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Module 1: The Mysteries of the Human Brain

 Back to module overview

Part 3: Short-Term Memory, Long-Term Memory

and Retrospective and Prospective Memories

Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory is also called primary or active memory. Recent

events and sensory data such as sounds are stored here, but
typically for less than a minute.

It  primarily takes place in the frontal lobe; though from there, it
touches down in the hippocampus. The hippocampus is like a
sorting area for the consolidation of information from short-term to
long-term memory.

As well as not being able to retain information for a long period, the
amount of information you can retain in your short-term memory is
equally limited. It is believed to be capable of storing only ve to
nine items at a time and new information can also bump out other
items.

An excellent example of short-term memory is remembering the

beginning of a paragraph while reading the rest so that information
can be processed, and a logical connection can be formed between
all the words.

It’s worth making a note here that the term short-term memory is
often used interchangeably with ‘working memory’. However, there
are di erences between the two. Although both are intertwined and
neither holds information for a long time, short-term memory
simply stores information while working memory stores and uses it.
A good example of working memory is listening to a teacher speak
while taking notes in our own words.

Long-Term Memory

Long-term memory holds information for much longer periods than

sensory and short-term memory and is, therefore, the nal, semi-
permanent stage of memory. The processes of consolidating and
storing long-term memories have been particularly associated with
the prefrontal cortex, cerebrum, frontal lobe, and medial temporal
lobe.

However, what’s fascinating is that after consolidation,  long-term

memories appear to be stored throughout the brain.

Long-term memory can generally be broken down into two

categories – explicit and implicit memory.

Explicit Memory

Explicit memory, also known as conscious or declarative memory, is

a type of memory that needs a conscious e ort to be recalled. It is
de ned as the memory recall of facts and gures and is also known
as the ‘knowing what’ memory. Information and data is stored
explicitly and needs to be recalled overtly.

Explicit memory is further sub-classi ed into episodic and semantic

memories.

Episodic Memory

Episodic memory stores our recollection of certain events and

experiences in our lives and allows us to recall details connected
with that event. Our emotions play a vital role in remembering and
recording some events in our long-term memories. Some examples
of episodic memory are:
 The rst day of a new job

The rst time a holiday to Thailand was taken with friends

Where you were and how you felt during an earthquake.

Semantic Memory

Unlike episodic memory, which is linked to personal emotions and

experiences, semantic memory is the recall of general and common
facts and information, such as the phonics of letters, the states in
America or the sounds of di erent keys in a guitar. Simply stated, it
is associated with the recollection of general knowledge.

Implicit Memory

Implicit memory, also called procedural memory, is memory that

involves procedures for completing actions. These actions develop
with practice over time and do not require a conscious e ort to be
recalled. An example might be how to tie a shoelace, remembering
how to walk or swim, play an instrument, or perform a dance step in
exercise.

Implicit memory allows us to remember skills and movements that

are embedded in our brains so deeply that we might not even be
aware of remembering them. It allows us to perform activities that,
once learnt completely, do not have to be learned again.

Children under the age of seven rely more on procedural memory

to remember things. Adults have been noted to use declarative
memory to learn and process new information.

Retrospective and Prospective Memories

There are two further types of memories that can be either explicit
or implicit. These are retrospective and prospective memories.

Retrospective memory is the recollection of words, phrases, events

and experiences that happened in a person’s past. It is usually the
amalgamation of semantic, explicit and implicit, autobiographical
and episodic memories.

Prospective memories are linked with the future and are activated
when remembering something to be done in the future. It is
triggered by cues, such as remembering to call a friend by seeing
the telephone.
It has been observed that at certain times, retrospective and
prospective memories are linked and do not function as separate
entities. In some cases, where retrospective memory has been
impaired or damaged, it has a signi cant impact on prospective
memories as well. But similarly, it has also been observed in some
cases that impaired prospective memory has no impact on
retrospective memory, clearly distinguishing the two apart.

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Next Lesson
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Part 4: Encoding, Storage and Retrieval

Previous Lesson
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Part 2: Different Types of Memory - Sensory Memory

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