Grown Up Studying Computer Memory? Let's Check Out Human Memory !

•• Our ability to learn & to create new memories is fundamental to our very existence; we rely 'heavily' on memory to engage in almost all effective actions.
(Even to provide us with a personal identity & sense of self).

••What's more interesting in case of humans is that.... like everything, we tend to take our memory for granted. And the only time most of us pay attention to our memory is - When it fails! (अरे! ये मैं कैसे भूल गया?/मुझे आजकल कुछ याद नहीं रहता !/मुझे भूलने की बीमारी हो गयी है।/मैं चीज़ें रख के भूल जाता हूँ....)- Applicable to both the sexes equally :-D

••Human Memory is basically divided into three storage systems:
1. Sensory Memory
2. Short-term Memory (STM)
3. Long-term Memory (LTM)

••1) Sensory Memory - Based on 'Transduction of energy' (conversion into electrical signals). Our Environment makes available, a variety of information in terms of light, sound, smell, heat, cold, etc. But the brain only understands electrical stimulation. So, our body has special sensory receptor cells that convert these varieties into something that the brain can understand.
The memory created here is very short & lasts hardly for about a few seconds. In 90% of cases we miss it but.. (Encountering faces while walking in a crowd). We do pay attention to it if it has an interesting feature..(a beautiful lady). OR if it activates a known pattern..(that boy looked like my friend).

••2) STM - Only a limited amount of information is transferred from sensory memory to STM. Working memory or conscious memory is the major part of it & relates to what we are thinking about at any given moment in time. We keep it active until it is put to use..(a phone no. we repeat to ourselves until we dial it properly on the phone).

••3) LTM - Sort of a permanent storage. Information is stored on the basis of meaning & importance..(People we really mean & give importance & priority take shelter in our LTM & thus hard to forget at times).
The knowledge we store in LTM affects our perceptions of the world..
LTM works through top-down processing; our prior knowledge affects how we perceive sensory information. Our expectations regarding a particular sensory experience influence how we interpret it. That's how we develop 'bias'.

••In my opinion studying about human memory is far more interesting than learning the exact capacities of computer memory.... Bits & Bytes !! [That's how we develop 'bias' :-) ]