Not remembering if we have locked the car, going to look for our keys or cell phone and having it in our hand, not remembering where we have parked, and, of course, forgetting what we were going to say. They are everyday situations and in some ways funny in which memory reveals itself against us
All these events make the person who experiences them wonder if they have a bad memory or if they are not very intelligent. Even the most hypochondriac will consider going to the doctor in search of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
But there are reasons to remain calm; These experiences do not show intellectual deficits or signs of neurodegenerative diseases, but rather This is a common psychological phenomenon that is due to the limits of our short-term memory
Recommended article: “Types of memory: how does our brain store memories?”
Have I locked the car? Short-term memory and its failures
Let us remember that short-term memory is that which allows us to interact with the present environment since thanks to it a small amount of information is actively kept in the mind, so that it is immediately available, at least for a short period of time.
When we have a conversation, perform mathematical calculations or talk to ourselves, we are making direct use of this memory. Nevertheless, This memory is not perfect, but quite the opposite
The magic number seven
The psychologist George A. Miller was the first to investigate these phenomena, and published an essay called “The magic number seven, plus or minus two” in which he reflects the limits of our ability to process information that we find within the ranges of short-term memory (STM). ). According to Miller, short-term memory has a limited storage capacity, which is between 5 and 9, that is, 7 plus or minus two. It is a biological limitation that our nervous system poses to us
This means that when we retain 7 units of information in the present moment, we are not able to perceive what is beyond these “data packets” since all external stimuli do not have space to enter our memory at that moment in time. concrete.
The role of attention
Attention is the psychological process that goes hand in hand with short-term memory, which is also highly limited. Miller clarified that It is possible to increase the number of elements a person processes if what they perceive is a matter of importance and value for the individual. However, if it is not of interest to him, and it is already occupying the space, it will not be stored in his memory.
This explains that although we are using all the capacity of our short-term memory, if we perceive (even unconsciously) a spider in front of us, all our attentional resources will be directed to it and not to our thoughts Here lies the functionality of this memory being limited, at times when man was fighting for his survival with other species, those threatening stimuli could not do without this very scarce space in memory.
Conclusions and reflections
Maybe now you understand why you often don’t listen to someone who has been talking to you for three minutes. Surely, what you had in your head while this person was talking to you, occupied those 7 plus or minus two packets of information that you are capable of retaining and, evidently, your own affairs were much more important to you than what that person was telling you. .
We can also raise the situation that we mentioned initially about the question of whether or not the car is locked. When we get out of the car, we usually do it in a hurry and thinking about everything we have to do after parking. That is why at the moment of closing the car our short-term memory is completely full of information and although we have closed the car unconsciously and automatically (since it is a very routine action), since our consciousness is occupied, for us It’s as if we hadn’t lived it.
Something similar happens in all those situations in which the number 7 puts on the table, once again, that The human being is not perfect, but rather prey to his limited psychological processes
