Short-term memory (STM). How long-term memory differs from short-term memory The capacity of short-term memory is equal to the magic number 2

Short-term memory allows us to perform a wide variety of actions here and now. While washing dishes, the housewife automatically remembers which plates have already been washed and which ones still need to be rubbed with a soapy washcloth. But it is not at all necessary to remember this all your life or for many years. Therefore, memories from the working storage cell are erased absolutely painlessly for the woman.

Short-term memory: what is it?

Short-term memory, which we need for everyday, moment-to-moment work, is the ability to retain information obtained 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 brain cell.

Miller's law states that short-term memory can store no more than 7 objects or words. The permissible error is plus or minus two. When going to the store, it is easier for us to 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 your place today, it is easy to engage the chain of long-term memory and then all the products will float into your head, in connection with what dish they are intended for. Now they can be easily transferred to a working cell and purchased.

Operational thinking is able to look into long-term storage, extract the necessary information from there, connect it with immediate information and make the right decision. In this example, the housewife remembered what dish she needed to prepare and, without a list, remembered what she needed to buy for this.

Each new variable information erases from working memory that first component that is no longer needed right now. The operational cell of thinking actively works during reading and 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 your professional and everyday problems. In general, a person constantly uses the short-term or working cell of his memories: when cooking borscht, cleaning the apartment, developing a drawing of a complex part.

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

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

The operational reservoir of knowledge helps us cut off unnecessary, distracting information and focus our attention on doing one thing. This increases labor productivity.

In adults

Adults can train their memorization ability without spending extra time on it. For example, during a long trolleybus ride, closing your eyes, it is enough to try to remember what color your neighbor’s hat is.

Reading books, learning poetry, studying foreign languages, solving puzzles - all this strengthens the ability to remember new information. In this case, not only auditory memory is activated, but also visual memory. This further enhances the effect. After all, it is known that the optic nerve is much thicker than the auditory nerve. This means that a larger number of neurons take part in the process of figurative thinking.

There is special training that allows you to train your working memory. During the training process, a person is asked to follow a series of images, determining which one appeared first. Improvement will come if you exercise for 25 minutes daily.

In children (schoolchildren, preschoolers) and adolescents

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

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

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

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

The drugs will stop the exacerbation. 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 healthy lifestyle: do not smoke, do not try alcoholic beverages and read. Regular reading strengthens imaginative thinking and increases the volume of memories.

Memory restoration in a student occurs gradually if he learns his lessons and adheres to the correct daily routine and nutrition.

Exercises to train short-term memory

The development of short-term memory is important for humans. Yogis recommend meditation to lower blood pressure, avoid depression and strengthen working memory. Scientists say that this happens because during meditation a person focuses on one thought, dismissing others.

8 minutes of meditation a day is enough to increase the volume of working memory cells.

Sports activities improve not only the functioning of the entire body and body muscles, but also the functioning of the brain and 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 complete current assignments 60% faster and more accurately.

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

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

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

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Short-term memory.

The next stage of 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) form of information storage - acoustic code (a hypothesis accepted by most researchers; an alternative hypothesis assumes the presence of visual codes in the CP);

4) the mechanism of forgetting - replacement or repression.

There are a number of facts that prove the legitimacy of identifying the CP as a separate memory subsystem. One of them is Milner syndrome – damage to a certain area of ​​the brain (hippocampus), in which long-past events are easily remembered, and recent ones are practically not preserved. The literature describes the medical history of music producer K.V., who suffered a rare form of encephalitis. His memories of current events faded 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 he had learned before his illness, etc. It can be assumed that short-term memory in this case is impaired, but long-term memory is intact, i.e. There are two different memory subsystems.

Other evidence comes from different recall errors from the CP and DP. The same fact proves that information in the CP is stored in acoustic form: when playing back from the CP, acoustic recall errors, those. reproduction of a word similar in sound to the target one– for example, the word “brother” can be reproduced as “marriage”. When playing from DP, they are more common semantic errors, i.e. reproduction of a word close in meaning(labor - work). According to the concept of acoustic coding, when we read the letter “A” we retain it in the CP by encoding it in sound"A".

According to R. Klatsky, CP 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 making room for one means cutting out space for the other. In the CP, approximately 7 ± 2 elements (words, letters, larger units) can be processed simultaneously, i.e. there are on average 7 cells (workplaces), and the removal of previous elements (forgetting) occurs by replacing them with new elements, i.e. as a result of substitution. However, we can retain information in the CP for an unlimited time if we repeat it (repetition loop, see Fig. 8: for example, if you need to remember a 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 presented in Figure 10. The subjects were presented with two letters, which must 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 when presenting the pair Aa compared to the pair AA was longer. This could not happen if the letters were determined only by auditory codes, because they are pronounced the same. The results can be explained as follows: identical letters were compared according to their external, visual characteristics, which required less time, while letters that were different in appearance still needed to be additionally checked according to verbal characteristics, which increased the reaction time. Therefore, Posner's experiment proves the existence of visual codes in CP.

Each person throughout his life accumulates certain information, experience and knowledge that he needs in various areas of his activity. All this is possible thanks to memory. Without it, humanity would never have achieved progress and would still remain at the level of the primitive communal system. Memory is one of the most important functions of our consciousness. What does this concept mean? What are the main types of memory in psychology? What violations can a person encounter, and how can they be corrected?

Concept and functions of memory

Memory is the ability of a person’s consciousness to accumulate, preserve, and also reproduce previously acquired knowledge, skills, and information about our world. In various forms it is inherent in all living organisms. However, in humans, compared to other creatures, memory is at the highest level of development.

Different types of memory contribute to the fact that a person can not only master certain information, but also repeat and reproduce all kinds of actions. Memory allows us to transport our thoughts into the past, re-experience the emotions and worries that we once experienced. This function of the human psyche provides a connection between the past, present and future, making learning and personal development possible.

Memory helps coordinate the work of various subsystems of our psyche. With its help, a person is able to achieve the goal set for himself by remembering and reproducing the necessary information at the right time.

The main functions of memory include the ability to accumulate and retain acquired knowledge for a long period of time. It is also necessary to reproduce information with maximum accuracy.

Classification of types of memory in psychology

Characteristics of other organisms besides humans include genetic and mechanical memory. The first of them is stored in the genotype of a living organism and is inherited. It is impossible to have any influence on it using the methods known to us. Rote memory is a learning ability based on repetition, without thought or awareness of actions.

Depending on which of the senses is most involved in the memorization process, the following types of memory are distinguished: auditory, visual and tactile. Based on the duration of information storage, it is divided into long-term and short-term.

Also, the classification of types of memory is made according to the type of human thinking. According to it, associative, logical, and indirect memory are distinguished.

The first type is the process of assimilation of information through the construction of a certain chain of associations. So, for example, when a person studies a foreign language, this or that word may seem similar in pronunciation to Russian. This will make it much easier to remember.

Logical memory is built on the semantic relationship of various elements that need to be remembered. Having understood the cause-and-effect relationships, a person can easily assimilate the information he needs.

Indirect memory is based on the comparison of new knowledge with a person’s existing life experience. It includes both logical and associative memory.

Depending on how purposefully a person assimilates information, psychology distinguishes such types of memory as voluntary and involuntary. In the first case, knowledge is recorded accidentally, automatically. Involuntary memory involves the purposeful concentration of a person’s attention to retain the necessary information.

Qualities and individual characteristics of our memory

Each person's memory is developed in its own way. For some, it is not difficult to quickly memorize a fairly large amount of information, while for others it is difficult to learn even a short poem.

In psychology, the following qualities of memory are distinguished: volume, accuracy, duration, speed of memorization and readiness for reproduction. All of them are developed in a particular person to varying degrees.

Memory capacity is the ability of an individual to simultaneously store and retain a significant amount of information in his head. According to scientific data, people do not use 100% of their brain, and our memory is also not used to its full potential. Our consciousness can accommodate much more information than the most modern computer, but few people realize their potential capabilities in practice.

Memory accuracy allows a person to reproduce learned information as reliably as possible. Very often, over time, part of the data can be erased from our consciousness or distorted. The accuracy of reproduction ensures their reliable preservation in an unchanged form.

The duration of memory allows you to retain the necessary information in your head for a certain time. So, for example, it is important for a student who has memorized all the tickets before the session not to forget them until he passes the exams. After this, it makes no sense for him to retain information in memory.

Speed ​​of memorization is also one of the most important characteristics of memory. It is determined by the amount of time required to assimilate this or that information. Some students, for example, need to study for the entire semester in order to pass the exam. For others, it is enough to read the material one time before the exam.

Readiness to reproduce is characterized by a person’s ability to quickly recall the necessary information. For some this is not at all difficult, but for others it takes time to gradually find in the depths of their memory what they need.

Concept and features of visual memory

Visual memory is characterized by the fact that a person is able to remember faces, text, and various objects he has seen. When it is necessary to remember something, certain images appear in front of him, which are formed by our consciousness. People who have more developed this type of memory find it easier to assimilate information through visual contact with the subject of knowledge.

The peculiarities of this type of memory are that in the process of memorization our brain transforms and transforms the original data. At the same time, small, unimportant details may be completely omitted, while something larger and attracting attention, on the contrary, will stand out and be exaggerated. Our consciousness is able to represent the information we see in the form of diagrams and drawings, which are easier to retain in memory.

Visual memory is not developed equally in all people. Someone can easily describe an object that he saw for a couple of seconds, while another person, even carefully examining this or that thing, will later miss important points when talking about it.

Features of auditory memory

Many people find it much easier to remember information by hearing than by making eye contact. So, when learning a poem, some children need their parents to read it to them several times first. Auditory memory is a person’s ability to remember and assimilate, store and subsequently reproduce sound information.

Every person has auditory memory to one degree or another. Someone can easily reproduce verbatim the information they have heard briefly. For some people this is more difficult. But even if, after carefully listening to the lecture, you did not remember anything from it, you should not think that this type of memory is completely unusual for you. Perhaps your brain simply does not want to perceive information that is not interesting to you, because in a conversation with a friend, almost everyone will remember what exactly he told you about.

Short-term memory

When distinguishing types of memory in psychology, long-term and short-term memory are most often mentioned first. The latter is a method of storing information for a short period of time, typically 20 to 30 seconds. Very often the physical memory of a computer is compared with it.

Short-term memory retains a generalized image of an object that a person has perceived. It focuses on the most basic and prominent features, the most memorable elements. Short-term memory functions without a preliminary setting for memorization. However, it is aimed at reproducing the information just received.

The main indicator characterizing short-term memory is its volume. It is determined by the number of units of information that a person will be able to reproduce with absolute accuracy 20-30 seconds after some data has been presented to him once. Most often, people's short-term memory capacity varies between 5 and 9 units.

Information is retained in short-term memory through repetition. Data is scanned by our brain using vision and then spoken through inner speech. After this, short-term auditory memory begins to work. In the absence of repetition, the stored elements are forgotten over time or are replaced by newly arrived data.

Long-term memory

A person’s ability to store information for a very long period of time, sometimes limited only by the duration of our life, is called long-term memory. It assumes that people have the ability, at any necessary moment, to remember and reproduce what was once firmly settled in their consciousness.

A person is able to tell an unlimited number of times without losing the meaning and all the smallest details of information stored in long-term memory storage. Systematic repetition allows you to retain data in your head longer and longer.

The functioning of long-term memory is associated with processes such as thinking and willpower. They are necessary in order to find once stored information in the depths of consciousness. In order for data to move into long-term memory, a clear commitment to memorization is needed, as well as systematic repetition.

All people have this type of memory developed to varying degrees. The better the long-term memory, the more units of information a person can remember with fewer repetitions.

The ability to forget as a function of memory

Many people consider the ability to forget as a disadvantage, and even a memory disorder that they would like to get rid of. Indeed, few people would like to be unable to remember important information at the right time. However, in fact, the ability to forget is extremely necessary for us.

If we imagine for a second that a person would store absolutely everything in his head, and not even the smallest detail would escape our consciousness, how overloaded would our memory end up? In addition, there are many unpleasant and terrible events that you want to quickly forget. Our consciousness is designed in such a way that it tries to erase all negativity from memory. People try to remember only the good and think less about the bad.

The ability to forget allows a person to concentrate on the most important things and retain only truly necessary information in his mind. Thanks to this function, our physical memory is protected from overload. However, not in all cases, people’s ideas about the necessary information coincide with the choice of such by our brain. Such situations create problems and inconveniences for us, and the person complains that he has a bad memory.

It must be remembered that even people with phenomenal memory have the ability to forget unnecessary, superfluous information. Without this ability, the brain would work very slowly, like an overloaded computer. In this case, a person would often experience nervous disorders and all kinds of memory problems.

Memory impairment: types and causes

The causes of memory impairment are quite varied. First of all, these include injuries and lesions of the brain, as well as diseases of other organs that affect the general condition of a person. Frequent abuse of alcohol, nicotine, drugs, and systematic use of strong medications can lead to memory impairment. The cause of this problem is also a person’s poor lifestyle, constant stress, chronic lack of sleep and overwork. Many people begin to notice as they age that they have poor memory. If memory problems caused by unfavorable life factors are quite easy to eliminate, then disorders caused by serious injuries are very difficult to treat.

Like the types of memory in psychology, its disorders are also diverse. They are divided into several groups. The first includes amnesia. This disease is characterized by a violation of the individual's ability to store, remember and reproduce information. Sometimes a person cannot remember events that happened before the injury. In some cases, on the contrary, he perfectly remembers the distant past, but is not able to reproduce what happened to him a couple of minutes ago.

The second group includes partial memory impairment. They are divided into hypomnesia, that is, a decrease in memory, and hypermnesia, a disease characterized by an excessive increase in the ability to retain information.

The third group includes disorders associated with distortion of information or false memories. Diseases of this kind are called paramnesia. People can appropriate other people's thoughts and actions, mix the past and present in their minds, and consider fictitious events to be reality.

When faced with any of the listed memory disorders, a person should immediately seek help from specialists. Timely treatment in many cases makes the changes reversible.

How to develop memory?

Each of us has our own memory characteristics. Some people find it easier to assimilate information by ear, while others must see the object of memorization before their eyes. For some people, learning long poems is not difficult; for others, it requires considerable effort. The different characteristics of people are not disorders, and everyone, if desired, can improve their ability to store and reproduce information.

There are several tips that will help develop memory more accessible to everyone. First of all, you need to know that the brain remembers faster the information that is interesting to us. Also an important factor is full concentration of attention on the object being studied. To remember something faster, you need to create an environment around yourself that would promote maximum concentration. For example, when preparing for an exam, you can turn off your computer and phone, ask your relatives not to make noise and not distract you.

Associations help you remember faster. Having learned to build them, to compare what needs to be learned with already familiar concepts, you will significantly facilitate the memorization process.

A person’s ability to systematize received information is considered important. Consciousness transforms initial data into diagrams and graphs that are easier and faster to remember.

The development of human memory is impossible without repetition. To ensure that information is not forgotten over time, it must be repeated periodically and returned to again and again.

Exercises to improve memory

There are many exercises to develop and train our memory. Many of them can be used in everyday life; they do not require special training or the availability of certain books and manuals.

Visual memory training deserves a lot of attention. Here are some examples of exercises to develop it. You can open any picture, look at it for a few seconds, then close your eyes and mentally try to remember everything you can. Then open your eyes and check yourself.

Another option for developing visual memory is playing with pencils. You can take a few pencils, throw them on the table in a random order, look at them for a couple of seconds, and then, without peeking, reproduce what you saw at the other end of the table. If you find things too easy, you can increase the number of pencils.

To develop auditory memory, it will be very useful to read books aloud. However, this must be done with expression, avoiding monotonous reading. Learning poems will also help improve auditory memory. Even a couple of memorized quatrains a day will significantly increase your memory capabilities. You can try to remember and after a while reproduce to yourself a conversation between strangers or a song you heard on a minibus that was new to you.

To develop your memory, try every evening to remember the events of your day in the smallest detail. Moreover, this must be done in the reverse order, that is, starting in the evening and ending with awakening.

In order for your memory not to let you down for as long as possible, you need to eat well, rest, and avoid stress and negative emotions. It is impossible to remember everything, so even if you forgot something, try to treat it with humor and not focus on problems.

Turning to the question 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 Lloyd and Margaret Peterson (Peterson & Peterson, 1959). Similar studies were carried out independently by the British psychologist Brown at about the same time.

In these experiments, the subject was presented by ear a series of three consonants, for example PSQ. Such a series is called trigram. Then the subject was told a three-digit number, for example 167. He had to count down in threes (167, 164, 161,158...) to the beat 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, by which the subject had to immediately remember the previously presented letters that made up the trigram.

It turned out that after a three-second retention interval, success in recalling the trigram was approximately 80%, after 6 s success decreased to approximately 55%, after 9 s to approximately 35%, after 12 s to 20%, and after 15 s it stabilized at approximately 10 %, without changing significantly even by the 18-second retention interval.

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

We also note that long-term observations of patient H. M., who suffered from Milner's syndrome, also known as Korsakoff's syndrome, which we mentioned in the first chapter, was shown: 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 suggest that a short-term trace of excitation in the central nervous system can be maintained for several days. However, in general, it is generally accepted that the storage time of information in short-term memory is still comparable to 1 minute.

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

Two alternative hypotheses have been proposed as answers. One of them, called the hypothesis fading, suggests that short-term memory traces undergo rapid degradation due to aging over time. The second hypothesis indicates that information stored in short-term memory is constantly influenced by newly arriving information from sensory registers (ultra-short-term memory). New information interferes with the processing of old information 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 simply to the passage of time, but to the appearance of new information in memory.

In its 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 of Peterson and Peterson (Peterson & Peterson, 1959), which we have already discussed, can serve as a good approximation to the ideal. The results obtained by these researchers seem at first glance to support the extinction hypothesis, since counting backwards in threes numbers is unlikely to interfere 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 trials. The result was assessed statistically as the average for all samples. Keppel and Underwood (1962) examined the dependence of success in recalling trigrams on the retention interval separately for the first, second, and third trials. It turned out that the effect of a gradual decrease in the success of recalling the trigram over 15 s in the first trial was not observed at all: the success of recall after three, nine, and 15 s was about 100%. However, this gradual decline effect appears in the second and third trials. Therefore, the observed decrease in recall efficiency is not a consequence of the extinction of the memory trace over time, but of the interference of successive trials.

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

The test subject is auditorily presented with a sequence of numbers, 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 digit that follows the probe digit the first time it is presented. In this example, the correct answer is number 1, since it is the number that appears immediately after the first appearance of the number five in this sequence. Note also that between the digit that needs to be reproduced and the probe at the end of the list in our example there are 9 more digits.

Norman and Waugh's experiments varied the distance between the probe and the target digit, as well as the speed at which the sequence of digits was presented. If forgetting is determined only by time, then accelerating presentation should have a beneficial effect on the success of reproducing the target digit, since there will not be enough time for the trace to completely fade away. If the main factor of forgetting is interference, changing the rate of presentation of numbers in a series should not affect the success of finding the target number. It will depend entirely on the distance from the end of the sequence to the target digit. This is exactly the result that D. Norman and N. Vo obtained in their experiments.

However, the extinction hypothesis cannot be rejected entirely. For example, there is a well-known effect called fragility of the trace. It consists in the fact that the interference factor turns out to be much more significant in a situation where information in short-term memory has been retained for quite a long time, 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 keep 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 by anything else will lead to you forever forgetting this number, never recording it in your address book . This is the effect of the fragility of the trace. And it seems to indicate that memory traces do degrade over time, even if you're 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 of its loss are processes of interference and, to a lesser extent, extinction.

Short term memory is memory in which the storage of material is limited to a certain, usually short, period of time. A person's short-term memory is connected with his actual consciousness.

Long-term Memory is designed for long-term storage of information, not a predetermined period. It is not connected with the actual consciousness of a person and presupposes his ability at the right moment to remember what he once remembered. Unlike short-term memory, where recollection is not required (since what has just been perceived is still in the actual consciousness), with long-term memory it is always necessary, since the information associated with perception is no longer in the sphere of actual consciousness.

When using long-term memory, recall often requires certain volitional efforts, so its functioning is usually associated with will.

To store information in short-term memory, it is always necessary to maintain continuous attention to the memorized material during the entire time it is retained in memory; with long-term memorization this is not necessary.

Operational called memory that occupies an intermediate position between short-term and long-term. It is designed to preserve the material for a predetermined period, i.e. to be able to easily remember what you need at a given time.

Motor memory is memorization and preservation, and, if necessary, accurate reproduction of various movements. It is involved in the formation of a person’s motor skills and abilities and is especially necessary in those activities that require a person to have rather complex forms of movements.

good visual People with eidetic perception have memory, i.e. those who are able to “see” a picture or object that is absent from the real visual field for a long time. Visual memory is associated with the storage and reproduction of images; it is extremely important for people of all professions, especially police officers, artists, and designers. This type of memory presupposes a person’s developed ability to imagine. In particular, the process of memorizing and reproducing material is based on it: what a person can visually imagine, he, as a rule, remembers and reproduces more easily.

Auditory Memory is good memorization and accurate reproduction of various sounds, such as speech and music. It is necessary for musicians, philologists, and people studying foreign languages.

Verbal-logical memory is characterized by the fact that a person who has it quickly and accurately remembers the meaning of events, the logic of any evidence, the meaning of a text being read, etc. He can accurately convey this meaning in his own words, often without completely remembering the details of the source material. Scientists and teachers often have this type of memory.

Emotional memory is the memory of past experiences. It is involved in all types of memory, but is especially evident in human relationships. The strength of memorizing material is directly based on emotional memory: what causes strong emotional experiences in a person is remembered more firmly and for a longer period.

In addition to those mentioned, there are other types of memory, in particular tactile, olfactory, gustatory.

Since memory is associated with the will, according to the nature of its participation in memorizing and reproducing material, memory is divided into involuntary And arbitrary. In the first case, they mean the memorization and reproduction of material that occurs automatically, without much effort on the part of the person, without setting a mnemonic task for himself (a task of memorizing, recognizing, preserving or reproducing the material). In the second case, such a task is necessarily present, and the process of memorization or reproduction itself requires volitional efforts from a person.

In the structure of memory, two types of mnemonic abilities can be distinguished, which have different physiological mechanisms: the ability to imprint and the ability to process information semantically. Both types of mnemonic abilities influence the success of knowledge acquisition, but a major role is played by the ability to process information, which characterizes the close unity of the processes of memory and thinking.

Basic characteristics of short-term memory

The average capacity of short-term memory is very limited: it is 7 +/- 2 units of integrated information. This volume is individual, it characterizes a person’s natural memory and tends to persist throughout life. They first of all determine the volume of the so-called mechanical memory, which functions without the active inclusion of thinking in the memorization process.

Associated with the peculiarities of short-term memory, due to its limited capacity, is a property called substitution. It manifests itself in the fact that when the individually stable volume of a person’s short-term memory overflows, the information newly entering it partially displaces what is already stored there. Subjectively, this can manifest itself, for example, in an involuntary switching of a person’s attention from memorization to something else.

Thanks to short-term memory, the largest amount of information is processed, unnecessary information is eliminated, and as a result, long-term memory is not overloaded with unnecessary information.

Without short-term memory, the normal functioning of long-term memory is impossible. Only what was once in short-term memory can penetrate into the latter and be deposited there for a long time. In other words, short-term memory acts as a kind of filter that passes the necessary information into long-term memory, while simultaneously carrying out strict selection in it.