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The mind and brain of short-term memory
John Jonides1, Richard L Lewis, Derek Evan Nee
1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. jjonides@umich.edu
Annual Review of Psychology
|September 15, 2007
Summary
Recent advances in neuroscience and psychology offer new insights into short-term memory. This review examines theories of short-term memory architecture, processes, and forgetting, linking them to brain mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Significant advancements in understanding short-term memory have occurred over the past decade.
- These advances span both psychological theories and neuroscientific evidence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically examine major psychological theories of short-term memory.
- To relate these theories to current evidence regarding underlying brain mechanisms.
- To explore key features of short-term memory: architecture, processes, and forgetting.
Main Methods:
- Review and critical analysis of psychological theories of short-term memory.
- Examination of neuroscientific evidence related to short-term memory functions.
- Development of a conceptual model integrating psychological and biological perspectives.
Main Results:
- Discussion of short-term memory architecture, including capacity and its relation to long-term memory.
- Analysis of encoding, maintenance, and retrieval processes within short-term memory.
- Exploration of the debate between interference and decay as causes of forgetting.
Conclusions:
- A satisfactory theory of short-term memory must account for its architecture, processes, and forgetting mechanisms.
- A conceptual model is proposed to illustrate the moment-by-moment neural basis of short-term memory tasks.
- Integration of psychological and neuroscientific findings provides a more comprehensive understanding of short-term memory.
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