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Memory Warehouse the Power of the Mind

Memory Warehouse: Unlocking the Power of the Mind

How many times have you encountered the questions mentioned below? Take a few moments to read and answer the below questions.

Many times we find ourselves saying there’s so much to study in a short span of time and it is more often before a test or an exam. Time is not the only issue nor the volume of the content. However, the core issue is memory. Whether you need to prepare for an exam, learn a new language, or if you want to stay mentally active, improving your memory is easier than it sounds. Memory is the process by which information and data are encoded, stored, and retrieved.

There are three stages of memory: sensory, short term and long term memory. 

Sensory memory is the information taken in by a person’s sensory receptors and processed by their nervous system during every moment of an organism’s life. The five traditional senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch allow humans to retain impressions of sensory information which is then stored in Short-term memory. Sensory memory allows an individual to remember information in great detail but for only a few milliseconds.

Short-term memory allows recall for a period of several seconds to a minute without rehearsal. 

Here the information is in a readily available mode and capacity is limited.  The limited duration of short-term memory quickly suggests that its contents spontaneously decay over time. 

Long-term memories are a type of relatively lasting memory  The information is extended over a period of time.   The ability to remember something that happened more than just a few moments ago, whether it occurred just hours ago or decades earlier, then it indicates that memory is long-term memory. Repeated rehearsal and recall are required for information to be remembered over long periods. 

Transferring information from short-term memory to long-term memory involves encoding and consolidation of the information. The longer a memory stays in the short-term memory, the more likely it is moved to the long-term memory. Greater retention happens to owe to the synaptic response within the hippocampus, which is essential for memory storage. The limbic system of the brain selects particular information from short-term memory and consolidates these memories and plays them like a tape.

The Forgetting Curve

Many times we find ourselves unable to recall certain information. Forgetting typically involves a failure in memory retrieval. While the information is somewhere in your long-term memory you are unable to retrieve and remember it.  The forgetting curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it through reviews. We tend to halve our memory of newly learned knowledge in a matter of days or weeks unless we consciously review the learned material.

The level of retention depends on

  1. The strength of the memory

Individuals tend to recall stronger memories than weaker ones. If the information is of stronger relevance to the individual they are most likely to recall it 

  1. Time that has passed since information was learned

Studies show that individuals tend to forget 90% of the information in the first month.