short-term memory is constantly influenced by new information coming from sensory registers (ultra-short-term memory). New information interferes with the processing of the old, already stored in short-term memory, as if "pushing" it out. This hypothesis is called the hypothesis interference.

It is important to note the difference between these two hypotheses. In the first case, it is argued that the process of forgetting is entirely due to the time factor (and no other causal factors are involved here), while in the second case, the time factor is insignificant: the weakening of the memory trace is due not just to the passage of time, but to the appearance of new information in the memory.

IN pure form An experiment that would allow one to separate the predictions of these two hypotheses is apparently impossible, since the time factor cannot be completely eliminated in it.

It is believed that the experiment we have already considered by Peterson and Peterson (Peterson & Peterson, 1959) can serve as a good approximation to the ideal. The results obtained by these researchers, at first glance, testify in favor of the extinction hypothesis, since counting backwards by triplets numbers hardly interferes with the retention in memory of trigrams consisting of consonant letters. But Keppel and Underwood (1962) questioned this conclusion.

The fact is that in the experiment of Peterson and Peterson, the subjects had to reproduce not one, but several trigrams, i.e. The experiment included several samples. The result was evaluated statistically as the average of all samples. Keppel and Underwood (1962) investigated the relationship between trigram reproduction success and retention interval separately for the first, second, and third trials. It turned out that the effect of a gradual decrease in the success of trigram recall during 15 s was not observed at all in the first trial: the success of recall after three, nine, and 15 s was about 100%. However, this gradual reduction effect appears in the second and third trials. Therefore, the observed decrease in recall efficiency is not due to the fading of the memory trace over time, but to the interference of successive trials.

Another experimental data obtained by D. Norman and N. Vo also testifies in favor of the interference effect. The researchers used probe method, the essence of which is as follows.

The subject is presented with a sequence of digits by ear, for example: 147951264387290 5. Upon completion of this presentation, a signal sounds, which indicates that the last digit should be used as a probe. In other words, the subject must reproduce the number that follows the probe number the first time it is presented. In this example, the correct answer is the number 1, since it appears immediately after the first appearance of the number five in this sequence. Note also that there are 9 more digits between the digit to be reproduced and the probe at the end of the list in our example.

Norman and Waugh's experiments varied the distance between the probe and the target digit, as well as the rate of presentation of the sequence of digits. If forgetting is determined only by time, then the acceleration of presentation should favorably affect the success of the reproduction of the target figure, since there will not be enough time for the trace to completely fade. If the main forgetting factor is interference, changing the rate of presentation of numbers in the series should not affect the success of the search for the target number. It will entirely depend only on the distance from the end of the sequence to the target digit. It is this result that D. Norman and N. Vo obtained in their experiments.

Nevertheless, the extinction hypothesis cannot be rejected entirely. Known, for example, the effect, which is called the effect trace fragility. It consists in the fact that the interference factor turns out to be much more significant in a situation where information has been retained in short-term memory for a sufficiently long period, say, several minutes. In this case, even the most insignificant external influences can be detrimental to the process of retaining information in memory.

Imagine, for example, that you need to record someone's phone number. While you are looking for where to write it down, you do not stop repeating this sequence of numbers. It turns out that if you mechanically repeat these numbers for at least a minute, there is a very high probability that the slightest distraction to something else will lead to the fact that you will forever forget this number without fixing it in your notebook. . This is the effect of trace fragility. And it seems to indicate that there is indeed degradation of the memory trace over time, even if you are actively processing information by repeating it over and over again.

Thus, we can conclude that information in short-term memory can be retained for a time commensurate with one or several minutes, and the mechanisms for its loss are interference processes and, to a lesser extent, extinction.