User:Maulik13/sandbox

=Short-term memory= Short term memory is the ability to keep information in mind for a short amount time, such as remembering a phone number long enough to find a piece of paper.

The mind is able to store memory that is learned recently for a small period of time for use again. The amount of time the mind is able to do this is usually within seconds.

The opposite of short-term memory is long term memory which is where things can be stored in the mind for a long time to be recalled later.

Short-Term Memory and Mind
There are many different processes that have to do with the human mind; the term memory serves as the most general function of what goes on in the mind with the process of storing and retrieving past experiences. These processes enable what we call remembering, which is the foundation of the human mind, intelligence, the ability to adapt, from learning.

Information that is received about a needle being sharp and hurtful when touched by bare hands is processed in the information to generate a response of survival and self-preservation. This leads to being able to decide what to do when being close to needles next time. Memory, which starts out as short-term memory allow for learning, and enhances intelligent behavior.

Basis of Memory
The neuropsychologist and theoretical neuroscientist Donald Hebb (1904-1985) was the first one to come up with a way to tell the difference between short-term and long-term memory. When the brain receives an input, like something that is seen or heard, a sensory memory keeps an exact copy of what is seen or heard, but this memory lasts for only about a few seconds. Anything that is retained in the brain longer depends on our selective attention, things that we "notice" are kept in short-term memory for up to a few minutes. This memory is thought to be dependent on electrical activity in the brain and is easily destroyed by interruption or interference. Short-term memory consists of iconic memory as well, which holds visual images; acoustic memory, to hold sounds; and working memory, which is an active process to keep a memory until it is put to use.

Memories, which are stored for longer than this, are referred to as long-term memory. Hebb was a big contributor to the idea of long-term memory and he had an entire theory on the basis of long-term memory and how it consisted of a change in the strength of connections between the neurons. Long-term memory is relatively permanent storage and the process involves the creation of new proteins.

Whether or not the information is stored in long-term memory depends on it's 'importance'; usually for animals memories that are made during times of stress and discomfort are important for adaptive values so that in the future they can avoid anything that will bring them stress. This is among the many other reason a memory may become a long-term memory simply due to the nature of the mammal and what the memory itself relates to.

Duration of Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory by name suggests that it is short or small, it has a limited duration and the contents spontaneously decay over time. This assumption of decay is part of many other theories that people have about short-term memory; the most notable one is by Baddeley's model of working memory. The decay idea is usually paired by the idea of repeating the memory over and over. In order to overcome the limitation of short-term memory, and retain information for a longer amount of time, it has to be repeated either by saying it out loud of by saying it mentally repeatedly. By doing this the information will re-enter the short-term process and be kept for a further period.

Capacity of Short-Term Memory
There is no definite agreement on what the cause for “forgetting", which is the loss of the retained material in memory, is over a short period of time but there is an agreement that “forgetting” greatly limits the amount of information that can be retained over a short period of time. The capacity of short-term memory is finite, but there is no clear unit of measurement for what that is. Memory span is the term used to describe this, where there is only a certain amount of information that can be memorized over a short period until it is lost.

Factors Affecting Short-Term Memory
The capacity of short-term memory leads to the question of the capacity of short-term memory as a whole. But that really depends on the type of material, which is being recalled. As of now there really isn’t a way of telling whether a piece of information will be stored as short-term memory or not. In an experiment done to determine the capacity of short-term memory individuals had to memory a list of items and recall it, and it was suggested that the span of their short-term memory was reached when they could no longer remember the list in order. But even in this experiment it is possible that short-term memory was not the storage used by the individuals due to the fact that they could repeat the list over and over in their heads and the short-term memory would turn into long-term memory. Due to this the ability to define the task of short-term memory becomes even more difficult.

Conditions Impacting Short-Term Memory
There are many conditions that can impact short-term memory they can range from simple distractions to serious disorders. The loss of memory is natural and is expected with aging. By the age of 55 it is found experimentally that the loss of memory starts to occur which usually occurs more often with long-term memory loss, age very much affects the short-term memory as well.

There are many other facts, which affect memory loss beside advanced age, many disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Aphasia, Schizophrenia, Advanced age, and Posttraumatic stress disorder are linked to the loss of memory.