of the cerebrum to function. Everyone is forgetful, and you just have to identify whether it is happening more often than previously.
The Formation Process of Memory
At the beginning of the memory process, called ‘encoding,’ the information received is changed into a usable form. The data is then stored in the memory so it can be used later. Although we are no longer aware of the memory being there, it can be recalled later when the information is needed.
Brief, Short and Long-Term Memory
Some of the memories stored may only be very brief, lasting just a few seconds when they are recalled. These memories enable you to absorb sensory information from the world around you. Short-term memories generally last around twenty to thirty seconds, and these are recalled when we are focusing and thinking about something specific.
Long-term memories can last a very long time, from days to years.
These are the ones where you may think back to something from your childhood, perhaps, or something that has happened in the distant past. Interestingly, many Alzheimer’s patients can recall long-term memories and not short-term memories.
Retrieving Memories
It is one thing to be able to store memories, but you also need to be able to recover memory when required. The retrieval of memories can be influenced by several factors, including the type of information you are trying to recall.
An interesting fact about memory retrieval is that when you think you know something but can’t quite recall it, this is called lethologica.
Another term for it is ‘tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. The answer is on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t grasp what it is.
Memory Stage Model
You are probably wondering what on earth a memory model is, but don’t panic; it’s not that complicated. The memory model is used to explain the function and basic structure of memory often, and it is composed of three different stages of memory. These are short-term memory, sensory memory, and long-term memory.
The first stage of forming a memory is the sensory memory category.
This is when the information is stored for just a brief second, and then this is sometimes moved into the short-term memory stage.
Another term for short-term memory is ‘active memory.’ These memories are the ones we are thinking about at the current moment in time. Often this is referred to in psychology as the conscious mind. By placing your attention on the sensory memories, information is then generated into short-term memory. This information is retained for just seconds, and many of these types of memories are forgotten quickly. But, if you pay attention to the memory, it can move forward into the next phase, the long-term memory.
You most likely know what a long-term memory is, as we all have them: that ability to recall something that has occurred in the past.
These memories are referred to in psychology as the unconscious and preconscious state. We are not necessarily aware of these memories,
they are stored until we need them, and they are then recalled.
Memory Organization
By being able to recall the information in long-term memories, we can use the information to solve issues, interact socially, and make decisions. It is not entirely understood how the data is stored and organized, but it is believed they are stored in groups, called clustering. To explain this more manageable, here is an example: When reading the following words, then attempting to recall them, you will naturally group them into categories:
Banana, blue, chair, purple, bed, orange, nectarine,
bookcase, fig, mauve, stool, grape
You most likely grouped these into the following groups - furniture, color, and fruit.
There is also a model of memory organization called semantic network. This theory is related to triggers that activate associated memories, such as the memory of an event that would bring up other memories related to it, like how you got there, who was there, and what happened.
Why Do We Forget Things?
Being forgetful could be due to several reasons, and it is entirely reasonable to forget things sometimes. The brain may not be able to recall the long-term memory information, often because the memory hasn’t been evoked and reviewed regularly. In other words, if you haven’t thought about that memory for twenty years, it may not come
to you. But if you have thought about it often, it will be easier to recall.
The four leading causes of forgetfulness are failure to store information, retrieval failure, motivated forgetting, and interference.
Data is sometimes not held correctly at the start, while other times, memories may be competing against each other, which makes it harder to recall specifics. Of course, there are memories that a person simply may not want to remember, which is motivated forgetting.
There are many exercises and techniques you can do to improve your memory, and this can help you recall information more efficiently.
Some signs of memory loss that is standard include: Unable to remember a word, but the conversation continues with a replacement word.
● You can’t remember the name of the movie you watched but can recall the plot.
● Inability to give directions because you can’t remember the street names, even though you know your way around.
● Walking into a room and forgetting why you went in there in the first place.
● Losing your glasses, keys, or other things because you can’t remember where you put them.
● Calling people or animals by the wrong names, but you do know who they are.
● The occasional appointment is forgotten.
● Reading a sentence then forgetting it.
● Conversation points are remembered, but the details aren’t.
