TRANSCRIPTS
term and long-term? Well, to help you understand this idea clearly, can you look for a moment at the handout I have given you about the process of creating memory? As you can see, information enters the brain through the sensory organs, in this case, the eyes. It passes through the thalamus to the cortex, where it’s converted into a code that can be stored in the short-term memory system, but this is often only for a matter of minutes … which isn’t much use for routine activities. After all, we don’t want to have to learn how to clean our teeth again every morning. However, looking at it another way, short-term memory has an important role to play in creating long-term memory. This happens when it is recycled or ‘rehearsed’ through the hippocampus, as you can see in the handout. In historical terms, this two- stage memory model has described short-term and long-term memory as structured storage systems. But, as I mentioned earlier, more recent research suggests that short-term and long-term memories have a dynamic relationship and that short-term memory has an active role in processing different tasks, such as problem-solving and categorizing objects. According to this model, the short-term memory is better described as ‘working memory’.
Let me give you an example. Say you’re writing
an essay and printing from your computer when your printer runs out of ink. On one hand, your ‘working’ memory allows you to divide your attention between saving your document, changing your ink cartridge and re-starting your printing, whereas your long-term memory will remind you how to carry out each of these tasks. An important difference between working memory and long-term memory is that working memory is flexible and long-term memory is more stable.
What are the implications of research into short-
term or working memory and long-term memory? Well, the point is that if psychologists understand how the memory systems work, they’re in a better position to treat memory disorders and learning disabilities. In this way, they can improve the quality of life of those who suffer from memory loss and the educational performance of anyone who studies.
Unit 7, Lesson 7.2, Exercise F≤2.4
Part 4 Now … er … let’s see … oh dear, I see we’re running short of time … but perhaps I should just say something about forgetting. There are several
theories about why people forget events. Amongst them are: faulty encoding, displacement, brain damage, lack of use and repression. Let’s look at each of these in turn.
Faulty encoding means that certain information
may not be available because it hasn’t been recorded correctly in the first place. This could happen when there is physical damage to the senses – to hearing or sight, for example. Now, from what we’ve looked at so far, it’s easy to see that deficiencies of this kind will generally affect short-term memory.
Another reason why information may not be
available is if it has been replaced by new information. This particularly applies to short-term memory. Right … turning to long-term memory. In some cases, information may not be transferred from short-term to long-term memory as a result of damage to the hippocampus. As you’ll remember, this is the part of the brain that recycles information and converts it into long- term memory.
I’d like to mention one more important theory,
which claims that when information isn’t retrieved and recycled regularly, it deteriorates or decays. An example of this would be forgetting the name of your teacher in primary school. If you moved away from where you went to school and didn’t see your teacher for a long time, you probably wouldn’t hear or mention her name very often, if at all. Gradually, because the information isn’t being recycled frequently, the neural network that makes it available weakens and breaks down, and the memory is lost.
Moving on now … let’s look at another
explanation for forgetting … and that is repression. Memories are often repressed in situations where people have had traumatic experiences. By that, I mean when they have had terrible accidents, or they have been victims of violence or when they have seen, or done something dreadful. In these cases, the brain blocks the memory of the event by keeping it in the unconscious. More recent research suggests, though, that highly emotional events may be more difficult to remember just after they happen, but easier to recall in the long term.
Now … oh dear, I was going to give more
examples of repression, but … ah … I see that time is moving on. So instead, I’m going to …
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