In Brief
- Brain cells that fire together during an experience can form permanent connections.
- Those connections let the same network of brain cells refire later on, which we experience as memory.
- New experiences can lead a network of cells to develop further connections, adding to a memory and helping us learn but sometimes modifying a recollection and creating false memories.
- Because knowledge derives from connections, the optimal strategy for learning involves making meaningful associations among topics.
Many people wish their memory worked like a video recording. How handy would that be? Finding your car keys would simply be a matter of zipping back to the last time you had them and hitting “play.” You would never miss an appointment or forget to pay a bill. You would remember everyone’s birthday. You would ace every exam.
Or so you might think. In fact, a memory like that would snare mostly useless data and mix them willy-nilly with the information you really needed. It would not let you prioritize or create the links between events that give them meaning. For the very few people who have true photographic recall—eidetic memory, in the parlance of the field—it is more burden than blessing.
This article was originally published with the title Making Connections.
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5 Comments
Add CommentExcellent. However I am interested in unconscious or semi conscious memory. I have a terrible memory but if I want to quote from a book I can go into my library of many books and find what I want. Does anyone know anything about this kind of thing?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow do other intelligent people deal with having a poor memory?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisan interesting result which has been somewhat 'brain-based' learning researchers have been considering for some time. The importance of 'integrative learning' is somewhat that has been concerning myself and some colleagues for a time now and how the structures of a university education seem to spend more time on Gardner's 'disciplined' mind as opposed to 'synthesising' mind. Having such strong neurological evidence may surely strengthen the case for a root and branch review of our current educational structures.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisExcellent. A number of colleagues of mine have been concenred with and researching into the importance of 'integrative learning' for the past few years and the fact that the neurological evidence is confirming the importance of 'connections' for meaning making is a great boast. One can only hope that the educational 'czars' are watching
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAssociative recall is used by humans and animals all the time but as in the 'quotation example' by Lynne what you actually want are the words... or the book title or the author or where the book is in the library and the programme of actions for getting it... take the steps with you. I maintain that though these are associated with brain mechanisms they are actually phenomena of perception and behaviour rather than memory.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this'Free running' brains produce nonsense as in dreams.
Associative recall is the basis of course of puns and irony, ans Wittgenstein's 'seeing as if'
Incidentally have people notice that you can have visual recall while seeing 'for real'