Abstract
Background and Objectives: Memory is important and learning isn’t biologically possible without it. Information come from sensory memory to short-term memory is entered to long-term memory by repeating. Since a lot of processing activities are done in short-term memory, therefore the factors effecting on it are very important. The purpose of this study was comparison of short- term memory quotient (SMQ) between smoker and non –smoker men.
Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive – comparative study which carried out on 50 smoker and 50 non – smoker men who occupied in Tabriz public hospitals and were 30-40 year old. Subjects were selected through simple random sampling. Data was collected by using Wexler memory test and GHQ test by means of pen and paper. Vulnerable samples in GHQ test were excluded and non-Vulnerable people were investigated by Wexler memory test. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (T-test) were used for data analysis through SPSS 11 for windows.
Results: This study showed that the mean of SMQ in non-smoker men was better than smoker men. It was 99.00 in non-smoker men and 92.5 in smoker men. There was statistically meaningful difference between the mean of SMQ in smoker and non-smoker men (p=0.017) by use of T-test.
Conclusion: Based upon the results of this study it can be concluded that smoking has negative effect in short-term memory performance.