3 ARTICLES

1. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429091806.htm

I chose to write a summary on this article because it is based on the theory that short-term memory isn’t less precise over time, instead it just shuts down completely. Weiwew Zhang with Steve Luck had this idea because of tests they made; these tests consisted in measuring two things and the accuracy of short-term memory with the possibility that the memory still existed. Twelve different adults took this test; the first showed three squares of different colors on a computer, then a wheel showing all spectrums of colors and later the three squares appeared again. Once the squares reappeared they had no color and only one was highlighted. The adults being tested had to remember and click on the part of the wheel that matched the color of the highlighted square; they repeated the test 150 times. The results were: when the adults remembered the color, it was because the matching color was very close. This made Zhang and Luck identify how the accuracy had to do with the distance between the click and the actual color. But, in other cases when color was not remembered, these chose a random color in the wheel. Then there was a second test; this test was mimicked the first but it had to do with shapes instead of colors. The conclusion from these two tests was final; people either have a memory or don’t. These results point out how memories don't actually fade away, they shut down completely.

2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081028103111.htm

The University of Queensland’s Neuroscientists conducted an experiment that discovered why very poignant events usually cause trauma on our long-term memory. This experiment states that the brain tends to remember fear or trauma for a long time. This has been crucial to our long-term survival causing a negative reaction rather than a learning experience. It is said that in the back part of the brain in a so-called “amygdale” releases a stress hormone when we encounter another traumatic event like the ones that we had before. A paper by Dr Louise Faber and part of her co-workers published in The Journal of Neuroscience shows how the brain's "adrenaline” negatively affects the amygdale because of the influence of chemical and electrical pathways to the parts of the brain that are linked to the formation of memory. These results help us by informing about the effects of a traumatic event can affect memory and deeply understand the treatment patients with post-traumatic stress or anxiety disorders should have to really and thoroughly help them.

3. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815105026.htm

This article issues on how memories linked to any visual aids or emotional ones are very hard to forget. Keith Payne and Elizabeth Corrigan found that many negative or mild emotional events are really difficult to leave behind. This article argues what people do to try to forget information. First of all they mentally isolate the event or thing and after they completely block off the info; emotion kicks-in in this because it makes these simple two steps hard to make because the memories become hard to isolate even worse, erase. The UNC made a study, which consisted in 218 participants remembering pictures instead of texts; this study says how a violent word can probably create fear while a violent picture will creates a more fearful emotion. One of the conclusions of this study was that people could not forget memories that were emotionally involved in contrast to ordinary events that are erased easily. These results help understand the important role emotion has on memory.

What is Memory?

1. Sensory memory is known to take a 'snapshot' of what surrounds us to store this information for a short period. But only information that goes to another level of memory will be stored for more time.
2. An example of sensory memory is when you lose concentration in class and then you hear an important word and return your focus, you should be able to remember what the teacher said just before this word because it is in your sensory register.
3. Our sensory memory capacity is usually 12 items.
4. Short-term memory is a system that temporarily stores and manages information that is required to do difficult tasks like learning, reasoning, and comprehending, also the selection of information-processing (ex. encoding, storing, and retrieving data)
5. The "magic number" conducted and established by George A. Miller, argues that the number of objects an average human can hold in is 7 ± 2.
6. Chunking is a strategy that individuals store and code important information to remember and use short-term memory.
7. The ideal size of "chunks" for both letters and numbers are 2 3 and 6
8. The mode of encoding that short-term memory mostly relies on is acoustic.
9. The duration and capacity of long-term memory is thought to store large quantities of information for a large amount of time.
10. The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory is a psychological model made by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968. This model was based on how the human memory goes through three main stages: 1) Sensory memory: retain information in a sort of unprocessed way through a stimulus for less than a second. 2) Short-term memory: retaining information long enough to use it. 3) Long-term memory: information retained for a longer period.
11. A criticism or limitation of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory is that it’s considered to be to linear in structure and doesn’t include subdivisions the levels of memory may include. An example of this is when we use sensory memory for physical processes and once something is done it’s remembered for three seconds and then forgotten.
12. Levels of Processing Model of memory are a theory made by Craik and Lockhart in 1972. Rejecting the idea of dual store model memory and that the memory and its characteristics depend on its location, Craik and Lockart stated information could be processed and remembered in many different ways. They said that the durability of the memory depended on the level or depth of processing involve.
13. Maintenance rehearsal is a process involving repeating something several times. This makes your short-term memory increase from about 20 seconds to 3. An example is when you read a poem for a class, you will repeat the poem long enough to remember it until you present it to the class but it won’t be stored into long term memory.
14. Elaborative rehearsal is a technique that is more about analyzing the significance of a term to remember it instead of using repetition. It is proven to be more efficient and stores information in the long term memory. For example when studying vocabulary words it seems easier to comprehend the meaning than just memorizing it.
15. The Levels of Processing Model were made by Fergus Craik and Robert Lockart in 1972.

http://library.thinkquest.org/26618/en-5.2.2=sensory%20memory.htm
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7142

Memory

The film we watched in class made me realize a lot of interesting facts about memory and its functions and why it was so important. Memory plays a really important part not only to remember events or things but also in our everyday life. We usually believe that memory’s only use is to remember things but we are wrong, memory also contributes to our personality as a whole. Remembering is a simple thing we do without even thinking about it, it’s like breathing; we don’t even realize this shapes who we are. For example, our memory affects the decisions we take by taking past experiences and placing them in our lives. Brain cells are connected and respond to the situations we are in. Another example of how memory shapes identity is in the video. John’s lifestyle, a sad lonely life, which explains how premature births are dangerous to the memory circuit. It can be damaged causing the individual to have amnesia. Amnesia makes the person forget about the past, this also makes them unable to create new experiences and imagine a future. Memory is very important for us to function daily depending on the ability to remember and retain things.

Stroop Effect

Background: The Stroop effect is an exhibition of intrusion. In this experiment, the brain slows down its processing time because it is thinking and observing through conflicting and confusing information that tricks our mind and makes us believe different things.

Procedures: In the Stroop Effect, a person is handed a list of words with the name of different colors printed in varicolored ink of the same colors but placed differently. They are later asked to name the color of the ink used on each word. They are timed to see how long they take to do this.

Results: Because of the minds trick on the person’s reactions, this individual’s time of reaction is delayed. This is because the person's brain is trying to hold back the input from the printed words in order to focus on the color of the words; this is considered the “trick” our brains usually fall in to creating a confusion that causes us to say the wrong color by saying the word.

For example: Look at the following list of words: yellow, red, green, purple, brown, blue. Try to name the colors each word is written in as fast as you can do it. You may find that you are continually hesitating or stumbling on the words or go back to it and saying them again. This is because your brain is attempting to process two conflicting pieces of information: a color, and a word naming a color, which confuses us greatly. The Stroop effect is confusing but still a good exercise for our brains. Try the one bellow!!

The Myth of Multitasking

1. Multitasking is considered a myth because of the fact that it is only a trick that makes us believe that we are doing many things at once when really we are switching them. This switch leads us to be less productive that what we would be if only did one task at a time.

2. The term "response selection bottleneck" refers to the condition in which the brain, in an attempt to respond to many things at the same time, losses time because of the delayed decision of which task it should accomplish primarily.

3. David Meyers’s discovery is important because he discovered that the “art” of “multi-tasking” releases stress hormones and adrenaline. These releases are of high risk to the human body because of the effects they have like, short-term memory loss and long-term heath problems.

4. Russell Podrack found that this so called “multi-tasking” affects your learning skills. Although this action appears more efficient, it is actually less effective because this makes it harder for you to remember or retain information as well as if you did everything at its own time. He also mentioned how humans are not cutoff to live such a hectic and busy life.

5. The author concludes that we will probably adapt to this environment affecting our future societies who will suffer the consequences including: less productivity because of the difficulty of retaining the information that leads to a weak society, long-term health problems, and short-term memory loss.

Observations of the BaMbuti Pygmies

The Bambuti Pygmies were a tribe in Africa who live in the Ituri Forest for many years. They were characterized because of their singing, dancing and rituals, they were called “the people of the trees” because of this. Before more studies were done, they were referred to as “subhuman monsters” or even “creatures flying the treetops”. Colin Turnbull was a famous British-American anthropologist who studied many different tribes and cultures especially in Africa. He became extremely attracted to the Bambuti Pygmies as he continued studying their culture and society as one of the oldest indigenous ones in Africa. They started out as solitary individuals who traveled in small groups, these later evolved into four cultures: the Efe, the Aka, the Sua and the MBUTI. The Mbuti tribes were famous for being independent and variety of goods and food. These people were also distinguished because of their harsh and strict rules. Traditions were very important for these people; the major beliefs were the unity of families. The families’ houses were temporary because of their nomad life since they were hunters and gatherers. They usually migrated to the rainforests in dry seasons. In one of Colin’s expeditions in these tribes, one of the translators was amazed when he saw bulls running towards him and perceived their change in size; the translator was tricked by what is called now an optical illusion. Colin made many small discoveries like this one that shaped others perception; these pygmies had such a small knowledge that they considered optical illusion as magic. Colin’s discoveries of perception shaped what they later learned and what we know now.

Colin Turnbull

Early life:Colin lived from November 23, 1924 (London) until July 28, 1994. He studied in Westminster School and Magdalen College, Oxford. There he studied politics and philosophy. He later went to Banaras Hindu University in India to study Indian religion and philosophy.

Professional life:Colin became a famous British-American anthropologist. He came to public attention with two popular books: The Forest People which was on the Mbuti Pygmies of Zaire, and The Mountain People based on the Ik people of Uganda; and also one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of ethnomusicology.

Time working in Africa:Colin later became an expert in Pygmy tribes; this caused him to become very interested in African tribes. He grabbed his motorcycle and left to Africa to continue his studies on the Pygmies in which he was so deeply interested in. He visited African Pygmies six times where he studied their language, religion and native music. With all the experience with the African tribes, Colin was able to write many documentaries and works that focused on African tribes especially the Pygmies. Colin later fell in love with a poor African man named Joe Towels, starting an open gay relationship, moving in with him in New York.

Later life:Towels later died of AIDS, (after analyzing several rituals of the African tribes) making Turnbull want to become a Buddhist monk. Turnbull later died of pneumonia in 1994.