Memory
To view various Memory subcategories, simply scroll down.
Virtually every task we perform day in and day out - be it at work, school, problem-solving, or simply speaking - requires memory. Though we tend to take our ability to remember things for granted, particularly when we’re young, maintaining a sharp memory is essential for functioning efficiently and getting the most out of our lives.
How our minds process information, store it in our memories and enable us to retrieve it is broken down into three key stages: encoding, storage and recall. Encoding involves how our brain receives and processes data. Storage relates to how we permanently record this encoded data, and recall concerns how we retrieve this data on demand.
As with all cognitive skills, Memory is also divided into sub categories such as 'Working Memory’ and ‘Face-Name Memory.’ (Scroll down to learn more.)
Memory’s Location in the Brain
The hippocampus is said to be the area of the human brain that helps us to encode and process new information for storage and future retrieval. Our dual hippocampi are positioned on each side of the brain beneath the temples. With respect to Alzheimer's disease, the hippocampus is among the first areas of the brain to experience damage. Problems remembering as well as disorientation are often the first symptoms experienced by those afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. Amnesia, meaning one’s incapacity to create, store or recall memories, is believed to be caused by damage to the hippocampi.
Improving Your Memory
As we age we gradually become less capable of recalling information. However, increasingly more studies indicate that a person’s memory can indeed be improved through effective and consistent training regardless of their age.
Memory Subcategories
Working Memory
Are you finding it more and more difficult to memorize phone numbers, follow directions or perform mental arithmetic, that is, without using pen and paper? Or perhaps you find yourself asking the same questions repeatedly?
Improving your working memory requires boosting your ability to store items in your memory for a brief time and manipulating them. This prevents important information from just fading away unnoticed.
Working memory training games are specifically designed to train this vital cognitive skill. By playing them you will increase your memory capacity, ability to complete simple tasks, follow instructions, and help you become more organized overall.
Face-Name Memory
Face-Name Memory is a particular cognitive skill required for recognizing and matching people’s faces (visual representation) with their names (semantic representation) over the long-term. For example, we employ our face-name memory whenever we encounter a person we’ve seen before and attempt to match their name with their face.
Cognitive research into face recognition and name recalling is being applied in increasingly more hospitality environments as a means of improving customer loyalty by converting pseudo-relationships with guests into more genuine relationships.
Spatial Memory
Spatial Memory plays a vital role in your ability to function within a particular environment. It is the part of your memory responsible for recording data about your surroundings and spatial orientation. It relates to how your brain stores information regarding the location of physical objects in space, such as the environment around you, and is extremely vital for humans and many other species' survival, especially in terms of animal migration.
Your spatial memory is necessary, for instance, in order to navigate from one place to another, much like the way a mouse’s spatial memory is required in order to navigate its way through a maze. Your spatial memory is formed by collecting and processing visual and other information about your surroundings.