• Question: How good is your memory ?

    Asked by nevekeeble to Ben, James, Jen, Michael, Susanna on 11 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by prisacilla.
    • Photo: Jen Todd Jones

      Jen Todd Jones answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      Hi neve

      Memory is a tricky thing to measure scientifically, let alone know about yourself! People tend to think they have good or bad memory but when it comes down to testing it’s a completely different answer! There are even different kinds of memory, there’s a memory we normally think of as remembering things that happened in our life – but there’s also another kind, working memory, which is what we use when we’re ‘working’ with lots of information at once and trying to decide what needs to be remembered, like a telephone number we have to remember until we write it down.

      Personally I think I have a rubbish memory, I have calendars and notebooks and lists and all sorts of things that help me remember – but when I’m tested on working memory I actually have a very good score! So I’m good at remembering a few different things all at once and working with them for a short time, maybe 30 seconds, but otherwise my long-term memory is pretty rubbish!

    • Photo: Michael Craig

      Michael Craig answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      My memory is quite good but I don’t think it’s brilliant. There are different types of memory and it’s possible to have better memory in one type compared to others. The main types of memory are episodic memory and working memory. Episodic memory is what allows us to remember different memories from our past and imagine the future.

      For example, your episodic memory lets you remember the last time you went to a restaurant…and remember where this was….when this was….and who you were with/what you ate whilst there!

      Working memory isn’t like this. Working memory helps us store information for short periods of time. Some people’s working memory is a lot better than others! An example of this would be seeing how many numbers you can remember! Try it! start at the top line and if you can remember those three numbers, try the line with 4 numbers in…then 5…then 6 etc. Most people can remember between 5 and 9 numbers!

      How many numbers you can remember? This is what we call a memory span.

      134

      1563

      16785

      354791

      9475831

      59562234

      758625198

      4628205849

    • Photo: Ben Brilot

      Ben Brilot answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      My memory is grea…….hang on, what was the question again?

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