The short-term memory is the very first system we encounter when we decide to recall information at the conscious level. The system register also gets information for a brief moment at an unconcious level. But before information can be transferred to the long-term memory, it needs to undergo rehearsal. Rehearsal maintains the validity of a code of information in the short-term memory, rehearsal needs to be done often to keep the information for a long period. Chunking of words makes it easy to be learnt and recalled, for example, a phone number may be grouped into units to help remember. The duration of unrehearsed material in the short-term memory is 30 seconds. The definition for short-term memory is that it is a system that not only stores information, but serves as a workplace for rehearsing, coding, retrieving, and decision making. In the Brown-Pettersons paradigm a rehearsal prevention test was given to the participants to prevent them from rehearsal; similar tests will be given to the participants in this study to check the number of words they will be able to recall. The capacity of the short-term memory can also be identified using the immediate memory span, by presenting a list of words and determining how many can be remem
bered in their correct serial order after presentation. Baddeley and Scott (1971) proposed that due to the statements established by the Pettersons technique, the short-term memory experiences forgetting after the participants or subjects were asked to recall the items only once in both experiments. During sudden recall the chances of the valid words being recalled is based on the serial position of the words, the first or second word has a higher advantage or ability to be remembered (primacy effect), whilst the middle words have a lower chance of recall, also the final words do have a greater chance of memorization as well, which is the recency effect (Baddeley, 2004). Various theories have been conducted to further explain these claims. Janke and Nowaczyk stated that attention is the study of the capabilities and limitations of the individual to select and process sensory information from the environment. It is perceived that people cannot concentrate on all information going on around them, but just on the important ones, an example is when you are caught driving on a stormy evening, you chose to turn off the stereo and quit all conversations in order to fully attend to the road to enable you drive safely (Janke & Nowaczyk, 1998).