The capacity of human memory: Is there any limit to human memory?

Authors

  • Ehsan Namaziandost Islamic Azad University
  • Meisam Ziafar Islamic Azad University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33474/j-reall.v1i2.6432

Keywords:

human memory, long term memory, interference, capacity

Abstract

There exist some estimates of the capacity of human memory. Recent studies have proven the fact that Long Term Memory is subject to constant reconfigurations mostly at lower levels of neural clusters. There is no consensus on one definition for the capacity of memory. As far as retrieval of items present in memory is not the concern, it is reasonable to refrain from putting limits on capacity of human memory; otherwise, one must accept a number game which renders no fixed definite final estimation. Recently such capacity is defined as the amount of interference created by the item which must remain active in the memory.

Author Biographies

Ehsan Namaziandost, Islamic Azad University

 

 

Meisam Ziafar, Islamic Azad University

 

 

References

Baddeley, A. D. (1996). The fractionation of working memory. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 93, 13468-13472.

Baddeley, A. D. (2003). Working memory: Humans. In J. H. Byrne (Ed.), Learning and memory (pp. 672-676). New York: MacMillan.

Brady, T. F., Konkle, T., Alvarez, G. A., & Oliva, A. (2008). Visual long-term memory has a massive storage capacity for object details. PNAS, 105(38), 14325-14329.

Chen, N.S., Hsieh, S.W., & Kinshuk. (2008). Effects of short-term memory and content representation type on mobilelanguage learning. Language Learning & Technology, 12(3), 93-113.

Cherniak, C. (1983). Rationality and the structure of human memory. Synthese, 57, 163-186.

Conway, A. R. A., Kane, M. J., Engle, R. W. (2003). Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(12), 547-552.

Dudai, Y. (2011). How big is human memory. Learning & Memory, 3, 341-365.

Fedorenko, E., Gibson, E., & Rodhe, D. (2006). The nature of working memory capacity in sentence comprehension: Evidence against domain-specific working memory resources. Journal of Memory and Language, 54, 541-553.

Ivanova, M.V., & Hallowell, B. (2012). Validity of an eye-tracking method to index working memory in people with and without aphasia. Aphasiology, 26, 556-578.

Kyllonen, P.C., &Christal, R.E. (1990). Reasoning ability is (little more than) working memory capacity. Intelligence, 14, 389-433.

Morey, R. D. (2011). A Bayesian hierarchical model for the measurement of working memory capacity. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 55, 8-24.

Murray, L. L. (2012). Attention and other cognitive deficits in aphasia: presence and relation to language and communication measures. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21, S51-S64.

Namaziandost, E., Hafezian, M., &Shafiee, S. (2018). Exploring the association among working memory, anxiety and Iranian EFL learners' listening comprehension. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 3(20), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-018-0061-3.

Ricks, T. R., & Wiley, J. (2009). The influence of domain-knowledge on the functional capacity of working memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 10, 1-19.

Wang, Y., Liu, D., & Wang, Y. (2003). Discovering the capacity of human memory. Brain and Mind, 4, 189-198.

Wright, H.H., &Fergadiotos, G. (2012). Conceptualizing and measuring working memory and itsrelationship to aphasia. Aphasiology, 26, 258-278.

Downloads

Published

2020-07-06

How to Cite

Namaziandost, E., & Ziafar, M. (2020). The capacity of human memory: Is there any limit to human memory?. Journal of Research on English and Language Learning (J-REaLL), 1(2), 69–72. https://doi.org/10.33474/j-reall.v1i2.6432

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2020): Journal of Research on English and Language Learning (J-REaLL)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Ehsan Namaziandost, Meisam Ziafar

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors can separately make additional contractual arrangements for non-exclusive distribution published by the journal (e.g., publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are allowed and encouraged to send their work via online (e.g., in the institutional repositories or their website) after published by the journal.