Sensory memory

Sensory memory is the shortest-term element of memory. It is the ability to retain impressions of sensory
information after the original stimuli have ended. It acts as a kind of buffer for stimuli received through the
five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, which are retained accurately, but very briefly. For
example, the ability to look at something and remember what it looked like with just a second of
observation is an example of sensory memory. The stimuli detected by our senses can be either deliberately
ignored, in which case they disappear almost instantaneously, or perceived, in which case they enter our
sensory memory. This does not require any conscious attention and, indeed, is usually considered to be
totally outside of conscious control. The brain is designed to only process information that will be useful at
a later date, and to allow the rest to pass by unnoted. As information is perceived, it is therefore stored in
sensory memory automatically and unbidden. Unlike other types of memory, the sensory memory cannot be
prolonged via rehearsal.

Sensory memory is an ultra-short-term memory and decays or degrades very quickly, typically in the region
of 200 - 500 milliseconds (1/5 - 1/2 second) after the perception of an item, and certainly less than a second.
Indeed, it lasts for such a short time that it is often considered part of the process of perception, but it
nevertheless represents an essential step for storing information in short-term memory. The sensory memory
for visual stimuli is sometimes known as the iconic memory, the memory for aural stimuli is known as the
echoic memory, and that for touch as the haptic memory. Smell may actually be even more closely linked to
memory than the other senses, possibly because the olfactory bulb and olfactory cortex (where smell
sensations are processed) are physically very close - separated by just 2 or 3 synapses - to the hippocampus
and amygdala (which are involved in memory processes). Thus, smells may be more quickly and more
strongly associated with memories and their associated emotions than the other senses, and memories of a
smell may persist for longer, even without constant re-consolidation.

SHORT-TERM (WORKING) MEMORY

Short-term memory acts as a kind of “scratch-pad” for temporary recall of the information which is being
processed at any point in time, and has been referred to as "the brain's Post-it note". It can be thought of as
the ability to remember and process information at the same time. It holds a small amount of information
(typically around 7 items or even less) in mind in an active, readily-available state for a short period of time
(typically from 10 to 15 seconds, or sometimes up to a minute).

For example, in order to understand this sentence, the beginning of the sentence needs to be held in mind
while the rest is read, a task which is carried out by the short-term memory. Other common examples of
short-term memory in action are the holding on to a piece of information temporarily in order to complete a
task (e.g. “carrying over” a number in a subtraction sum, or remembering a persuasive argument until
another person finishes talking), and simultaneous translation (where the interpreter must store information
in one language while orally translating it into another). What is actually held in short-term memory,
though, is not complete concepts, but rather links or pointers (such as words, for example) which the brain
can flesh out from it's other accumulated knowledge.

Transfer of information

However, this information will quickly disappear forever unless we make a conscious effort to retain it, and
short-term memory is a necessary step toward the next stage of retention, long-term memory. The transfer
of information to long-term memory for more permanent storage can be facilitated or improved by mental
repetition of the information or, even more effectively, by giving it a meaning and associating it with other
previously acquired knowledge. Motivation is also a consideration, in that information relating to a subject
of strong interest to a person, is more likely to be retained long-term memory. The term working memory is
often used interchangeably with short-term memory, although technically working memory refers more to
the whole theoretical framework of structures and processes used for the temporary storage and
manipulation of information, of which short-term memory is just one component.

Prefrontal cortex

The central executive part of the prefrontal cortex at the front of the brain appears to play a fundamental
role in short-term and working memory. It both serves as a temporary store for short-term memory, where
information is kept available while it is needed for current reasoning processes, but it also "calls up"
information from elsewhere in the brain. The central executive controls two neural loops, one for visual
data, and one for language. These two scratch pads temporarily hold data until it is erased by the next job.
The prefrontal cortex is not the only part of the brain involved - it must also cooperate with other parts of
the cortex from which it extracts information for brief periods - it is the most important, and Carlyle
Jacobsen reported, as early as 1935, that damage to the prefrontal cortex in primates caused short-term
memory deficits.

Chunking of information

"Chunking" of information can lead to an increase in the short-term memory capacity. Chunking is the
organization of material into shorter meaningful groups to make them more manageable. For example, a
hyphenated phone number, split into groups of 3 or 4 digits, tends to be easier to remember than a single
long number. Experiments by Herbert Simon have shown that the ideal size for chunking of letters and
numbers, whether meaningful or not, is three. However, meaningful groups may be longer (such as four
numbers that make up a date within a longer list of numbers, for example). With chunking, each chunk
represents just one of the 5 - 9 items that can be stored in short-term memory, thus extending the total
number of items that can be held.

WORKING

It is usually assumed that the short-term memory spontaneously decays over time, typically in the region of
10 - 15 seconds, but items may be retained for up to a minute, depending on the content. However, it can be
extended by repetition or rehearsal (either by reading items out loud, or by mental simulation), so that the
information re-enters the short-term store and is retained for a further period. When several elements (such
as digits, words or pictures) are held in short-term memory simultaneously, they effectively compete with
each other for recall. New content, therefore, gradually pushes out older content (known as displacement),
unless the older content is actively protected against interference by rehearsal or by directing attention to it.
Any outside interference tends to cause disturbances in short-term memory retention, and for this reason
people often feel a distinct desire to complete the tasks held in short-term memory as soon as possible.

The type or characteristics of the information also affects the number of items which can be retained in
short-term memory. For instance, more words can be recalled if they are shorter or more commonly used
words, or if they are phonologically similar in sound, or if they are taken from a single semantic category
(such as sports, for example) rather than from different categories, etc. There is also some evidence that
short-term memory capacity and duration is increased if the words or digits are articulated aloud instead of
being read sub-vocally (in the head). The relatively small capacity of the short-term memory, compared to
the huge capacity of long-term memory, has been attributed by some to the evolutionary survival advantage
in paying attention to a relatively small number of important things (e.g. the approach of a dangerous
predator, the proximity of a nearby safe haven, etc).

Forgetting of short-term memories

The forgetting of short-term memories involves a different process to the forgetting of long-term memories.
When something in short-term memory is forgotten, it means that a nerve impulse has merely ceased being
transmitted through a particular neural network. In general, unless an impulse is reactivated, it stops flowing
through a network after just a few seconds.
Long Term Memory

Long-term memory is, obviously enough, intended for storage of information over a long period of time.
Despite our everyday impressions of forgetting, it seems likely that long-term memory actually decays very
little over time, and can store a seemingly unlimited amount of information almost indefinitely. Indeed,
there is some debate as to whether we actually ever “forget” anything at all, or whether it just becomes
increasingly difficult to access or retrieve certain items from memory.

Short-term memories can become long-term memory through the process of consolidation, involving
rehearsal and meaningful association. Unlike short-term memory (which relies mostly on an acoustic, and to
a lesser extent a visual, code for storing information), long-term memory encodes information for storage
semantically (i.e. based on meaning and association). However, there is also some evidence that long-term
memory does also encode to some extent by sound. For example, when we cannot quite remember a word
but it is “on the tip of the tongue”, this is usually based on the sound of a word, not its meaning.

Long-term potentiation

Physiologically, the establishment of long-term memory involves a process of physical changes in the
structure of neurons (or nerve cells) in the brain, a process known as long-term potentiation, although there
is still much that is not completely understood about the process. At its simplest, whenever something is
learned, circuits of neurons in the brain, known as neural networks, are created, altered or strengthened.
These neural circuits are composed of a number of neurons that communicate with one another through
special junctions called synapses. Through a process involving the creation of new proteins within the body
of neurons, and the electrochemical transfer of neurotransmitters across synapse gaps to receptors, the
communicative strength of certain circuits of neurons in the brain is reinforced. With repeated use, the
efficiency of these synapse connections increases, facilitating the passage of nerve impulses along particular
neural circuits, which may involve many connections to the visual cortex, the auditory cortex, the
associative regions of the cortex, etc. This process differs both structurally and functionally from the
creation of working or short-term memory. Although the short-term memory is supported by transient
patterns of neuronal communication in the regions of the frontal, prefrontal and parietal lobes of the brain,
long-term memories are maintained by more stable and permanent changes in neural connections widely
spread throughout the brain.

Temporary transit point for long-term memories

The hippocampus area of the brain essentially acts as a kind of temporary transit point for long-term
memories, and is not itself used to store information. However, it is essential to the consolidation of
information from short-term to long-term memory, and is thought to be involved in changing neural
connections for a period of three months or more after the initial learning. Unlike with short-term memory,
forgetting occurs in long-term memory when the formerly strengthened synaptic connections among the
neurons in a neural network become weakened, or when the activation of a new network is superimposed
over an older one, thus causing interference in the older memory.

DECLARATIVE (EXPLICIT) & PROCEDURAL (IMPLICIT) MEMORY

Declarative memory

Declarative memory (“knowing what”) is memory of facts and events, and refers to those memories that can
be consciously recalled (or "declared"). It is sometimes called explicit memory, since it consists of
information that is explicitly stored and retrieved, although it is more properly a subset of explicit memory.
Declarative memory can be further sub-divided into episodic memory and semantic memory.
Procedural memory

Procedural memory (“knowing how”) is the unconscious memory of skills and how to do things,
particularly the use of objects or movements of the body, such as tying a shoelace, playing a guitar or riding
a bike. These memories are typically acquired through repetition and practice, and are composed of
automatic sensorimotor behaviors that are so deeply embedded that we are no longer aware of them. Once
learned, these "body memories" allow us to carry out ordinary motor actions more or less automatically.
Procedural memory is sometimes referred to as implicit memory, because previous experiences aid in the
performance of a task without explicit and conscious awareness of these previous experiences, although it is
more properly a subset of implicit memory.

Encoding of declarative and procedual memory

These different types of long-term memory are stored in different regions of the brain and undergo quite
different processes. Declarative memories are encoded by the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and perirhinal
cortex (all within the medial temporal lobe of the brain), but are consolidated and stored in the temporal
cortex and elsewhere. Procedural memories, on the other hand, do not appear to involve the hippocampus at
all, and are encoded and stored by the cerebellum, putamen, caudate nucleus and the motor cortex, all of
which are involved in motor control. Learned skills such as riding a bike are stored in the putamen;
instinctive actions such as grooming are stored in the caudate nucleus; and the cerebellum is involved with
timing and coordination of body skills. Thus, without the medial temporal lobe (the structure that includes
the hippocampus), a person is still able to form new procedural memories (such as playing the piano, for
example), but cannot remember the events during which they happened or were learned.

Study on declarative and procedural memory

Perhaps the most famous study demonstrating the separation of the declarative and procedural memories is
that of a patient known as “H.M.”, who had parts of his medial temporal lobe, hippocampus and amygdala
removed in 1953 in an attempt to cure his intractable epilepsy. After the surgery, H.M. could still form new
procedural memories and short-term memories, but long-lasting declarative memories could no longer be
formed. The nature of the exact brain surgery he underwent, and the types of amnesia he experienced,
allowed a good understanding of how particular areas of the brain are linked to specific processes in memory
formation. In particular, his ability to recall memories from well before his surgery, but his inability to create
new long-term memories, suggests that encoding and retrieval of long-term memory information is mediated
by distinct systems within the medial temporal lobe, particularly the hippocampus. The fact that “HM” was
able to learn hand-eye coordination skills such as mirror drawing, despite having absolutely no memory of
having learned or practised the task before, also suggested the existence different types of long-term
memory, which are now known as declarative and procedural memories

There is strong evidence, notably by studying amnesic patients and the effect of priming, to suggest that
implicit memory is largely distinct from explicit memory, and operates through a different process in the
brain. Studies of the effects of amnesia have shown that it is quite possible to have an intact implicit
memory despite a severely impaired explicit memory. Priming is the effect in which exposure to a stimulus
influences response to a subsequent stimulus, so that, for instance, if a person reads a list of words including
the word “concert”, and is later asked to complete a word starting with “con”, there is a higher probability
that they will answer “concert” than, say, “contact”, “connect”, etc. Studies from amnesic patients indicate
that priming is controlled by a brain system separate from the medial temporal system that supports explicit
memory.

RETROSPECTIVE & PROSPECTIVE MEMORY

Retrospective memory is where the content to be remembered (people, words, events, etc) is in the past, i.e.
the recollection of past episodes. It includes semantic, episodic and autobiographical memory, and
declarative memory in general, although it can be either explicit or implicit.

Prospective memory

Prospective memory is where the content is to be remembered in the future, and may be defined as
“remembering to remember” or remembering to perform an intended action. It may be either event-based or
time-based, often triggered by a cue, such as going to the doctor (action) at 4pm (cue), or remembering to
post a letter (action) after seeing a mailbox (cue).

Clearly, though, retrospective and prospective memory are not entirely independent entities, and certain
aspects of retrospective memory are usually required for prospective memory. Thus, there have been case
studies where an impaired retrospective memory has caused a definite impact on prospective memory.
However, there have also been studies where patients with an impaired prospective memory had an intact
retrospective memory, suggesting that to some extent the two types of memory involve separate processes.

Children under the age of about seven pick up new languages easily without giving it much conscious
thought, using procedural (or implicit) memory. Adults, on the other hand, actively learn the rules and
vocabulary of a new language using declarative (or explicit) memory.

Forgetting is an all too common part of daily life. Sometimes these memory slips are simple and fairly
innocuous, such as forgetting to return a phone call. Other times, forgetting can be much direr and even
have serious consequences, such as an eyewitness forgetting important details about a crime. Why do we
forget? From forgetting where you left your keys to forgetting to return a phone call, memory failures are an
almost daily occurrence. Forgetting is so common that you probably rely on numerous methods to help you
remember important information such as jotting down notes in a daily planner or scheduling important
events on your phone's calendar.

According to interference theory, forgetting is the result of different memories interfering with one another.
It is difficult to remember what happened on an average school day two months ago because so many other
days have occurred since then. The more similar two or more events are to one another, the more likely
interference will occur.

For example, imagine that you wrote down a shopping list but forgot to take it with you to the store. In all
likelihood, you will probably be able to easily recall the first and last items on your list, but you might
forget many of the items that were in the middle. The first thing you wrote down and the last thing you
wrote down stand out as being more distinct, while the fourth item and seventh item might seem so similar
that they interfere with each other.

There are two basic types of interference that can occur:

 Retroactive interference happens when newly acquired information interferes with old memories.
For example, a teacher learning the names of her new class of students at the start of a school year
might find it more difficult to recall the names of the students in her class last year. The new
information interferes with the old information.
  Proactive interference occurs when previously learned information makes it more difficult to form
new memories. Learning a new phone number or locker combination might be more difficult, for
example, because your memories of your old phone number and combination interfere with the new
information.

Eliminating interference altogether is impossible, but there are a few things you can do to minimize its
effects. One of the best things you can do is rehearse new information in order to better commit it to
memory. In fact, many experts recommend overlearning important information, which involves rehearsing
the material over and over again until it can be reproduced perfectly with no errors. Another tactic to fight
interference is to switch up your routine and avoid studying similar material back to back. Researchers
suggest that sleeping after you learn something new is one of the best ways to turn new memories into
lasting ones

The Decay Theory of Forgetting

According to the trace theory of memory, the formation of new memories results in physical and chemical
changes in the brain that results in a memory 'trace.' Information in short-term memory lasts approximately
15 to 30 seconds and if it is not rehearsed, the neurochemical memory trace quickly fades.

According to the trace decay theory of forgetting, the events that happen between the formation of a
memory and the recall of the memory have no impact on recall. Instead, trace theory proposes that is the
length of time between the memory and recalling that information determines whether the information will
be retained or forgotten. If the time interval is short, more information will be recalled. If a longer period of
time passes, more information will be forgotten and memory will be poorer. The idea that memories fade
over time is hardly new. The Greek philosopher Plato suggested such a thing more than 2,500 years ago.
Later, experimental research by psychologists such as Ebbinghaus bolstered this theory.

One of the problems with this theory is that it is difficult to demonstrate that time alone is responsible for
declines in the recall. In real-world situations, many things are bound to happen between the formation of a
memory and the recall of that information. A student who learns something in class, for example, might
have hundreds of unique and individual experiences between learning that information and having to recall
it on an exam.

For example, you are more likely to remember your very first day of college than all of the intervening days
between it and graduation. That first day was new and exciting, but all the following days probably seem
quite similar to each other.

0THER CAUSES OF FORGETTING

Motivated Forgetting

The Motivated Forgetting theory suggests people forget because they push unpleasant thoughts and feelings
deep into their unconscious. People may actively work to forget memories, especially those of traumatic or
disturbing events or experiences.
The two basic forms of motivated forgetting

Suppression: a conscious form of forgetting

Physical Injury or Trauma

Anterograde amnesia is the inability to remember events that occur after an injury or traumatic event.
Retrograde amnesia is the inability to remember events that occurred before an injury or traumatic event.
Organic Causes

Forgetting that occurs through physiological damage to the brain is referred to as organic causes of
forgetting. These theories encompass the loss of information already retained in long term memory or the
inability to encode new information. This is typically caused by the gradual slowing down of the central
nervous system due to aging. Examples include Alzheimer's, Amnesia, and Dementia.