Short-term memory refers to the capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. The duration of short-term memory is believed to be in the order of seconds.
Estimates of short-term memory capacity limits vary from about 4 to about 9 items, depending upon the experimental design used to estimate capacity. A commonly-cited capacity is 7±2 elements.
On-line Short Term Memory Games:
1. Short Term Memory Test - Characters
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/stm0.html
2. Short Term Memory Test – Pictures
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/puzmatch.html
In order to overcome the limitation of short-term memory, and retain information for longer, information must be periodically repeated, or rehearsed — either by articulating it out loud, or by mentally simulating such articulation. In this way, the information will re-enter the short-term store and be retained for a further period.
Chunking is the process with which we can expand our ability to remember things in the short term. Chunking is also a process by which a person organizes material into meaningful groups.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-term_memory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How To Improve Your Memory (Video)
Short-Term Memory Limitations
We pay a price for the accessibility and speed of the short-term memory in that it has very limited capacity. It can hold between 5 and 9 (alternatively 3-5) units of information activated at the same time. The short-term memory uses a chunking technique to overcome the limitations in capacity. It creates chunks of information out of smaller units of information. This means that the number of information units decreases, but the original units do not disappear. They are still activated and accessible as parts of larger units.
== Short-Term Memory Capacity
Illustration of how the short-term memory increases its capacity to hold information:
- L E B P M O W A S T A I A F B
- F I A T O P E L B M W S A A B
- FIAT OPEL BMW SAAB
The example above illustrates the chunking process in the short-term memory. Lets presume that we set up an experiment where the test persons are shown line number 1 for a brief period of time, e.g. tenths of a second. If the test person is then asked to retrieve the letters, he/she will remember just a few. One way of making the memorising process more effective is to try to interpret the letters in some way. If the letters are presented as shown in line 2 they will acquire a meaning to the test person. The separate letters turn into four meaningful units as shown in line 3. Moreover, all four units can be related to one single unit of information, namely cars. This makes it much easier to memorise all the letters, despite the fact that the number of them exceeds the capacity of the short-term memory.
Some design principles to facilitate short-term memory processing in IT.
- Different parts of an application must be related to one another to support the chunking process.
- Important information must be persistently presented or repeated or else it will be replaced by other input.
- Required information must be displayed on the screen in order for the user to keep it activated in the short-term memory.
As illustrated above, the chunking process in the short-term memory can be facilitated by "external" chunking and meaning making. For instance, by relating different parts of a computer system to one another, you make it easier for the user to combine them into meaningful chunks and to retain them in his/her short-term memory, or working memory. Important information that is displayed on the screen may have to be repeatedly displayed in order not to be supplanted by new information input. Information that is required in, for instance, a decision making process must be displayed on the screen pertaining to that decision so that the user can keep it activated throughout the process.
It is true that we need to prevent our acquired knowledge from being only our short term memory. From my own Korean learning experience, I shall forget the vocab and grammar in a short period of time when I only memorize (of coz it was for the examination)the information, and without using it in my daily life context.
ReplyDeleteI believe if the learning process integrates with other multimedia tools, animation and videos etc, and I put the vocab in my own daily life context, the knowledge point may eaily transfer to my own knowledge.
Pauline
When I study computer’s architecture, I think the RAM (random access memory) is an example of short-term memory. Otherwise the ROM (read-only memory) is an example of long-term memory inside a computer system. When using this example to comparing to our brain, I think short-term memory is volatile, which is not good for learner. I think the knowledge and skill should be on a long-term memory. It should embed on our mind. The limitation of short-term memory is not permanent that easy to let the learner to forget it.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I am a short term memory ppl, I can memorize many theories before examination when I was a secondary student. However, it is not a good learning method because I cannot transform the knowledge to my own experience and apply it other daily context.
ReplyDeleteI agree with REAL that knowedlge should be long term and permanent.