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Short Term Memory

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A recent study at the University of Michigan suggests that attention and short-term memory processing are directly affected by a person's surroundings and environment. Two groups of individuals were tested on their attention and working memory performance, one group after a relaxed walk in a quiet park and the other group after navigating busy city streets.
Those who had been walking the city streets scored far lower on the tests. ( 2 ). Memory is a very complex function that still to this day has not been fully understood. Short-term memory, also known as “working memory”, is the known as the ability to remember and process information at the same time. ( 2 ). Humans process the environment and its various stimuli on a conscious and unconscious level. Not every piece of information can be processed and therefore some information is ignored. The physiological aspects of memory are very complex but research has made progress in determining the various processes that occur in the brain. According to research, we can remember approximately 5 to 9 (7 +/- 2) bits of information in our short term memory at any given time (Miller, 1956) ( 3 ) This is very believable as most phone numbers in the United States are seven numbers, minus the area code. Yet, even as a sentence is read the beginning must be held in memory until the end in order to understand and make judgment and then take action. Neuroscientists often classify human memory into three types: declarative memory, such as storing facts or remembering specific events; procedural memory, such as learning how to play the piano or shoot basketballs; and working memory, a type of short-term storage like remembering a phone number. The term working memory is often used interchangeably with short-term memory, although technically working memory refers more to the whole theoretical framework of structures and processes

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