MEMORY: The overall architecture of memory is an interesting phenomenon. There is a critical distinction between long- term and short-term memory. Short –term memory has a very limited capacity. It can only hold about seven (7) plus or minus two (2) bits of information at a time. Also information that is not rehearsed decays before making it into long-term memory. Another remarkable distinction is that patients who suffer from a type of amnesia are severely impaired in many aspects of long-term memory, but everything is intact in the short –term memory. Similarly, patients with severe brain damage have perfectly functioning long-term memory, but no short-term memory. Because memory is stored in the brain, if damage happens in the parietal
