Short-term memory

 

Short term memory is a critical aspect of the lives of individuals because it helps them to conduct their daily activities. This is because it provides them with the means of making sure that they perform their activities in a manner that is effective and efficient. There are often changes in short term memory as individuals grow older, as seen in the manner through which they end up in a situation where as they grow older, their short term memory is not as good. Short term memory involves the performance of memory for short durations, meaning that it involves individuals recalling events that have just taken place. In this way, individuals end up using their short term memories more often to ensure that they fulfill specific tasks. It is noteworthy that aging, as well as the development of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease can result in a situation where short term memory becomes considerably limited and it has an effect on both men and women at an equal level. The study of short term memory is pertinent because it allows for the creation of a perspective concerning the way it works as well as the manner through which individuals use it to fulfill their everyday tasks. This paper considers short term memory from different perspectives, including on the basis on gender, and decay as well as the way that it is affected by diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Short term memory can be considered to be gender based and because of this, it is more effective among women than among men. This perspective is based on a study that sought to show the manner through which short term memory works among men and women (Knox et al., 2007). This study, which involved equal number of men and women, showed that women were more capable of using their short term memories than men. When both groups of participants were shown images, the male participants were only able to recall about 21% of the images while the female participants recalled an average of 60%. Thus, women have a greater short term memory capacity than their male counterparts. The latter study on short term memory is pertinent because it allows for a consideration of the manner through which women are more likely to have a greater short term memory capacity than males and allows for a determinant of the role that gender plays in this type of memory. It is noteworthy that because of this, it has become possible to make sure that there is the promotion of a hypothesis where because of the greater capacity of short term memory that women have, they have the capability to enhance their multitasking to such an extent that they can get more accomplished than men. It is also pertinent that short term memory manifests itself differently in men and women because it allows for a consideration of it based on gender differences.

Short term memory is all about the recollection of recent events. The importance of this memory is that it allows individuals to make sure that they undertake tasks or recall events that have taken place recently. However, the longer the delay prior to recollecting the event, the less information is likely to be recalled (Cowan, 2008); resulting in a scenario where the mind will seek to fill in the gaps with false information. Short term memory does not allow for rehearsal to such an extent that once information is received, the process of loss begins immediately. There is the need to make sure that there is the rehearsal of the information perceived or received in order to ensure that there is the retention of the memory in the long term. Therefore, based on the latter consideration, it becomes possible to note that short term memory is one that has a limited duration since there are not further actions taken to ensure that the information lasts longer. Short term memory is therefore based on the way that the faculties of the human mind interpret scenarios and the considerably limited amount of information that it is able to recall in a temporary state. Short term memory decays over time and this creates a situation where information that is given becomes more unreliable as more time passes by. A consequence of this scenario is that the process of long-term retrieval is that it creates an environment within which it is quite difficult for memories to be recalled without contamination.

Short term memory plays a critical role in making sure that there is the absorption of new information. However, there are instances where short term memory can be affected, especially through aging and Alzheimer’s disease. At the initial stages of Alzheimer’s, for example, the short term memory ends up being impaired and the individual involved ends up becoming forgetful (Grady et al., 2001). As the disease progresses, however, the impairment ends up interfering with the ability of the individual to not only perform their work, but also to interact socially. Therefore, short term memory and its efficiency are determined by the context within which the individual is involved. The age of the individual, for example, can create problems with short term memory because it creates an environment within which it is difficult to achieve accurate recollection. Thus, the older the individual, the less likely he is to have an accurate short term memory. The short term memory capabilities of individuals end up playing a significant role in the development of their long term memories. Without short term memories due to changes to the brain physiology, it becomes extremely difficult to sustain short term memories, meaning that there is the promotion of a scenario where long term memories are no longer developed. Consequently, short term memories become extremely pertinent in making sure that there is the promotion of overall recollection in individual and are therefore important in bringing about the effective performance of memory over time.

In conclusion, the discussion above has considered short term memory from different perspectives, including on the basis on gender, decay as well as the way that it is affected by diseases such as Alzheimer’s. It has shown the way that short term memory is critical for the creation of means through which basic tasks can be performed by individuals. However, when considered in the context of delay, the longer the delay is from an event, the less likely is the short term memory to be accurate. Therefore, while short term memory is pivotal in ensuring the attainment of long term memory, its efficiency depends on the delay that is encountered from the time events take place.