How did we get here, and why? |
I remember every word of Traffic's 1968 release "Shanghai Noodle Factory" but can't recall where I set down my phone when I entered the house five minutes ago.
As I check pockets, handbag, backpack, kitchen counter, window sills, and nightstand (luckily when all else fails, we have an irritatingly accurate Find My Phone device on the iPad that bleeps loudly when it locates the missing item), it's depressingly tempting to treat these moments as evidence of cognitive decline. But researchers report that the contrast between recalling the lyrics to a decades-old song and forgetting a newly formed intention is not a sign that memory is failing. It is a demonstration of how memory works.
We tend to talk about memory as if it is a unique property. It isn't. According to the Cleveland Clinic, there are three main types: short-term, long-term and sensory.
Sensory memory is information collected from your hearing, touch, smell, taste and vision. You only store it for a couple of seconds. You don't consciously control it, but it's highly detailed.
Short-term memory is temporary storage space, with limited capacity and duration. It holds information for a few seconds to minutes.
Long-term memory is mostly permanent storage space. There are two types: declarative memory (the........