What is the ability of short -term memory?

Short -term memory is the first place where the information is stored when it enters your brain, and it works in a similar way to the detention area. Short -term memory capacity is between five and nine items, often referred to as "seven, plus or minus two". Items remain there only about 30 seconds if a person does not invent a conscious effort to maintain them. It seems that the size of the information does not change the difference, because each of them could be as small as the only letter or as the whole sentence. If left, the items are eventually transferred to long -term or permanent memory. Only a few items fit into a short memory at the same time and cannot stay there for a long time before they are forgotten or stored in the long -term memory. The generally recognized limit for short -term memory capacity is seven items. This number is based on the research of cognitive psychologist George A. Miller, who defined the capacity of short -term memory as seven items plus or minus two. Found that most people would have a canLa to process about seven information at once in short -term memory, while some people managed to manage only five and individuals on the upper levels retain nine.

Limited short -term memory capacity means that most people can handle only a small amount of information at a time. Without conscious effort to remember, such as repeating information, items will only be left for about 30 seconds before they are forgotten. Each information can be of any size. For example, each number of the phone number can be a separate item or with the entire phone number can be considered a single piece of information. Another example is that any information would weigh with a single letter of one word, the whole word can be considered an item or even with the whole sentence.

One way to handle more information at the same time is to organize them in pieces like remembering a phrase or the entire phone number. This can effectively increase the limits set by the capacity of short -term memory and help a person to fit much more information into this part of the brain because each item is larger. The new items tend to push out the elderly, but if a person practices information with repetition, it may be forgotten instead of forgotten. Items that are maintained and taught in this way are usually transmitted to long -term memory for permanent storage.