Short-term memory meltdown

Humans are completely delusional about their own mental capabilities.
This was one of the first things I realized as a psychology major.

However, instead of noticing psychological deficiencies in others, I like to try to identify them in myself. If you tell other people, that they are delusional, they tend to react with resistance and negativity. But if you tell others, that you’ve noticed that you, yourself, is delusional, they usually listen and accept the information at face value.

Short-term memory meltdown

About seven years ago, I worked night shifts at a treatment facility in social services, Copenhagen, Denmark. Back then I smoked, and I would therefore frequently wonder off to a balcony, where smoking was permitted. I would usually bring my coffee mug to the balcony.

One night I returned to the office after one such coffee break. My coworker asked me, if I wanted more coffee. As I reached for my mug, I realized it wasn't at it's usual spot. I must have forgotten it on the balcony. I left the office and opened the door leading to the living room, that lead to the balcony. However, as I closed the door behind me, I paused. What was I doing here? I looked around, but had no idea, what I was doing in that room in that moment. I didn't feel like smoking again, so I returned to the office. My colleague asked: “Did you get it?”. ”Get what?”, I replied. ”The mug”, he said. It all came back to me. I resignedly returned to the living room.

But alas, it happened again. I found myself standing in the middle of the room, utterly clueless as to what I was doing there. The minut I returned to the office and saw my colleague's face, I remembered, and rushed back once again. Then…it happened again. This time, however, I remembered that I had just went to the living room, forgotten why, returned, and done it again. I remembered all the details, apart from the reason why I went back. I stood in the middle of the room; paralyzed, indecisive, when something interesting happened: my feet started walking towards the balcony. I looked out the glass door and my eyes fell upon something at the table on the balcony outside: my mug. Suddenly, I remembered the course of events. I grabbed the mug and finally returned to the office. I had experienced a complete short-term memory meltdown.

Explaining why

The theoretical model of attention control and the central executive seems to offer the best explanation. These two main components are related to attention control: the distinction between automatic, habitual control, and supervisory control: the supervisory activating system (SAS). When routine control (mental auto pilot) is insufficient, SAS can take over. Before this happens, however, behavior is guided by cognitive schema (Baddeley, 2003).

This seems to have been the case here: I had walked that route hundreds of times, and therefore a standard ”go into the living room”-schema was run. At some point my SAS took over, initiated a motor response (my feet moved), and thus made me complete the task at hand, using minimal cognitive resources. It may have been triggered by a generally lowered cognitive function due to sleep depravation. This idea is supported by empirical evidence, e.g. a meta-analysis by Lim and Dinges (2010), who found that attention is the cognitive domain that is most strongly affcted by sleep deprival, but that other areas of functioning are also affected, e.g. decision-making and memory processes in general (Lim & Dinges, 2010).

My neural net processor has not improved

Many people have tried to create procedures that improve working memory and short-term memory, but thus far, no one has succeeded. Interestingly, in experiments many people experience improved working memory, even though the data doesn’t support it (Richmond, Morrison, Chein, & Olson, 2011).

In other words: people think their memory has improved, when in fact, it has not. Placebo effects can indeed be helpful in many areas, but in the case of memory, it’s utterly useless.

This was just one example of personally observed mental deficiencies of mine. The list is long.

Have you ever noticed psychological deficiencies of your own?

Not your partners’ or coworkers’. Yours.