Hi learners,

The most popular request in topics for the Learn Letter has been memory. So today, we'll explore the differences between short-term and long-term memory.

In general, your memory processes information in three stages.

[If you've subscribed to the Learn Letter in May, try to recall the three stages from your memory, before reading the below description]

1. Encoding is how your memory learns new information, either visual (see), acoustic (hear), tactile (feel), or semantic (mean).
2. Storage everything you encode is first stored in your short-term memory and then, through spaced repetition, is stored in long-term memory. (Roediger & McDermott, 1995).
3. Retrieval is the final process in how your memory works. It's
   how you can access and recall what you stored in your brain.

And here's how the two types of memory differ in terms of encoding and storage.

So short-term memory is the type of memory your brain uses to hold on to small amounts of information for a brief period of time. In "Peak," the Swedish psychologist Anders Ericsson writes:

"If a friend gives you his address, it is your short-term memory that holds on to it just long enough to write it down. Or if you’re multiplying a couple of two-digit numbers in your head, your short-term memory is where you keep track of all the intermediate pieces: “Let’s see: 14 times 27 . . . First, 4 times 7 is 28, so keep the 8 and carry the 2, then 4 times 2 is 8 . . .” and so on. And there’s a reason it’s called “short-term.” You’re not going to remember that address or those intermediate numbers five minutes later unless you spend the time repeating them to yourself over and over again—and thus transfer them into your long-term memory."

But how can you transfer information from your limited short-term memory to your unlimited long term-memory?

The short answer is meaningful repetition and sleep.

You can use evidence-based techniques such as self-testing, retrieval, elaboration, spacing, and interleaving to transfer information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. And sleep is among one of the most important factors to transfer information, Dr. Babara Oakley says. She writes:

"The pathway between neurons grows and strengthens tremendously during sleep. Focusing and working as intently as possible during the day helps to start a new pathway between neurons – the foundation of learning! But that pathway really strengthens during sleep. Signals pass over and over again over the new pathway. This helps to strengthen and broaden the pathways, so it’s easier to think about that subject."

Sleep well :)

P.S.: If you want to improve your sleep, read through summaries of Matthew Walker's book "why we sleep." Since I read this book and changed my habits I slept way better. I avoid caffeine after 11 am, eat my last meal if possible 3 hours before going to bed, wake up around the same time every morning, get sunlight early in the day, cool my bedroom to 18 degrees celsius, and use a sleeping mask.

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Learning Nuggets

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🎯 Want to improve your reading practice?

Check out this wonderful interview from Anne-Laure Le Cunff with Juvoni Beckford, who read more than 450 books in 10 years. The 18 minutes reading time are totally worth it. He explains his system for "real-world spaced repetition" and his note-taking colour coding system.

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“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

- Socrates

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