The memory is a fascinating and vital aspect of the human make up the memory is as old as you and your habits. Your habit is your memory, Memory grows with daily habit.
Take for instance, a one year old child will not know how to drive a car, he doesn't know where the door handle is, the sitting position, the buttons or controlling gadgets. All for the sake that he has not grown to have such habit. As far as it is not his habit yet, the information will never be in his memory. In contrast to that, the older guy with the slightest efforts will simply recall these information because they are all embedded in his memory. It goes on to show that your memory grows with constant application of the learned skills habit, associations meanings etc.
Memories are neural traces created in the brain. There are linkage for connections between neurons that constitute the chemical bond caused by strong association these chemical links are created by several different kinds of action, the most common being an initial sensory or emotional event and sustained repetition of that event.
There are three stages of memory which I will like to share with you all.
- The registration stage
- The retention stage
- The recall stage
The registration stage is the stage at which something comes to your attention or makes meaning to you, as it comes to your memory, it depends on you if it will be retained or discarded from your memory. If it's something important like password or pin number, you will surely want to keep it in your memory whenever you want.
The retention stage is the next challenge of retaining the information that you have just received in your memory it must take a deliberate act on your part to do so. At this stage, if you can succeed in retaining the received information into your memory, then it will surely be very easy to remember or recall them.
The last stage is the recall stage where information gathered can be easily recalled. For you to be able to recall the information, the procedures you used in retention must be one that will be easy to help you to recall them.
Memory can also be classified. What do I mean by this.....
Memory can be classified into
1. Short-term memory.
It is a memory that last for few seconds to minutes at a tone but lasting only as long as the person continues to think about the number of facts.
Pictures, words, action are stored in the short-term memory as soon as it appears. They are stored here for remembering as in the registration stage but as this information gets here, you must do something active (e.g say it aloud, draw a picture, write it down, to make it a permanent memory).
Your short-term memory has an average capacity of seven items most times, it can be range from as little to a maximum of ten.
2. Intermediate long-term memory.
It may last for many minutes or even weeks. They will eventually be lost unless the memory trace are activated enough to become more permanent, then they are classified as long term memories. Experiments in primitive animals have demonstrated that memories of the immediate long-term type can result from temporary chemical or physical changes that can persist for a few minutes up to several.
3. Long-term memory.
There is no obvious demarcation between the more prolonged types of intermediate long-term memory and true long-term memory.
The true long-term memory includes a large amount of information which once stored can be recalled up to years or even a lifetime. Two factors are responsible for long term memory.
.....Repetition and
.....Intense emotion
If you keep on repeating multiplication table every day, you will commit it to long term memory also strong emotions like the first experience of love, stays on in long term memory. To transfer information into your long-term memory, always make deliberate efforts to rehearse and review the information you just received. The more often you do this, the greater chances of your being able to recall quickly and easily.
