Tool Module: Human Memory versus Computer Memory In
some ways, human memory and computer memory are similar. For example, some general
characteristics of human short-term memory resemble those of a computer’s random
access memory (RAM). As discussed elsewhere on this site, human short-term memory
is volatile and has a limited capacity. Computer RAM has essentially the same
characteristics. Your computer often does not have enough memory to run certain
programs, and when you turn it off, bye-bye data! Your long-term memory
is something like a computer’s hard drive. Both of them take longer to respond,
but can store a considerable quantity of data. But this latter analogy
falls apart when you compare the ways that a computer and your own brain store
information. Once pieces of information are recorded on a computer’s hard drive,
they will not change one bit over the years. But your own memories are totally
different. Over the years, they will be continuously altered and reconstructed
in response to changes in your moods or fleeting states of mind. Another
difference is that on a hard drive, each piece of information is saved in a specific
location, even though some files may be fragmented into several parts when they
are first stored. In contrast, although any one of your memories certainly involves
the activity of specific neurons, you can retrieve it by activating just a portion
of the network of neurons where it was encoded. Likewise, any given neuron can
help to encode many different memories by participating in many different neural
networks. |