Short/Long/Work-Memory
SHORT-TERM, LONG-TERM, WORKING MEMORY
Any item will eventually be transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory. This process is facilitated by repeating the information several times, although this is less effective than memory by association.
The concept of working memory developed out of the fact that there is no strict line of demarcation between memories and thoughts. It is used to perform cognitive processes on items that require reasoning, such as reading, writing, or performing computations. The working memory concept comprises of several independent systems, allowing you to drive a car, as well as performing several other mental tasks.
There are two phenomena suggesting that there are two distinct systems for short-term and long-term memory:
- if a distraction occurs, we tend to forget the items at the end of the list (stored in short-term memory) while remembering the ones at the start,
- people with certain kinds of amnesia cannot form new long-term memories, but their short-term memory remains intact.
Long-term memory includes memory of recent facts, as well as older facts, which have become more consolidated. Long-term memory consists of three main processes that take place consecutively:
• encoding,
• storage,
• retrieval (recall)