Memory Limits – Why You Can Never Remember That One Need

I just read an interesting article on working memory or what we can keep in our active mind.

I forget how I wanted to begin this story. That’s probably because my mind, just like everyone else’s, can only remember a few things at a time. Researchers have often debated the maximum amount of items we can store in our conscious mind, in what’s called our working memory, and a new study puts the limit at three or four.

Working memory is a more active version of short-term memory, which refers to the temporary storage of information. Working memory relates to the information we can pay attention to and manipulate.

Now this does not say that we can only remember 3 or 4 things, but that we can only remember a limited items not committed to long term memory.  So as your walking out the door reciting the 8-10 things you need at the store, you may forget some of them when your shopping. 

The good news is people can improve their performance on certain working-memory tasks with training. When children practice these tasks, over time they get better. And not only do their scores on the memory tasks improve, but their scores on tests of attention and reasoning can also rise.

“The jury is still out on how useful this will be, but it’s at least suggestive that you can train skills at these tasks, and that this improvement can affect other things,” Kane said. “We don’t know quite how they work together, but attention and working memory seem to be very close cousins.”

So how does this relate to collecting scout patches?  Get organized

Write it down and keep a checklist. 

How many times have you purchased or traded for an item you already had because you had not remembered you had a specific piece?

Write it down and keep a checklist.

Don’t just write it down, remember to update the list as you acquire your needs and add new items as your collecting interests expand or new items are issued.  

photo credit: Gaetan Lee