through the short-term memory. “Short-term memory is a system for storing information over brief intervals of time.” (Squire, 1987) It’s main characteristic is the holding and understanding of limited amounts of information. The system can grasp brief ideas which would otherwise slip into oblivion, hold them, relate them and understand them for its own purpose. (1987) Another aspect of STM was introduced by William James in 1890, under the name “primary memory” (Baddeley, 1993). Primary memory refers to the information that forms the focus of current attention and that occupies the stream of thought. “This information does not need to be brought back to mind in order to be used” (1993). Compared to short-term memory, primary memory Memory 4 places less emphasis on time and more emphasis on the parts of attention, processing, and holding. No matter what it is called, this system is used when someone hears a telephone number and remembers it long enough to write it down. (Squire, 1987) Luckily, a telephone number only consists of seven digits or else no one would be able to remember them. Most people can remember six or seven digits while others only four or five and some up to nine or ten. This is measured by a technique called the digit span, developed by a London school teacher, J. Jacobs, in 1887. Jacobs took subjects (people), presented them with a sequence of digits and required them to repeat the numbers back in the same order. The length of the sequence is steadily increased until a point is reached at which the subject always fails. The part at which a person is right half the time is defined as their digit span. A way to improve a digit span is through rhythm which helps to reduce the tendency to recall the numbers in the wrong order. Also, to make sure a telephone number is copied correctly, numbers can be grouped in twos and threes instead of given all at once. (Baddeley, 1993) Anothe...
