There are some distinct characteristics between short-term memory and long-term memory. They differ in two contexts; in duration and capacity. Duration refers to the amount of time that items are held in storage, whilst capacity refers to the amount of information stored and whether the amount stored is limited or unlimited.
Short-term memory storage decays as time passes and lasts only for a short period (usually 30 seconds or less) whereas long-term memory lasts beyond that. As for capacity, short-term memory can hold only a limited amount of information, beyond which the information will disappear once the capacity is exceeded or replaced by new information or items. 1
Chicken essence has been studied internationally for its beneficial effects on various organs and also on short-term memory. 2 A study among participants experiencing high work-related stress was conducted to examine whether daily consumption of chicken essence for two weeks improved cognition in this group of highly-stressed individuals.3 A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted to investigate this, with one group taking chicken essence while the other group consumed a placebo drink daily.
Cognitive assessments in the clinical trial measured neurocognitive functions such as attention, working memory, immediate recall of memory, learning effects, retention of memory and executive functions. The assessments were carried out at three time points: before treatment (week 0), at the end of the treatment (week 2), and 2 weeks after treatment (week 4). Results of this clinical trial showed that essence of chicken improved the short-term memory of participants among those who had high depression scores or high anxiety scores. 3
In stressed participants who also had high depression scores, the group consuming chicken essence showed superior short-term memory performance, assessed using the form-colour associative memory test (p<0.018). A similar trend of improvement was also seen among stressed participants who had high anxiety scores (p=0.095). These results demonstrated that chicken essence improves short-term memory among stressed participants who also had high ratings for depressed or anxious moods.
References:
1 Cowan N. Chapter 20 What are the differences between long-term, short-term, and working memory?. Prog Brain Res. 2008:323-338. doi:10.1016/s0079-6123(07)00020-9
2 Teoh S, Sudfangsai S, Lumbiganon P, Laopaiboon M, Lai N, Chaiyakunapruk N. Chicken Essence for Cognitive Function Improvement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2016;8(1):57. doi:10.3390/nu8010057
3 Chan L, Wang H, Chen K et al. Effectiveness of Essence of Chicken in Improving Cognitive Function in Young People Under Work-Related Stress. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016;95(19):e3640. doi:10.1097/md.0000000000003640