We only remember up to 4 things at a time

Call the lover, reply to the boss's official letter, check the customer email ., then you groan and forget the dose you need to drink. That's normal because your brain can only handle up to 4 tasks at a time.

For decades, researchers have argued about the maximum number of things we can remember at the same time, also known as motor memory. A recent study shows that the limit is 3 to 4.

Motor memory involves information that we can focus on and process in a temporary period.

Previous research speculated that the human brain could store about 7 things at a time, and perhaps that's why phone numbers usually have 7 characters. Now scientists think that our true memory capacity is lower, when it is not possible to use tips to put things together.

(Photo: Chip Simons) "For example, with phone numbers, we read them in groups 3 and 4, helping us remember the list of characters," says psychologist Nelson Cowan, from Missouri-Columbia University. The author's study, said.

"But with problems that cannot be clustered like that, the number of things we remember in our heads will be lower."

In the experiment, to prevent participants from remembering in groups, the researchers showed them a series of different colored squares. Then they reviewed the same square string, but not the color. Finally, they are given a single colored square in one position, and must say whether the color matches the square in the same position in the first sequence.

As a result, ordinary people can only remember 3 to 4 positions at the same time, although there are people with amazing memories.

Interestingly, people who perform well on memorization tests are also better at learning, reading and solving problems. It seems that intelligence is related to this area of ​​memory.