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guides our footsteps as we progress along the pathway of Life. ^»

Short-Term

Memory

Capacity -  8 Items
Duration   30 Seconds To 2 Days

Short Term Memory (STM) is an active process of limited duration;  which involves the reverberation of impulses within the closed loops of Cell Assemblies found within the Parietal, upper Temporal, and Occiptial lobes, from kinesthetic (somatic sensory perception), auditory, and visual stimuli respectively.

      Eight seems to be the largest number of items we can retain within STM zones.   After that, they are encoded as groups, (ie. crowds, schools, or herds).   If there are more than eight digits in a telephone number, for example, most people will not remember it from the time they looked it up to the time they dial it.   They will have to read it off the page as they dial.   Eight seems to be the one real biological limitation on STM.   It is important not to attempt to place too much within the STM zones. 

      Studies have shown that STM retains information as the coded sounds of words.   Children usually remember visually until their language skills develop.   Then their memory shifts to verbal encoding, (usually by Puberty).   New items entering STM zones drive out items that are already present.
   However, mentally or verbally repeating the items already in those areas (a process called Rehearsal) shuts out new data and prolongs the retention of those items.   The brain has an natural tendency to "rehearse" newfound information, especially if it catches the mind's attention.

      Items sufficiently rehearsed are transferred to the LTM centers, where they are designated to last a life's experience.   The process of converting items of information from STM to LTM is referred to as Consolidation !