3 ARTICLES

1. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429091806.htm

I chose to write a summary on this article because it is based on the theory that short-term memory isn’t less precise over time, instead it just shuts down completely. Weiwew Zhang with Steve Luck had this idea because of tests they made; these tests consisted in measuring two things and the accuracy of short-term memory with the possibility that the memory still existed. Twelve different adults took this test; the first showed three squares of different colors on a computer, then a wheel showing all spectrums of colors and later the three squares appeared again. Once the squares reappeared they had no color and only one was highlighted. The adults being tested had to remember and click on the part of the wheel that matched the color of the highlighted square; they repeated the test 150 times. The results were: when the adults remembered the color, it was because the matching color was very close. This made Zhang and Luck identify how the accuracy had to do with the distance between the click and the actual color. But, in other cases when color was not remembered, these chose a random color in the wheel. Then there was a second test; this test was mimicked the first but it had to do with shapes instead of colors. The conclusion from these two tests was final; people either have a memory or don’t. These results point out how memories don't actually fade away, they shut down completely.

2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081028103111.htm

The University of Queensland’s Neuroscientists conducted an experiment that discovered why very poignant events usually cause trauma on our long-term memory. This experiment states that the brain tends to remember fear or trauma for a long time. This has been crucial to our long-term survival causing a negative reaction rather than a learning experience. It is said that in the back part of the brain in a so-called “amygdale” releases a stress hormone when we encounter another traumatic event like the ones that we had before. A paper by Dr Louise Faber and part of her co-workers published in The Journal of Neuroscience shows how the brain's "adrenaline” negatively affects the amygdale because of the influence of chemical and electrical pathways to the parts of the brain that are linked to the formation of memory. These results help us by informing about the effects of a traumatic event can affect memory and deeply understand the treatment patients with post-traumatic stress or anxiety disorders should have to really and thoroughly help them.

3. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815105026.htm

This article issues on how memories linked to any visual aids or emotional ones are very hard to forget. Keith Payne and Elizabeth Corrigan found that many negative or mild emotional events are really difficult to leave behind. This article argues what people do to try to forget information. First of all they mentally isolate the event or thing and after they completely block off the info; emotion kicks-in in this because it makes these simple two steps hard to make because the memories become hard to isolate even worse, erase. The UNC made a study, which consisted in 218 participants remembering pictures instead of texts; this study says how a violent word can probably create fear while a violent picture will creates a more fearful emotion. One of the conclusions of this study was that people could not forget memories that were emotionally involved in contrast to ordinary events that are erased easily. These results help understand the important role emotion has on memory.

What is Memory?

1. Sensory memory is known to take a 'snapshot' of what surrounds us to store this information for a short period. But only information that goes to another level of memory will be stored for more time.
2. An example of sensory memory is when you lose concentration in class and then you hear an important word and return your focus, you should be able to remember what the teacher said just before this word because it is in your sensory register.
3. Our sensory memory capacity is usually 12 items.
4. Short-term memory is a system that temporarily stores and manages information that is required to do difficult tasks like learning, reasoning, and comprehending, also the selection of information-processing (ex. encoding, storing, and retrieving data)
5. The "magic number" conducted and established by George A. Miller, argues that the number of objects an average human can hold in is 7 ± 2.
6. Chunking is a strategy that individuals store and code important information to remember and use short-term memory.
7. The ideal size of "chunks" for both letters and numbers are 2 3 and 6
8. The mode of encoding that short-term memory mostly relies on is acoustic.
9. The duration and capacity of long-term memory is thought to store large quantities of information for a large amount of time.
10. The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory is a psychological model made by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968. This model was based on how the human memory goes through three main stages: 1) Sensory memory: retain information in a sort of unprocessed way through a stimulus for less than a second. 2) Short-term memory: retaining information long enough to use it. 3) Long-term memory: information retained for a longer period.
11. A criticism or limitation of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory is that it’s considered to be to linear in structure and doesn’t include subdivisions the levels of memory may include. An example of this is when we use sensory memory for physical processes and once something is done it’s remembered for three seconds and then forgotten.
12. Levels of Processing Model of memory are a theory made by Craik and Lockhart in 1972. Rejecting the idea of dual store model memory and that the memory and its characteristics depend on its location, Craik and Lockart stated information could be processed and remembered in many different ways. They said that the durability of the memory depended on the level or depth of processing involve.
13. Maintenance rehearsal is a process involving repeating something several times. This makes your short-term memory increase from about 20 seconds to 3. An example is when you read a poem for a class, you will repeat the poem long enough to remember it until you present it to the class but it won’t be stored into long term memory.
14. Elaborative rehearsal is a technique that is more about analyzing the significance of a term to remember it instead of using repetition. It is proven to be more efficient and stores information in the long term memory. For example when studying vocabulary words it seems easier to comprehend the meaning than just memorizing it.
15. The Levels of Processing Model were made by Fergus Craik and Robert Lockart in 1972.

http://library.thinkquest.org/26618/en-5.2.2=sensory%20memory.htm
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7142

Memory

The film we watched in class made me realize a lot of interesting facts about memory and its functions and why it was so important. Memory plays a really important part not only to remember events or things but also in our everyday life. We usually believe that memory’s only use is to remember things but we are wrong, memory also contributes to our personality as a whole. Remembering is a simple thing we do without even thinking about it, it’s like breathing; we don’t even realize this shapes who we are. For example, our memory affects the decisions we take by taking past experiences and placing them in our lives. Brain cells are connected and respond to the situations we are in. Another example of how memory shapes identity is in the video. John’s lifestyle, a sad lonely life, which explains how premature births are dangerous to the memory circuit. It can be damaged causing the individual to have amnesia. Amnesia makes the person forget about the past, this also makes them unable to create new experiences and imagine a future. Memory is very important for us to function daily depending on the ability to remember and retain things.