I thought I could address this topic in a novel way to highlight the many facets of memory in a way that we all could remember. Acting on the memory is thought or thinking. “I think therefore I am” needs a codicil, ‘I have memory, therefore I can think”. I want to introduce some heuristics, memory tactics, the history of memory and the uses of memory and what memory can imply using our imagination and thought. And make it fun as well.
The exercises we do will later illustrate some of the various types of memory and how it works.To start with I am going to ask each of you with your pen and paper to write down an object for me and read it out . I will chose 10 to put down on the board.
Next I will show you a list of 10 random numbers. They are, 17, 23, 5, 18, 20, 25, 21, 9,15,16, 1,
Another arrangement is e,j,o,t,y. This is a significant arrangement.
[KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company, Inc.),
We will discuss these later .
Finally there are 10 objects on this table . You all have 30 seconds to look at them.
Memory is basically time travel. The ability to travel both back and forward in time. We go back into our past experiences and recall it in the present moment when needed. Dean Martin [play song] \ says it like this. Memories are made of this …. take one stolen kiss …
[Traveling back is due to the ability to recall now a past sensory or thought process as it happened usually when needed. Acting on the memory is thought or thinking.] [not actually memory though some instances are conjoined, like in breathing or walking.]
The things one needs for memory are input, storage, processing and recall [retrieval].
Input comes from both sensory input and also thought input. The human senses of exteroception are touch, taste, sight, smell and hearing. We can add vibration, position, [proprioception], pain, heat and visceral sensations [interoception]. Other species have extra senses or heightened senses. It is stored in the brain primarily (The stomach senses food even without central feedback and responds.). Sensations are the data. We react to pain both on a local and cerebral level.
- The somatosensory system consists of primary, secondary, and tertiary neurons.
- Sensory receptors housed in the dorsal root ganglia project to secondary neurons of the spinal cord that decussate and project to the thalamus or cerebellum.
- Tertiary neurons project to the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobe, forming a sensory homunculus.
- A sensory homunculus maps sub-regions of the cortical postcentral gyrus to certain parts of the body.
The secondary neuron acts as a relay and is located in either the spinal cord or the brainstem. This neuron’s ascending axons will cross, or decussate, to the opposite side of the spinal cord or brainstem and travel up the spinal cord to the brain, where most will terminate in either the thalamus or the cerebellum. The primary somatosensory area of the human cortex is located in the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobe. There are four main types of cutaneous mechanoreceptors: Pacinian corpuscles, Meissner’s corpuscles, Merkel’s discs, and Ruffini endings. proprioreceptor: A sensory receptor that responds to position and movement and that receives internal bodily stimuli. Golgi tendon organs and muscle spindles.The thalamus is a midline symmetrical structure within the brain of vertebrates including humans; it is situated between the cerebral cortex and midbrain, and surrounds the third ventricle.Its function includes relaying sensory and motor signals to the cerebral cortex, along with the regulation of consciousness, sleep, and alertness.
The areas that are activated by our senses are the primary storage sites but due to the massive interlinking of our neurons the data is stored all over the brain as well as it links with the other data accompanying it and our processing system. This provides a backup which means it is incredibly hard to destroy data (amnesia) completely.The means of storage is still in dispute.
Processing is the way of arranging data ready for retrieval. Areas of the brain specialise in taking the data in and arranging it in ways that allow steady, useful retrieval. This enables the thought processes to access the data when it is needed or required. These areas are increasingly well known.
The amygdala deals with …. most of these process take place in the midbrain where the neutrons transmit the data for specific uses. Broca’s area is where speech patterns are stored. Usually on the left side of the brain. Damage this and the ability to speak properly is lost, but not the memory of past conversations.
We can store memory as short or long term memory. It is thought that certain areas do have more more of a role to play in the retrieval process rather than the storage process. Again there is some argument as to whether there really is a difference other than repetition Our immediate verbal numerical memory span is quite short 5-9 characters,
Using our memory.
[Thinking fast and slow] authors won a Nobel Prize for their work on heuristics. The short cuts we use in processing informationNow the first test , the 5 letters I gave you in reverse order, write them down.
You will see that it is much easier to remember the shorter sequence. Also that the longer sequence, done first, disappears from the memory due to a process called recent activation which makes an earlier memory harder to retain.
A similar phenomenon is the unfinished task, a job left undone demands constant re attention but when completed the task that seemed fresh in one’s mind has now gone.
Memory improves with repetition. A rule of thumb is that 5% of a given lecture will be retained long term with rapid fall off of the other 95%. Repeating the lecture will fix a further 5% in place and it will stay for longer.This is one of the principles for improving in examination tasks.
What are the hints for improving one’s memory?
Focus and attention are the main keys. These two techniques are a prerequisite.In order to encode information into memory, we must first pay attention, a process known as attentional capture.
Motivation. Desire or need is a great motivating factor. It is much easier to stick at a task
Immersion. This is the best way to learn any subject, particularly languages but also art, science painting and music.
Now for some tricks to help when all else fails.
Reminders. Notes are usually best but recording can be done in many ways with film or sound on one’s mobile phone. Tying a bit of string around a finger.
Association is a recognised technique What we do is tie a link between a long term memory and our new short term memory. The link is composed of a visual or verbal surprise between the task at hand and a known recallable object, then wrapping it in a visual or verbal picture.
A well used method is the family home or the workplace where one can walk around the rooms and leave the associations inside.
Method of Loci
One example of taking advantage of deeper semantic processing to improve retention is using the method of loci. This is when you associate non-visual material with something that can be visualized. Creating additional links between one memory and another, more familiar memory works as a cue for the new information being learned.
Mnemosyne (/n??m?z?ni,
