Furthermore, if you’ve ever heard that we can remember 7 ± 2 objects (it’s actually 4 ± 1) in our memory, that refers to short term memory.įinally, we have long-term memory. When you learn something new, short term memory brings it up in your brain, before the rest of the brain decides what to do with it – sort of. In that way, you can think of it kind of like the buffer on your computer. Most people would guess that short term memory lasts for minutes or even hours, but in reality, most of the research shows us that this type of memory lasts between 15 and 30 seconds. Next, we have short term memory – which is quite possibly the most confused memory type of all. See? You just used your working memory – and so did I, while writing this very sentence. ![]() When you begin reading a sentence, like this one, and remember how the sentence started long enough to connect it to the end… that’s working memory. Think of it as your brain’s scratch paper. ![]() As the name would suggest, working memory is really only used while you are working with and processing information. So, what are the differences between these 3 types of memory? ![]() Every day, researchers are surprised to learn about new areas of the brain which are involved in different types of memory, and are finding out that it’s not as simple as assuming that one part of the brain is used in one type of memory.įortunately, we don’t actually need to understand the neuroscience behind memory to improve it… If that were true, even I would probably be walking around saying that I have a lousy memory! The Difference Between Working Memory, Short Term Memory, and Long-Term Memory In fact, memory is an extremely complex thing, and one that neuroscientists and psychologists still don’t completely understand. What you need to understand is that there’s no such thing as plain and simple “memory”. Of course, there are different types of memories as well, from episodic, to autobiographical memory, spatial memory, semantic memory, and even procedural memory – but none of that is actually of any importance to us right now. When we set out on the task of improving our memories, it’s important to make a few key distinctions.įirst, we must understand that our memory can be categorized into 3 rough categories: (By the way, did you know that your brain is the single most complex object in the known universe? Pretty cool, but definitely not something you can be expected to figure out on your own). And can you blame them? We are all the product of a school system that spends a full year teaching us how to calculate the angle of a line tangent to a circle, but never once stops to teach us about the 10 pound mass of fat that we’re supposedly there to enrich. There Is No Such Thing As Simple And Plain ‘Memory'Īs a whole, people understand very little about what their memory is, how it works, and why. However, in order to do so, there are a few, key fundamentals you must understand. Unlike adding more hours to the day, you can add more capacity to your memory. Indeed, it seems that the desire to improve our memories is as universal in this day and age as the desire to have more time (which, let’s be honest, we all have experienced). “Oh my gosh… I NEED THAT! I have the worst memory!” What doesn’t vary from conversation to conversation is the reply: “I run a media company that creates only courses, primarily on the topics of memory, learning, and speed reading.” Usually, the reply sounds something like this: Like anyone, I have a series of standard replies, depending on who the person is and how invested I am in the conversation. ![]() Nearly every time I meet someone new, the inevitable question comes up:
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