Is It Short-term Memory Loss or Just an Interruption?

        Coming out of the shower and starting to towel myself off, I tried to recall the idea I’d had for a hub while finishing my swimming workout. It had seemed worthwhile and I stood there staring at the wall – trying to think of what it was, and then it suddenly came to mind – it was short term memory loss.

        No, it wasn’t that exactly.

        It was about whether our frequent inability to complete automatic tasks is different from short term memory loss.

        What do you think?

        There are myriad examples of the interruptions that occur in tasks we consider routine, as we do them in a set way each time so that we won’t have to think of them.

        Back at my locker and before getting dressed, I unhooked the plastic bag I keep for my wet suit, a comb, sun-screen and ….I suddenly realized that I wasn’t holding the bottle of Head and Shoulders. I’d just used that shampoo, and must have left it in the shower.

        Yes, upon walking back there, I saw it by the nozzle of the shower.

Just the day before I’d had to buy another bottle of it, as I’d left the previous one there, too, and someone had undoubtedly taken it.

        So that I won’t leave my suit behind, I’ve made a ritual of taking it off after standing in the warm shower a few minutes, folding it up, squeezing most of the water out of it, then walking out of the shower and placing it by my towel hanging there on a hook.

        I thought to myself that I’d better add another step to that ritual by walking out of the shower after the shampoo is on my head and putting it by the wet suit and the towel. That way I won’t leave the shampoo behind.

        I’ve always worked out behavioral patterns so that I never have to think about them again. Life is too short to get caught up in thinking about trivia.

         After I get dressed and unlock the car, I open the glove compartment and reached for my watch and wallet.  They’re always placed there for safekeeping while I swim, and I routinely put the watch on, fish out the wallet, put my membership in it, and before the car door is closed, I stuff it in my back pocket. 

         I know from experience that if this automatic procedure isn’t used right then, I’ll drive to my condo, park, lock the car, ride the elevator up 11 floors and get so involved that I wouldn’t think of either the watch or the wallet until I needed one or the other.

        That might not happen until the next day when I leave the apartment to buy groceries.  I’ll pat my rear pocket, find that it is empty, and have to retrace in my mind what I’d been doing until finally arriving at the thought that it must be in the car.

        Then I’ll ride the elevator down there hoping that I’m right for I won’t be able to get groceries without a charge card.

         While spreading compost on my daughter’s garden the other day, I felt the call of nature and used their downstairs bathroom.  The wallet fell out while I was sitting and I picked it up and put it on the counter by the sink.    

         That was the last I thought of it until the next day because I’d never used their bathroom before and hadn’t established a routine.

        When I discovered I didn’t have it as I headed for the elevator to go swimming, I searched my mind for where I might have left it and came up with the hope that I’d find it in their bathroom.  That called for a change in plans, as the wallet held my membership card at the pool, and I had to drive an extra ten miles back and forth to my daughter’s place to retrieve it.

        I was delighted that it was still there. 

        I tend to think they’re not. I think they occur because either no automatic procedure has been established or the procedure was interrupted by intervening thoughts.

        Short term memory loss occurs happens to all of us, but seems to worsen as we age. There are many examples of it:

        While in the middle of a conversation about a book, you suddenly realize that you can't remember the title or the author's name.

•    You start to introduce a friend to an acquaintance and suddenly can't remember either name.
•    You find yourself standing in front of the refrigerator wondering exactly why you opened the door.
•    You reach for the strap that fits across your lap in the car and can’t remember the term “seat belt”.

        They’re defined by how long they’re expected to last.

        Sensory memory – the kind that is experienced from a stimulus – is held only a few seconds before being overwritten, but while they last, psychologist believe that a copy is made.  While that iconic memory remains, an individual can answer detailed questions about the occurance.

        Short-term memory, according to psychologists, lasts a few minutes.  It is stored as an abstract concept and it is frequently diverted when new information is received.  Information can remain in short-term memory indefinitely by repeating the information over and over.  Though only about seven random digits can be remembered, far more are possible if arranged in chunks such as dates or telephone numbers. 

        I’ve just read that short-term memory is sometimes called the “working memory” in that it helps you remember the tasks in which you’re involved. That would seem to rule against my thought that I’ve not lost short term memory when I neglect to finish actions that are automatic in nature.  I prefer, however, to think that inasmuch as certain tasks are automatic in nature, the interruption of them and their subsequent omission is not a part of short term memory loss.