The Argument- Ericsson and Chase both concluded that "it is not possible to increase the capacity of short-term memory with extended practice" (56, graph on 54), but with mnemonic devices one can increase his or her memory span in the form of long-term memory. Is it it true that "when it comes to memory skills there is no escaping basic human biology" (56) and short-short term memory cannot be expanded as well as long-term memory? Cite any examples claiming otherwise. Furthermore, taking into account the GxE model, is there a need to expand short-term memory? If not, are there ways to increase memory span in short amounts of time?
Sai Nimmagadda, saiguy@me.com
During the process of learning, things are committed to memory within in the first minutes. This happens due to the change of the structure and function of neurons working to make connections between other neurons in the hippocampus region of the brain (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=experts-short-term-memory-to-long-term). These connections are built through synapses to exchange information within the brain. The stronger the synapses, the more “sensitive” the information connected is. These neurons create these synapses with proteins to connect each other and retain information within the brain. These synapses, however are only used for long-term memory. In one experiment, the blocking of the protein synthesis did not affect short term memory, only long term memory (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=experts-short-term-memory-to-long-term). Another part of the body that isn’t the brain that uses long-term memory are antibodies. The B cells must remember the antigens of the virus in case it ever comes back (Campbell). That is why when we get vaccines, they last for a long period of time because if a virus does happen to penetrate the skin we already have some antibodies that will immediately recognize it and increase the production of these antibodies and fend off the virus. This is an example of our immune system working for us.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Ericsson and Chase, the human memory span is limitless even though the capacity is not. They stated in their report on their experiment that there was “seemingly no limit to improvement in memory skill with practice” (56). The scientists state that there is no “escaping basic human biology” (56) because there is a set memory capacity; however, developing the skills to increase memory span is possible. The human brain only has one billion neurons, each of which can make 1000 connections with other neurons (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-the-memory-capacity). Even though this brain memory capacity that the human biology limits us to is beyond what we need, it is still a limit. We may overcome this limit by developing the skills to overlap some of the connections between neurons to use this memory space more wisely. The more connections we make in remembering things, the more neurons we have left to use for other memories. One of the skills that Ericsson and Chase discovered to help make more connections to help remember things efficiently was chunking. This way humans can put together “scattered collection of details into a single distinct memory” (52) so they may later remember these patterns as chunks for later recollection. This method would be able to connect more neurons efficiently and could help one to memorize things in a short amount of time. With the practice, one’s memory span can greatly be increased because of the “demand of the environment” (44).
Short-term memory cannot be expanded as well as long term memory simply because the fact that it is defined by memory that is only retained for a short period of time. The reason why long-term memory can be expanded so well is because it is memorized in a different fashion. Scientists have concluded that long-term memory is retained because it is memorized through the act of “active learning”. This is a mechanism that helps to create neural pathways for the encoded information whether it be audio, visual, oral, etc. (http://gwired.gwu.edu/counsel/asc/index.gw/Site_ID/46/Page_ID/14553/).
ReplyDeleteSometimes, there is a need to expand short-term memory to long-term memory. School is a simple example. Even though you might cram the night before to study for a memorization quiz in an AP course, you might later have to convert this to long-term memory for the AP Exam later in the year. This would require lots of active learning techniques and chunking skills to fully commit the information to your brain. There is a theory that some short-term memory is converted to long-term memory during sleep. Since hippocampal neurons are continually active during sleep and things are replayed, some short term memories become long term memories because of this hippocampal activation (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=experts-short-term-memory-to-long-term&page=2).