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Week 2: Human Memory



I would like you to read/watch and comment on/discuss the presentation - Human Memory.
 You will find it at  (http://konwersatorium2-ms-pjwstk.blogspot.com/2013/05/week-7-human-memory.html ). Comment on  it here.

Comments

Natalia said…
I hated "learning by heart" in school because in most ceases I have to learn things I didn't understand like poems or such. I like to know what I am saying so remembering half of page of some nonsense was a torture.

My technique for remembering is understanding! If I had to learn multiplication table I firstly learn how this bunch of numbers are made. It could be funny for some people who have the photographic memory, but not every one have it :)
I don't train my memory - I don't see any point in it. If I want to remember someting I write a memo.
The man in the film for me is some kind of alien because what he did seems impossible!

In my opinion we do not now yet real power of memory and our brains. Please take a look at this man who drew panoramic picture of the Rome by only looking at it for 45 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqRT_kCOLI
Anonymous said…
I remember that I always tried to learn something by walking around. It's my secret technique :) I can't learn anything by heart if I'm not walking around the room.

For me it's also very important to see the information I need to learn. Maybe it's because I'm male. When I was in high school I also realised that I learn faster when I learn information from my own handwritten notes. I spend many hours re-writing printed pages of information - works like a charm for me.

Currently I don't have to learn a lot by heart, I prefer learing by doing - I do some stuff frequently until it's inside my brain and I don't need to look it up.
Anonymous said…
I agree with Natalia - external memory is coming soon :) I heard we're using 7% of our brains anyway.
I must say I completely agree with Your comment about learning by heart. I also always hated such methods of "learning" and always treated it as a necessary evil for some subjects. As a similar thought I recall Einstein saying, that in college we shouldn't learn facts, because facts are written in books. Instead college should train our minds to come up with new ideas.

P.S: The person from that video is really terrific!
I also am not a fan of learning by heart. I believe there is no need for memorizing things, that are written somewhere. Of course, there is some information or knowledge that one needs to know "on the fly", but in that case he usually doesn't need to check it up in any book or web page. I really don't like when it is required to pass an exam to simply memorize a bunch of facts, because usually those facts are information, that won't be very useful in everyday life and work. In my opinion we should try to understand the way of solving a problem, rather than memorizing the solution.
And in case when simply knowing a fact is a requirement, we can access the internet, which nowadays is present everywhere. Having access to so much information, we don't need to learn by heart every single detail of a fact since vague knowledge is enough to find the write web page.
In my case, the only technique that works for me when I need to learn by heart, is just repeatedly reading an article or textbook until my minds memorizes the information.
armandstanczak said…
Questions questions questions....
Brain is a very fascinating organ. Well I should say two organs, since technically we have two. Cerebrum and Cerebellum. The fascinating part is that we don’t really know what they do and how they work. Humanity has a very vague idea of what is the outcome of the work process, but that’s pretty much it. But, going straight to your questions:
What's your technique for remembering?
Straightforward, brute force. Repeat until you remember.
How do you train your memory?
Saying I would have any method would contradict with the point I made in the beginning, so to be honest, I don’t know.
Is it possible to train memory as the man in the film?
Well, obviously someone did it, so I cannot say it is impossible, it would deny the reality, but I don’t think this is connected so much with memory as it is to patterns. When you pick a Rubik’s cube, you see the pattern, just like chess players or computer gamers. The more you play, the more you practice, the better your eye-hand coordination becomes, the easier it is for You to win/solve/etc.
Which kind of human memory is the best to remember information?
Well, philosophically speaking, the idea of long term memory I think.
Which kind of human memory is the most similar to your brain?
This question does not make sense.

Cheers.
armandstanczak said…
Well, yes and no. Einstein was a person with almost perfect mind, he could learn anything very easily, and that why he had problem in school - he was simply bored or repeating. It’s a double standard. I would agree with a statement, that we need to learn how to use our knowledge.
Seisyll said…
I agree that there are things which are not necessary in daily life, but that doesn't make all the knowledge redundant. Every doctor, lawyer or engineer has to remember vast amount of information. Yes, they could just "ask the mighty internet", but some sources as wikipedia are not very reliable, and also they might not have enough time to do so.

What's your technique for remembering?
Łukasz I see you have stolen my technique :] Just kidding, walking is just an addition to help me focus. To learn by heart, I try to remember short parts of the text and repeat them loudly one by one (adding the new one to the previously remembered) until I can say it without problems.

How do you train your memory?
I don't train memory because I am too lazy to do so.

Is it possible to train memory as the man in the film?
As Armand said someone did it so it isn't impossible. The only problem is if person trying to do this has enough willpower and a technique best suiting him.

And the thing about Rubik’s cube. I don't agree that memory has anything to do with solving the Rubik's cube. Memory would only be needed if you were watching the cube being messed up and you could remember the pattern. This is more like a logical problem. My friend showed me that there are actually few tricks to complete the cube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZegseO-ykIY
I agree with All of you saying that learning things by heart in school was a generally waste of time. You out inside your hear tons of information that you mostly don’t understand, and probably you will never use in real life. All those hour spent trying to memorize some mathematical or physical formulas were a complete waste of time. Most of us (that’s my case) forgot these ting the minute after the exam.

I don’t have some special way of memorizing things. I just read the information I have to remember over and over again to the point I can repeat it myself. Some time ago I realized that for me it’s easier to learn early in the morning (really early like 3-4 am) than in the evening. So I wake up early in the morning and read a lot, that’s all my secret.

I don’t really think that there is some special technique that will help you remember things faster than you normally do. You just have to figure out what way of memorizing things is best for you ( for example my colleague from high school was recording all material he had to learn on his mp3 player and listened to it all the time even when he was sleeping).
Human brain is such a complicated thing, it is so amazing that we can actually think, feel, understand and learn new things. And what is the most important we are aware of that fact. We are unique and special creaters.
When I think about my methods of remembering I realize that sometimes it is easier for me ro remember something just by looking at it and writing it down as many times as possible. That's how i learn new words, especially in russian because of the alphabeth. Sometimes when I don't remember how the word is spelled I write it on a piece of paper and compare different versions. It works and is espacially convenient for those who work in grapihics becasue they think by using pictures.
On the other hand sometimes it is better for me to hear something. I read at loud. I talk about a problem. But I prefer to avoid learning by hart, because when do that I easly forget things. It is also good for me to think of some association when I want to remember something.
I always train my memory my learning new words, as I mentioned before. I also like to write down a short summary of a book I have just read.
Is it possible to train memory that way? As it turns out it is, but it's definately not for me:P
To remember information we have to move it to "working memory", otherwise we will soon forget it.
I am convinced that long term memory is the most similar to my brain.

Oh Gosh I hoe that I will remember as much as possible from that article:P
elos said…
I read a lot about mnemonics, mind mapping. These things are quite ok but we can use it only in special circumstances. Visualization is one of the powerful tools helping memorizing something. I remember situation with my friends and the task was memorize about 40 words in 2 minutes. Most of my friends memorized max 10 words, they didn’t use any techniques but I knew in that moment about the chain method so during reading that words I was preparing a story where one word is somehow linked to the next word and I visualized it. I won the competition. Its easier to remember a store even if it doesn’t have any sense than pure set of words.

Described situation is one of the special circumstances. It’s difficult to use it when you want to learn very specialized information like programming language statements etc. First we have to understand and next thing is repeating. This the way how to persist things like that IMHO of course.

I more believe in magic pills than techniques. Why there are people with great memory without using any technique? Once they hear, read something, they remember it. Probably they have brain chemistry different than most of people and the only way I see to change it is the mentioned magic pill :)

In that moment my best approach is: understand what I want to learn, repeating and using learnt knowledge.

One thing I want to add there is one always working trick which can permanently memorize some situations/information. I am talking about emotions. Please things about situation from your live when you had big problems, you were very said. Probably you can reproduce time second by second. Same situation with very good emotion. It’s just about extreme emotion. Maybe we should learn during jumping from building or with a gun pointed to our heads :)

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