ALPHABETICAL BRAIN VOCABULARY Flash Card #52 - Details WHAT IS YOUR "SHORT-TERM MEMORY" AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT? Your SHORT-TERM MEMORY is also known as your "working memory." It is activated by your perceptions, which involve your PREFRONTAL CORTEX, LIMBIC SYSTEM, and your VISUAL CORTEX (part of your OCCIPITAL LOBE.) It keeps ideas in your accessible memory up to 30 SECONDS while the "nuclei module" in the "intellectual" part of your brain, your PreFrontal Cortex, gives you the opportunity to decide what you want to do with them. Also it can "pull-out" memories from your "unconscious memory" resources so you can form different ideas or complete different tasks than what initiated the thoughts and feelings. In summary, it gives you the capacity to sort your thoughts, guide your actions and organize your mental (cognitive) processes so you can do several things at the same time! Currently there is controversy about whether or not "multi-tasking" skills, which rely on SHORT-TERM MEMORY resources, are really an efficient use of your time or whether "focusing" on one task at a time might allow you to use your brainpower better. Return to #52: SHORT-TERM MEMORY or BRAIN FACTS MATRIX