Psychology - Memory, Attention & Performance - Essay Example

ory serves as a filing cabinet in our brains but one that only holds files for a short period of time, up to a minute or so without having practiced or rehearsed information. After such time, those memories (files) are either discarded completely as they are either not important and not worth remembering or are not properly filed into long term memory, or they are in fact filed into our long term memories from short term memory. The capacity of short term memory is limited as is its ability to hold information for long periods of time.

Long Term memory has not only a much larger capacity than sensory and short term memory, but also a much longer retention ability. In some cases, long term memory can retain information for a lifetime. Such can be the case with a phone number that is practiced within the an individual’s memory though repetition, this number may remain in the person’s long term memory for the span of their entire life. The types of long term memory are implicit memory and explicit memory. Most memory that we can actually readily access is considered explicit memories.

Explicit memories can be grouped into either declarative or episodic memories. Episodic memories deal with personal events whereas declarative memory deals with general but factual information. Implicit memory is more subconscious memories that we don’t necessarily realize that we remember but that does in fact influence our behaviors. Reasons why the memory of a healthy person may fail can be environmental such as medication induced memory loss. Some analgesics (pain killers) and anti -anxiety medications can cause memory loss in healthy persons.

In many cases, memory loss can be due to a normal aging process, “People with memory loss due to something other than normal aging, such as Alzheimers disease, may feel that somethings not quite right, but theyre unable to pinpoint whats bothering them. Rather than call attention to a memory lapse, they may behave as if