BRAIN MEMORY IMPROVEMENT
Understanding how our memory works
Working Memory comes first
The capacity of working memory to accomplish a given learning task differs from one individual to the next. One of the main factors in enhancing this capacity is background knowledge. The more a person knows about something, the better able the person is to organize and absorb new information Prior knowledge is not the only factor though. Individuals also differ in their ability to organize information and can be taught to consciously use strategies for making more efficient use of their working memory capacity.
Our working memory screens and decides what to do with all the stimuli with which we are bombarded. We have three choices:
1. Disregard the information (Press DEL).
2. Retain the information in working memory by repeating it again and again (REHEARSE).
3. Transfer the information into long-term memory by connecting it with information that is there already (LINK).
Moving information from working memory to long-term memory involves connecting new information with prior knowledge.
Next comes Long-Term Memory
The final component of the human memory system is long-term memory. Long-term memory has three characteristics that are especially worth noting:
1. A long duration
2. An unlimited capacity
3. A rich network of interconnections among the various things stored there.
Long term memory holds information for a relatively long time -a day, a week, a month, a year, or an entire lifetime The exact duration of long-term memory has never been fully determined. Some psychologists believe that information may slowly "weaken" and possibly disappear from long-term memory, especially if it is not used regularly Long-term memory seems to be capable of holding as much information as an individual needs to store there.
Theoretically, we should be able to remember as much information as we want for as long as we want. The information is stored there in long-term memory as either visual images or verbal units, or both. Most cognitive psychologists differentiate three categories of long-term memory: semantic, episodic, and procedural.