Questions tagged [memory]
For questions about the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information in the brain. This tag encompasses research all the way from the molecular level in model organisms to abstract mathematical representations, and includes applied learning paradigms and tasks.
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Is multitasking a myth?
Often, the term 'multitasking' is applied to very busy and 'wired' people. There is an adage that women multitask better than men.
My question is, do we actually multitask? If so, what are the ...
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Why do dreams lose clarity quickly over time after we awaken?
Right after you wake up from a dream, you seem to be able to remember most if not all of the details. Then, over time, these details fade and often disappear.
Is this a form of regression? Why is ...
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Is post-traumatic stress disorder preventable?
Victims of abuse, people exposed to violent situations repeatedly, and people in war zones can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result. PTSD is very common and has lifelong effects ...
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How to reliably measure working memory capacity?
The capacity of human working memory is subject to individual differences. The number of items or chunks a person can retain in their memory may, have profound effects on a variety of other cognitive ...
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Is there a practical limit to the amount of knowledge a human can learn?
There's definitely progressive interference and retroactive interference, which are basically two ways that old memories and new memories can interfere with each other.
But on the other hand, do ...
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Does a person's brain still contain a record of daily events?
Does a person's brain have a record of every event that happened during a person's lifetime? Is it possible to recall any of those events and is it possible to recall those events in detail?
For ...
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Is it better to study multiple subjects simultaneously or focus on one subject intensely at a time?
Since I will soon have a bit of free time, I thought I'd use it to enhance my knowledge pool. I chose four subjects that always interested me (but that are not related) and thought I'd dive in a bit ...
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Is there a term for trying to remember a word, but only remembering its first letter?
This happens to me frequently. I'll say, "Oh you know that guy... uhh... I can't remember his name. But he starts with a 'Z'." You can remember part of the word but not the whole word.
Is there a ...
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What form might Jungian archetypes take in the brain?
Modern psychology and psychiatry are very well grounded in scientific principles. Both, however, have a history in various analytical philosophies. Jung had the notion of an archetype, a universally ...
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PTSD based on false memories
Memory is not just static snapshots or video on a harddrive, but an active process. As such, it is possible to construct false memories (Brainerd & Reyna, 2005). Some of these false memories can ...
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What are the neural substrates of retrieval induced forgetting?
Retrieval-induced effects
It is well known that practicing retrieval of remembered items increases the probability of correctly recalling that item in future tests: the testing effect. Retrieval-...
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Evidence of 'virtually limitless' long-term memory
In his paper, 'What do People believe about Memory?', Professor Svein Magnussen of University of Oslo claims:
... memory science is not aware of any limitation on the amount of information the ...
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What exactly is IQ, and how to develop or improve it?
Some people are said to have exceptionally high IQ.
What exactly is that supposed to mean?
Is it possible to develop high IQ if one doesn't have it? If yes, then how?
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What is it called to think without language? Are there studies around it?
I think there are two types of thinking:
with and without language.
For my entire life, in my opinion, I have always thought without language. Some people say it's impossible and that we think with ...
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Can memorising a new thing erase existing memories?
Homer: But every time I learn something new, it pushes out something old. Remember that time I took a home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?
Marge: That's because you were drunk.
Yeah, but ...
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Are spaced flashcards effective for learning?
Several apps and sites offer flashcard-based learning that repeat the cards you do poorly on over a period of time (the more inaccurate the answer the closer to each other the repetitions are). One ...
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How can we be formed by our childhood's environment if we don't remember much of it?
Studies with rats have shown that how much a pup is licked during their early childhood predicts their adult personality [1]. Also, many psychologists say that early childhood is the part of our lives ...
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How to better remember your dreams?
Often times, I wake up with an amazing, yet fleeting glimpse of a dream I had. I would like to recollect those events I had in my dream, and try to adopt ways to better remember those dreams.
There ...
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Is it possible to erase problematic memories?
This question is inspired by a question I answered on Health.
Can we erase problematic memories to aid recovery from depression?
A depressed person asked how to erase specific unpleasant memories ...
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How do memories come up for no apparent reason? Is this evidence that we remember everything?
As I was driving, all of a sudden the name "Holden Caufield" came to my mind. It sounded really familiar. I googled the name and it was the main character in The Catcher in the Rye. The last time I ...
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Are memories stored as patterns of chemicals/emotions?
Lately, I (as someone with no experience or prior knowledge in the topic) have been thinking about...thinking. The part that intrigues me the most is memory. As a computer-y type person, I tend to ...
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Difference between content-addressable memory and associative memory?
Often when I'm reading theoretical neuroscience publications, such as "Towards an integration of deep learning and neuroscience", as well as "Memory and the Computational Brain", theorists often ...
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Cognitive Models of learning Working Memory usage
Recently in deep learning, there's been a surge in learning how to use memories as part of the optimisation process (i.e. LSTM's and Stacks). However, these aren't really analogous to how a cognitive ...
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Is The magical number 7 still valid?
George A. Miller published "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information" in 1956 and is one of the most highly cited papers in psychology. It ...
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Does any evidence show that Smartphone users have poorer memory?
An ages old complaint is that new technology harms memory. Why remember something when you can look it up?
In a course on Human Memory I distinctly recall an interesting discussion on phones and ...
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Is photographic memory possible?
Photographic memory is a fairly well known phenomena, but is it theoretically possible?
In Marvin Minsky's The Society of Mind claims it is a myth:
"...we often hear about people with '...
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Which equation is Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve and what do the constants represent?
First off, I've come across two different forgetting curve equations.
$$R = e^{-\large \frac{t}{s}}$$ where $R$ is retention, $t$ is time and $s$ is strength can be found on Wikipedia. And $$b = \...
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What is the scientific term for unexpected, spontaneous dream recall?
I'm interested if there's a term for spontaneous dream recall. I will try to define the phenomenon I'm talking about.
Over 10 years ago, I started to notice that I can spontaneously recall dreams, ...
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Is a network of neurons the only factor in memory?
Background
I'm actually writing a science fiction novel set a couple decades in the future. Brains are not my field. I've done as much research as I could.
In the story, the protagonist finds out he ...
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Why do we not remember things from the first couple of years of childhood?
As parents of a soon-to-be three-year-old, my wife and I spend a lot of time planning activities and trips for our son. However, my wife wanted to hold off on some of the big ones (i.e. Disney World),...
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What are the purported mechanisms of eidetic memory and why is it comorbid with autism?
Eidetic memory, often called "photographic" or "flashbulb" memory, is often associated with amazing feats of recall. Is the mechanism behind this phenomenon an aberration of the visualization of a ...
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What are the mathematical models of memory?
Are there mathematical models of memory in humans or animals?
I want to know how neuroscientists use mathematics to describe memory in living creatures. How do neuroscientists model memory and show ...
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Are all conscious experiences stored as memories?
There are people with supermemories, called highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), i.e., the detailed recollection of events that occurred in the distant past. Although the recollection of, ...
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How much can users hold in their short term memory
I recently undertook a questionnaire and was asked a question about short term memory. One that I just can't find an answer to at all as it seems to be so contradictory.
This got me curious. How ...
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What does the literature suggest about the optimal strategy for quickly memorizing various types of content?
I just finished reading Moonwalking with Einstein, a journalistic piece on the World Memory Championships. The book explicates the various techniques used by participants to memorize different types ...
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How are these review-forgetting curve calculated?
I saw quite some illustration about how reviewing helps remembering. Like:
SOURCE: http://www.mentormegate.com/wordpress/2014/06/10/mentor-me-gate-the-forgetting-curve/
I wonder how are these ...
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Are partially forgotten memories still in your brain?
I have read articles such as...
http://www.wired.com/2009/09/forgottenmemories/
and they say forgotten memories are still stored in your brain. What about partially remembered memories. For ...
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Does writing something down help memorize it?
This is a question inspired by this recent question on the Chinese Language & Usage website.
Someone asked why they needed to learn how to write Chinese characters, since today we mostly use ...
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Does dream recall disturb the processes of memory consolidation?
Psychology in the time of Freud was occupied with dreams. Relaying these to one's analyst was an important part of treatment.
Fast-forward to less than 100 years later, and we know so much about the ...
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Why is storytelling an effective way to transmit information between people?
Parables, fables, myths, whatever you might call them, stories have always been part of human consciousness. Within recent decades, storytelling is recognized as a big component of advertising and ...
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Is it possible to improve reading speed and visual comprehension by doing exercises?
Background
I'm trying to capture detailed information from the images in my visual memory, mainly text. My daily life requires reading many documents on varying topics. I want to increase my reading ...
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Is remembering a list of words an example of semantic or episodic memory?
I'm having a hard time making a clear distinction between semantic and episodic memory. When presented with idealized examples, I find the breakdown clear; describing a trip to Paris is an example of ...
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What is the optimal repetition pattern to maximize long term memory?
Which is the appropriate repetition pattern to aid long term memory, in terms of time between study sessions?
I have been reading about Ebbinghaus and doing some related research, but I can't find a ...
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Can we draw conclusions about content of thoughts from neural firing patterns?
Can the neural firing patterns of animals be associated with specific kinds of thoughts? (ie Thoughts related to food, mating, or neighborly aggression?)
I am curious about the speculations in ...
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Is it possible to measure the working memory of a non-human animal?
Is it possible to measure the working memory of a non-human animal? And if so, have there been any studies that have quantified the working memory of animals, and that have compared that to the ...
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Best ways to improve memory
I've once watched a movie in which CIA agent went into a room just for a few seconds and on the next day he could recall every detail of that room, including what was on the monitors.
And I am ...
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How long could Henry Molaison keep his memory of the present?
I'm talking about Henry Molaison (HM), the famous memory research patient. I hear that he could converse normally with a researcher until he "got distracted", at which point he no longer remembered ...
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Do distractors create false learning in multiple choice questions?
I use quizzes in teaching, but have started to worry that they do more harm than good.
Here's why: We have all learned from "the testing effect" that the act of taking a test is part of the practice ...
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What was her/his name again.....ahh got it!
You all know the situation described in the title. You forgot something and start to search your memory and then after quite a while it jumps right in front of you, out of nowhere.
My questions are:
...
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Is modality-specific working memory capacity correlated within individuals?
The multi-component model of working memory posits different processes for phonological and visual working memory storage.
Working memory capacity can be measured in a variety of ways (see: How to ...
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