Saturday, January 05, 2019

Existence Possibility of Memory Buffers

Existence Possibility of Memory Buffers

Anything we look at appears in our visual sensory memory.  It stays there less than 1 sec.  It is erased after 1 sec.  The purpose of this short retention is to give a chance to another object that we are supposed to see.  The sensory memories are located close to their related sensory organ.

A perception program should move input to a temporary buffer.  If the computer is busy doing something else  it should poll input every 1 second for a new input.

The object view passes to the temporary memory. It is retained less than 1 minute there.  After
1 minute it is lost. If the person becomes aware of the object view namely, it is related with a previous object or a primitive in the cortex, it is moved into the working memory.

Working memory term is coined as the memory being used while we are doing something, for ex. doing a calculation.  The object view is not something related to processing.  The temporary memory used for a static view may be something like a heap located close to the central executive.  A heap memory is located above the main execution memory of a computer.  It shrinks or expands according to the static memory need.  Similarly, people under heavy load loses their sensitivity to external-perception.

The memory naming tradition does not differentiate much between temporary memory and working memory.  They do not even mention perception buffers[1].

"Using magnetic fields that disrupt brain activity, researchers have proved that visual memories are
re-created in the brain as mental pictures.  Stored images are played, like videotapes, on a
screenlike sheet of tissue at the back of the head."

This scratchpad is connected either directly or indirectly to the cortex in the lack of consciousness.  This scratch pad may be the visual perception buffer.  This unconscious connection may be used to make a connection of the visual object to the previously seen objects or primitives.  This triggers
consciousness and the buffer content moves on to the temporary memory.

An other point of view is the data encoding.  The data in the sensory buffer is visual encoded.
Where as the data in the temporary buffer shall be internal encoding, the same with the working memory.  The imagination or dreaming moves the previously seen images from the cortex to the temporary buffer (visual scratch pad).  The temporary buffer functions as encoding converter for incoming object views.  Also, in order to see we have to convert the object view to the same encoding with the cortex.

[1]The Human Memory - Types of Memory
http://www.human-memory.net/types.html
[2] Kosslyn and colleagues at Harvard- affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston
HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES. Mind's Eye Re-Creates
Visual Memories. By William J. Cromie