How Your

Memory Works

There are several systems that work together to

form memories. These different systems help you
create, store and retrieve various pieces of information and experiences. On a daily basis, your brain is
overwhelmed with information, but these systems
allow us to sort through the information to find the
most important things that should be turned into
memories. In this chapter, youll learn how the memory process works, and how you can use this knowledge to improve your memory.

What do memories look like?

If you looked at your brain under a microscope, would you be
able to see a structure that represents a memory stored within
your brain? Not exactly. Memories do not exist as structures,
but as networks. A single memory consists of neurons (nerve
cells) that fire in a particular pattern. Anything that triggers
one of the neurons could spark you to remember a specific
memory.

Types of Memory
There are three main types of memory:
1.

The sensory register

2.

Short-term memory (aka Working Memory)

3.

Long-term memory

The Sensory Register

You have five senses that serve as information gathering devices for your brain:
Touch
Taste
Sight
Smell
Hearing

!
Before any information enters your brain, it must be gathered through your senses. Once gathered, this information is
very briefly stored in the sensory register. You are not consciously aware of all the information being stored there because there is just way too much at this stage in the memory
process. You become consciously aware of something when
your attention focuses on something in particular that seems
to be important. The remaining information in the sensory register is lost before you even knew it was there.
!
Attention determines whether or not the information you
are gathering will be retained. If an experience or piece of information is given proper attention, it will be easier to retain.
Youre less likely to remember something if you dont initially
pay attention to it.
!
To enhance your memory, you can actually use your
senses to improve attentiveness. To remember information or
an experience try to focus on all the sensory aspects of the
situation. If youre reading something (as you are now), pay
close attention to the visual structure of the page and chapter.
Focus on the smell and sounds of the surrounding environment. Try to link those senses to the information you are reading. Similarly, if you were eating a sandwich, you can focus on
the taste, smell and feeling of the meal. To take it a step further, you can even focus on hearing the sound of the crunch it
makes as you chew. The more senses you incorporate, the
more memorable the experience will be. Engaging all your
senses and paying attention to them will improve your memory. And the more you practice, the better it will get.
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Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory (STM), also known as working memory, is where you hold information that needs to be used at
the moment. You use STM for many functions, some of which
include reading, writing, planning and mental math.
!
As the name implies, STM contains information with an
expiration date. Unless you rehearse this information, or commit it to memory in some other way (as youll learn in this
book), youll forget it within a few seconds.
!
If you are familiar with the memory systems of a computer, you can think of STM as Random Access Memory
(RAM). Simply put, RAM provides short-term storage of information so that it can be used by programs or ongoing processes. RAM is different permanent storage (your hard drive)
in that it stores information temporarily. Your STM functions
in a very similar way. This working memory will help you remember things in the short-term, but unless you encode it
into long-term memory it will be lost very quickly.
!
Experiments have suggested that there are sub-systems
within STM. For example, people can generally remember
more over short periods of time if the information comes in
different formats. These sub-systems deal with the following:
Visual imagery
Verbal information

!
To show you how these sub-systems work within your
STM, think about the following scenario. What would be easier to remember: two 10-item word lists (20 things total) or a
list of 10 word items and 10 images (still 20 things total)? Generally speaking, the two lists of words and images would be
easier because you are utilizing two areas within your STM:
visual imagery and verbal information.
!
The visual imagery system within STM is called the visuospatial sketchpad. You can think of it like a whiteboard on
which new images are drawn and erased.
!
Auditory information is stored within STM in a system
called the phonological loop. This systems stores sounds from
speech, songs and other sounds that you hear. The phonological loop contains two distinct components. One is the phonological store, which holds about two seconds worth of auditory
information. The other component is a rehearsal device,
where you automatically repeat the auditory information from
the phonological store in a constant loop. This loop constantly
refreshes the auditory information so that it stays accurate.
!
Have you ever had a song or jingle from a commercial
stuck in your head? Many times, these songs or jingles are designed to be memorable. If they get stuck in your head, they
have succeeded in latching onto your phonological loop.
!
Research also suggests that there may be other STM subsystems for odor, meaning and even sign language.

Auditory information
3

The Magic Number 7

In 1956, cognitive psychologist George Miller of Princeton University published The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus
Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information. His paper demonstrated that the average capacity of
STM is seven. In other words, the number of pieces or chunks
of information that most people can hold on average over the
short term is seven. Plus or minus two refers to the variation
among people. For example, some people can naturally hold a
little more (up to nine) and some remember less (as low as 5)
over the short term.
!
How many items does it take before you make a grocery
list? If you only need two items, bread and milk, you probably
wont make a list. But if the list contains seven or more items,
you probably will make a list to ensure you dont forget. This
is Millers magic number at work. Millers research is part of
the reason why phone numbers eventually became standardized to include a maximum of seven digits (without area
codes).
!
Later research on STM revealed that the storage capacity
is dependent on the information being stored. For example,
memory span is lower for long words than short words. But
for the most part, our STM is somewhat limited to around
seven pieces or chunks of information.
!
You can experience the limits of your short-term memory by taking the digit-span test on the next page. This test
measures your memorys short-term capacity for numbers.

Digit-Span Test
The number of digits you can accurately recall is known as
your digit-span. It is one way to measure the power of your
short-term memory.
Instructions:
Look at the numbers below. Going line-by-line, read each
number aloud, cover it with your hand, and then try to
write down the number that you saw. How far through the
list can you get before making a mistake?
8315
39204
167490
0380128
82562821
493192854
4531694862
32053728629
743253294197
9832173164810
49808936789540
84621674901264
98534817278108
03645372964810
90598929648106
How digits did you get to before making a mistake? The average score on this digit-span test is seven. Regardless of
whether you scored better or worse than average, you can
learn simple tricks to improve the capacity of your shortterm memory. Well cover many of these tricks and techniques throughout this book.
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How We Forget: Decay and Interference

As we already know, only a limited amount of information can
be held within STM before it is forgotten. The processes that
cause us to forget information in STM are decay and interference. Decay happens when information naturally fades away
because it is not being rehearsed. Interference happens when
new information arrives and pushes old information out of
STM. To understand how decay and interference work in practice, try the following exercise below.

!
You can think of your STM as being like someone that is
spinning a basketball on their finger. If the person doesnt continue spinning the ball with the other hand it will eventually
spin more slowly and then fall over. In memory, the spinning
is comparable to the process of rehearsing (repeating) the information. The slowing down is comparable to the process of
decay. If you dont rehearse the information immediately, the
process of decay will begin and soon the information will be
lost.

Exercise: Decay & Interference

Memory Technique: Chunking

In the digit-span test on the previous page, you tested your

short-term memory to see how many digits in a row you
could memorize. Now you will see how quickly this information tends to decay from your memory.

You can increase your STM capacity by chunking information. You can remember long lists and other types of information by organizing it into chunks. Instead of remembering seven small bits of information, you can remember
seven larger chunks of information. Which of the following
numbers is easier to remember?

Instructions:
1.

Take a moment (no more than 20 seconds) to try and

memorize one of the 14-digit numbers on the previous
page. Cover the number and write down your immediate score below here: ______

2.

Focus on something else for one minute, then try to recall the 14-digit number again. Write down how many
digits in-a-row you recorded correctly on the following
line: ______

3.

After another minute or two, repeat this process and

record your score here: ______

3129823812
or
312-982-3812
As you can see, the numbers above are exactly the same.
But the second would be easier to memorize because it is
chunked in a phone number format. This can also be done
with letters. For example, you can chunk the following 14
letters: XIBMSATPHDMTVX - can be chunked into four
parts (with an X on each end): X-IBM-SAT-PHD-MTV-X.
Organize information into chunks to improve your STM.

Do you see how quickly we can forget this information?

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Long-Term Memory
Now that weve comprehensively discussed short-term memory, lets talk about the most important type of memory: longterm memory (LTM). There are two types of LTMs:
1.

Explicit Memory: These are memories that you can consciously recall, such as facts, names, places, etc. Explicit
memory is also commonly known as semantic memory.

2. Implicit Memory: These are memories that you are not

consciously aware of. Implicit memories include learned
abilities, like riding a bike, or things that you didnt know
you know. For example, you might see someone that
looks familiar, but youre not sure where you remember
them from. Your memory of their face is implicit.
Encoding Memories from Short-Term to Long-Term
Why do some memories make it into our LTM while others
slip away and are lost? The answer has to do with how a memory is encoded. Encoding is the process of turning short-term
memories into long-term memories. Encoding will determine
how long and how strong the memory will stay in your LTM.
Encoding will also affect the form in which the information
will be stored, how easy it will be to recall at a later time, and
how the recall process will work.
!
Two processes within STM, attention and rehearsal, play
a large role in solidifying long-term memories. If the information is important, intriguing or emotionally charged it will

hold your attention. When your attention is focused on this information it begins the process of rehearsal. During rehearsal,
the temporary information is constantly refreshed to stop the
process of decay. If you keep this up long enough, the process
of encoding begins and the information will be transferred
into long-term memory.
!
The process of encoding is not simply one-step. There
are different levels of encoding that correspond to various levels of long-term storage. The initial level of encoding transfers
a memory to a type of immediate storage area where the information can be remembered anywhere from an hour to a few
days. If the information is revisited in some way, further encoding could lead to it being stored for a longer period of time.
!
What happens when after a memory is fully encoded? Encoded memories are not like photographs, which contain complete information. Rather, encoded memories can change and
are dependent on a network of associations between the different elements of that particular memory. For example, the
memory of your mother could be composed of different elements that include the various emotions of love, care and fondness; the sensory elements of scent, sight, sound and touch;
and semantic (factual) elements, such as name and location.
Any one of these elements can be associated with thousands,
perhaps millions, of other memories, but they all add up to
the memory of your mother.

Two Ways to Encode Memories: Shallow & Deep

How Your Brain Labels Memories

To encode memories you need to associate the new information to memories already stored in your brain. Keep in mind,
however, that not all encoding is equally effective. There are
two types of encoding:

In the limbic system of your

brain, a walnut-shaped structure
called the amygdala plays a crucial role in the formation of
memories. Brain scans show that
the amygdala is active when emotional memories are being created. Neuroscientists believe that
the amygdala acts as a kind of labeling device that attaches emotional associations to a memory. For example, if you were walking down the street and and
a dog jumped out at you and scared you, the amygdala would
label the emotion of fear to the memory of the dog. Recalling
the dog at a later time would bring back some memory of the
fear you felt at the time.

1.

Shallow Encoding (less effective)

2.

Deep Encoding (more effective)

!
Shallow encoding involves a very small amount of connections between the new memory and memories already
stored in your brain. Shallow encoding is what happens when
you try to remember something by repeating it to yourself. If
you only repeat something to yourself and dont make any
other connections to the information you will probably only
remember it for a little while because it will be encoded in a
shallow way.
!
Deep encoding is more effective because it involves many
strong connections between the new memory and existing
ones. For example, you are likely to remember your mothers
salty chicken soup sliding down your sore throat during childhood because it is strongly connected to a number of other
memories (a cold winter, the feeling of being sick, your
mothers care, etc.). These strong connections deeply encode
the memory into your brain. Such a memory is stored more securely and is easier to recall.

What is the Storage Capacity of Your Brain?

This is a really difficult question to answer. Most neuroscientists (as of this writing) estimate the capacity of the human
brain to be somewhere between 10 terabytes and 100 terabytes (one terabyte is equal to about 1,000 gigabytes). However, the entire range of guesses varies widely. The full spectrum of guesses range from 1 terabyte on the low-end to 250
petabytes on the high-end (one petabyte is equal to about
1,000 terabytes). To put these numbers in perspective, the entire web archive of the U.S. Library of Congress is estimated to
be 285 terabytes as of January 2012.
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!
How are these storage capacities for the human brain estimated? The math behind it can be somewhat simplistic. The
human brain contains about 100 billion neurons. Each neuron
is capable of making about 1,000 connections through what
are called synapses. Synapses do the much of the work involved with data storage. Multiply 100 billion neurons by the
1,000 connections they can each make and you get 100 trillion, or 100 terabytes of information.
!
However, neuroscientists are quick to admit that the
math behind these estimates can be too simplistic. The calculations assume that each synapse stores 1 byte of information,
but this estimate is not completely accurate because one piece
of information can sometimes require several synapses. Additionally, some synapses are used for processing and not storage (suggesting the estimates may be too high). On the other
hand, there are support cells that might also store information
(suggesting that the estimates could be too low).
!
Even if we accept the estimates of 10 to 100 terabytes, figuring out how much space is used versus free is even more
difficult because the human brain is much more complex than
a hard drive. However, one thing is certain: the idea that humans only use 10 percent of their brain is false. Information
can be stored in every part of the brain.

Two Types of Long-Term Memory

1.

Declarative Memory (or explicit memory) includes

your knowledge of facts, peoples names, what you ate for
lunch, the location of your last vacation, etc. Declarative
memories can be further broken down into the following
categories:
Semantic Memory: This includes facts and figures,
names and words, objects, animals. It is memory linked
to meaning. Semantic memory helps you make sense of
the world and allows you to understand language.
Episodic Memory: These are memories of moments
in your life which include events, scenarios and situations that are like episodes of your life. Your memory
of things that have happened to you are included in episodic memory and this is essential to your identity as a
person.

2. Procedural Memory (or implicit memory) refers to

skills, abilities or procedures that you know how to do.
Procedural memory includes your ability to walk, ride a
bicycle, brush your teeth, work a computer or play an instrument. This area seems to be separate from declarative
memory because amnesiacs who lose their declarative
memory can often retain their procedural memories.
These anterograde amnesiacs, as they are known, can
even learn new procedural skills, even though they cant
recall having initially learning those skills.
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