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Working Memory

1) The document discusses working memory, which is the short-term memory system that allows us to temporarily hold and manipulate information. It explains that working memory capacity can be improved through exercises and is important for tasks like learning, problem-solving, and comprehension. 2) People with ADD or ADHD typically have lower working memory capacity than others due to slower brain processing, which can make it hard to remember instructions. However, the document states that working memory can be strengthened through practice. 3) The conclusion emphasizes that training working memory is important for everyone as adults have more responsibilities. Exercises can help both typical people and those with memory disorders to improve their skills.

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199 views

Working Memory

1) The document discusses working memory, which is the short-term memory system that allows us to temporarily hold and manipulate information. It explains that working memory capacity can be improved through exercises and is important for tasks like learning, problem-solving, and comprehension. 2) People with ADD or ADHD typically have lower working memory capacity than others due to slower brain processing, which can make it hard to remember instructions. However, the document states that working memory can be strengthened through practice. 3) The conclusion emphasizes that training working memory is important for everyone as adults have more responsibilities. Exercises can help both typical people and those with memory disorders to improve their skills.

Uploaded by

api-301443692
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Everybody can train its working memory.

First of all, by way of introduction, I chose working memory because I am


interested in this topic. The reason is that I was born with ADD; therefore, I will
work on the issue about people with mental disorders and their relation to working
memory. You must to have in mind that we have two types of memory, like some
cellphones that have two types of storage your mind has a long term memory and
a short term one. The last one is the one called working memory, which is the
term I will explain and deepen.
Do you have a low capacity of remember things at the moment? Do you know
somebody with ADD? Is it there any solution for working memory problems? Along
this essay I am going to show through some arguments what the answer is.

Working memory is the ability we have to hold in mind and mentally manipulate
information over short periods of time (E. Gathercole S. and Packiam T., 2007). It is
like a mental workspace which is used to store important information at the
moment you need to remember it, and operates just a few seconds. It is the short
term memory we possess; besides, long term memory is the information that is
acquired in the course of an experience and that persists so that it can be retrieved
long after the experience is past. For instance words that we know about the
world, things that are happen in our lives. It is not active but we can activate it
simply by doing a question Do you remember two years ago when.
For better understanding working memory there are some examples of situations
extracted from the book A Classroom Guide: Understanding Working Memory by
E. Gathercole and Dr Tracy Packiam Alloway, and others taken from different sites:
When you are going to play a game with your friends and you must to have
in mind the rules while you are playing.
When you need to memorize a phone number while you are looking for a
piece of paper.

When learning to drive.


When you ask for directions and you have to remember them to arrive to the
place.
When you have to remember the ingredients because you are not going to
look at recipes page every second.
When the teacher gives a reminder.
When your mom ask you to do a list of things for the housework.
As you can see, it is applied it for reasoning, problem solving, language
comprehension, etc. Working memory is limited in capacity and this varies from
one individual to another. People need strategies to remember the information that
is important and useful at the moment the things are happening. If you do not
process the information, you cannot learn it. You need to use working memory in
daily life and is indeed more important when you have to use it in class.
If it is difficult to hold new information in mind imagine a person with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. His/her working memory capacity is smaller than a
person who does not have ADD or ADHD. The process that his/her brain
experiments is slower and this impedes the translation of complex instructions.
(Tannock R., 2015)
Consequently, a girl/boy, in the case of a student who tries to put attention on the
teacher that gives instructions, will have serious problems at the moment a
distraction appears. Irrelevant information occupies the space of the most
important ones, so the information that is really important becomes unimportant
and it is lost for good. So much information gives, as a result, a cognitive overload,
hence the person is unable to retain all what he/she is listening.
This is not too worrying. If you have a weakness in working memory you can
improve your capacity of retention through memory exercises. The more you
exercise it the better it works. A good way of train your mind is solving math
problems in a paper, doing mental puzzles. For better learning and improving
childrens working memory skills they have to be in contact with what they are
learning, they need to see things because they have lower capacity than teenagers
and adults.

In conclusion, people with weakness in working memory needs to train its memory
because it is the only way to improve their skills. For the reader, you will use it
increasingly as you grow, because of the responsibilities life give to adults, so it is
essential for everybody to be concerned with this topic and star doing something
for your life and for helping people with memory disorders.

References

1- Susan E. Gathercole, Tracy Packiam Alloway. (2007) Understanding


Working Memory.
2- Encoding and retrieval from long-Term Memory. The Nature of Long-Term
memory. (n.d.) p. 193, Chapter 5.
3- Tannock, R. (2015, January 27). ADHD and Working Memory (English)
[Video
file].
Retrieved
from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Nls3wxRZEoE
4- Klingberg T., Forssberg H., and Westerberg H. (n.d.) Training of Working
Memory in Children with ADHD.

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