Namaste Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) Sunil Rao here: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today I will talk about one of the ALL ABOUT ME series, published by Hoopoe books a division of The Institute for the study of Human Knowledge. The series is part of the Human Nature Program of ISHK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his foreword to the series, late Dr. Robert Ornstein mentions that the changes to a teen\u2019s brain are similar to the growth of a baby\u2019s brain in the first eighteen months of life. A massive spurt of new brain cells called grey matter occurs, and nerve cells called neurons make new connections. Then slowly, throughout the teenage years and into the early twenties, cells that don\u2019t make connections are trimmed back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scientists speculate that this second growth spurt aids us all in adapting to the world. It is that period where we learn a new skill or develop a lifelong habit easily. If you take up a new skill or keep practicing at an old one, your brain will rewire itself to support these abilities at a faster rate than at any other time in your life. No wonder the teen years are such a good time to take up playing guitar or drum, or to learn a new language. On the other hand, you want to avoid getting into some bad habits because they get wired in, too, and will be harder to change later on. Now is really a good time to learn some good habits for dealing with anger, stress and self-control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Getting through this time in your life can sometimes feel very complicated and you struggle to make sense of the world around you. Maybe you find yourself wondering why you\u2019re suddenly so concerned about what others think. Maybe you find yourself wanting more privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New questions. New School. New styles. You are changing, you\u2019re friends are changing. But you might be able to make more sense of these changes if you have the right information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is about how we see, think, and feel; how these abilities work, how they change, grow or get stuck and how reliable they are as we try to make sense of ourselves, our friends, our relatives and the world around us. There is good, solid information readily available and scientifically validated, but a lot of people seem too busy to pay attention to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us look at some interesting excerpts now from the book:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cME AND MY MEMORY; Why we Forget some things and Remember others<\/strong>: by Robert Guarino<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This book explores the mystery of our minds and memory. How do we remember? And how do we forget? There are some interesting activities to participate along the way as you read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is available as an eBook and can be downloaded on your kindle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Memories give us a sense of continuity between past and present. The more associations we have to something, the more important or meaningful it is, and the better we remember it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the Excerpts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter: Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our memories give meaning to our life. They connect our past with our present. Our memories influence how we see ourselves, and they help shape how we will respond to new experiences and people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter: What Kinds of Memory Do We Have?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Facts memory: <\/strong>That\u2019s the facts, concepts and language you know (including the shape of letters and the meaning of words.). It is independent of time and space. It is our representational memory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Experience memory: <\/strong>That\u2019s the collection of individual experiences you remember \u2013 a movie, a hike in the woods, a certain book and experiences shared with others. It is connected with particular times, places and people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Together Facts<\/strong> and Experience<\/strong> memories are called declarative memory. <\/strong>We can declare or speak about these memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Procedural memory: <\/strong>These memories allow us to perform the routine actions of our everyday life \u2013 whether it is getting dressed in the morning, eating lunch in the afternoon. This is sometimes referred to as \u201cbody\u201d<\/strong> memory. It is a non-verbal memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers have discovered that the fewer the number of events in a given time, the shorter the time will seem when you remember it later. The more we remember of a given situation, the longer it seems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter on How Does Memory Work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The memory cycle has three main parts: perception, storage and retrieval. <\/strong>The words of a language are shaped by thousands of years of human experience of what is important to name and talk about in the part of the world that you live in. It is no surprise that people of the polar regions have a vocabulary rich in words to describe snow and ice while those of the Sahara have many words to describe the sands of the desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter on Some Key Principles of Memory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We remember meaningful events. <\/strong>We remember events that are important to us. According to psychologists William James in his \u2018The Principles of Psychology\u2019;1892 : The more other facts a fact is associated with in the mind, the better possession of it our memory retains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Memory is organized around associated events. Context <\/strong>is background information such as the time, place and circumstances of an event. A context makes the information memorable because the information is connected in a meaningful way. The word \u201ccontext\u201d comes from the latin word meaning \u201cto weave together\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our senses respond most at the beginnings and ending of stimuli; in between they habituate, <\/strong>or stop responding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flashbulb memories <\/strong>according to psychologists Brown and Kulik are those in which when dramatic, life-threatening events happen, people are likely to recall an unusual amount of detail about their circumstances at the time the event occurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter on False Memories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n False memories range from changes in true memories to actual false recollections \u2013 memories of events that never actually happened. Memories can be affected by suggestions. Part of the brain associated with memory is the hippocampus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter on Memory, the Brain and Loss of Memory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Epileptic seizures <\/strong>often over-stimulate and damage parts of the limbic system<\/strong> (the part of the brain which includes the hypothalamus, <\/strong>the hippocampus <\/strong>and the amygdale <\/strong>and is concerned especially with emotion and motivation). When the hippocampus is affected, either by epilepsy or by subsequent surgery, there are profound effects on memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amnesia <\/strong>is the general name for deficits in learning and memory that occur abruptly, especially following some kind of injury to the brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dementia: <\/strong>Age related loss of memory. Alzheimer\u2019s <\/strong>is one example of a major age related forms of memory loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter on Traumatic Memories and Healing Narratives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes when people experience traumatic events, the distress caused by the event, or the trauma<\/strong>, can lead to a devastating type of flashbulb memory, with terrible memories and emotions associated with them coming repeatedly and involuntarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If repeatedly reliving painful memories can cause distress, expressing those memories as stories, as narratives, can lead to healing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter on Powerful Memories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Those famous chessmasters who can play several games at once blindfolded don\u2019t have supernatural memory but are simply able to combine or chunk larger units of a chess game than an ordinary chessplayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Associating information with specific visual imagery is a process called visualization<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter on Improving Memories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to N. Bales ph.d; Gavilan college; The critical thing for most of the material you learn in school is to understand it, which means encoding it in a way that makes it distinctive from unrelated material and related to all the things it ought to be related to in order for you to use it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When information can be referred to an event in your own life, it is remembered longer. Your own life experience is the most important context for remembering new information.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The best way to remember material that seems unrelated to you is to impose a context that will serve as an aid to memory or will change the material into something more meaningful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Memory is an important part of what makes us human. It is what gives us a past, illuminates our present and helps us orient to the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n