How does human memory work? What is human memory What does human memory consist of

Iconic memory is a type of sensory memory. Iconic memory is a discrete sensory recorder of visual stimuli. A feature of iconic memory is the fixation of information in a holistic, portrait form.

The experiments of George Spurling are connected with the study of iconic sensory memory, its volume. In experiments, Sperling used as a procedure " general report”(Whole Report Procedure), and our own development - the procedure of the “partial report” (Partial Report Procedure). Due to the transience of iconic memory, the general reporting procedure did not allow an objective assessment of the amount of information recorded in the sensory memory, since during the reporting process itself, the portrait information was “forgotten”, it was erased from the sensory iconic memory. The partial reporting procedure showed that 75% of the visual field is registered in iconic memory. Sperling's experiments showed that information fades away in iconic memory quickly (within tenths of a second). It was also found that the processes associated with iconic memory are not mentally controlled. Even when the subjects could not observe the symbols, they still reported that they continued to see them. Thus, the subject of the memorization process does not distinguish between the content of iconic memory and objects that are in the environment.

Erasing the information in the iconic memory with other information coming from the senses allows the visual sensation to be more receptive. This property of iconic memory - erasure - ensures the memorization of information in iconic memory, given its limited volume, even if the speed of sensory information incoming exceeds the rate of attenuation of sensory information in iconic memory. Studies have shown that if visual information arrives quickly enough (up to 100 milliseconds), then new information is superimposed on the previous one, which is still in memory, without having time to fade in it and move to another memory level - more long-term. This feature of iconic memory is called reverse masking effect . So, if you show a letter, and then for 100 milliseconds at the same position of the visual field - a ring, then the subject will perceive the letter in the ring.

echoic memory

Echoic memory stores stimulus information received through the auditory organs.

Tactile memory

Tactile memory registers stimulus information coming through the somatosensory system.

Long-term and short-term memory

Physiological studies reveal 2 main types of memory: short-term and long-term. One of the most important discoveries of Ebbinghaus was that if the list is not very large (usually 7), then it can be remembered after the first reading (usually the list of elements that can be remembered immediately is called the size of short-term memory).

Another law established by Ebbinghaus is that the amount of material retained depends on the time interval from the moment of memorization to verification (the so-called "Ebbinghaus curve"). The positional effect was discovered (occurring if the stored information exceeds short-term memory in volume). It lies in the fact that the ease of remembering a given element depends on the place it occupies in a row (the first and last elements are easier to remember).

In D. O. Hebb's theory of memory, it is believed that short-term memory is based on electrophysiological mechanisms that support the excitation of related neural systems, and long-term memory is fixed by structural changes in individual cells that make up neural systems and is associated with chemical transformation, the formation of new substances.

short term memory

Short-term memory exists due to temporal patterns of neural connections emanating from areas of the frontal (especially dorsolateral, prefrontal) and parietal cortex. This is where sensory information comes in. Short-term memory allows you to remember something after a period of time from a few seconds to several minutes without repetition. Repetition preserves the contents of short-term memory. Its capacity is very limited. George Miller, while working at Bell Laboratories, performed experiments showing that the capacity of short-term memory is 7 ± 2 objects (the title of his famous work is “The Magic Number 7 ± 2”). Modern estimates of short-term memory capacity are somewhat lower, typically 4-5 objects, and short-term memory capacity is known to increase through a process called "Chunking" (grouping of objects). For example, if you present the string

FSBKMSMCHSEGE

a person will be able to remember only a few letters. However, if the same information is presented differently:

a person will be able to remember much more letters because he is able to group (combine into chains) information about the semantic groups of letters (in the English original: FBIPHDTWAIBM and FBI PHD TWA IBM). Herbert Simon also showed that the ideal size for chunks of letters and numbers, whether meaningful or not, is three units. Perhaps in some countries this is reflected in the tendency to present a telephone number as several groups of 3 digits and a final group of 4 digits divided into 2 groups of two.

There are hypotheses that short-term memory relies primarily on an acoustic (verbal) code for storing information and, to a lesser extent, on a visual code. In his study (), Konrad showed that it is more difficult for subjects to recall sets of words that are acoustically similar.

Modern studies of ant communication have proven that ants are able to memorize and transmit information up to 7 bits. Moreover, the influence of possible grouping of objects on the message length and transmission efficiency is demonstrated. In this sense, the law "Magic number 7 ± 2" is also fulfilled for ants.

long term memory

Storage in sensory and short-term memory usually has a hard limited capacity and duration, that is, information remains available for some time, but not indefinitely. In contrast, long-term memory can store much more information for a potentially infinite amount of time (throughout a lifetime). For example, some 7-digit phone number can be stored in short-term memory and forgotten after a few seconds. On the other hand, a person can remember by repeating a phone number for years to come. In long-term memory, information is encoded semantically: Baddeley (1960) showed that after a 20-minute pause, subjects had significant difficulty recalling a list of words with similar meanings (eg, large, huge, large, massive).

Long-term memory is supported by more stable and unchanging changes in neural connections widely distributed throughout the brain. The hippocampus is important in consolidating information from short-term to long-term memory, although it does not appear to store information itself. Rather, the hippocampus is involved in changing neural connections after 3 months of initial learning.

neurological memory

Memory is a set of activities that include both biological and physiological and mental processes, the implementation of which at the moment is due to the fact that some previous events, close or distant in time, have significantly modified the state of the organism. (C. Flores).

• Visual (visual) memory responsible for the preservation and reproduction of visual images.

• motor memory responsible for storing information about motor functions. For example, a first-class baseball player throws the ball superbly, in part due to the memory of motor activity during past throws.

• Episodic memory is the memory of events that we participated in or witnessed (Tulving, 1972). Examples of it might be remembering how you celebrated your seventeenth birthday, remembering the day of your engagement, remembering the plot of a movie you saw last week. This type of memory is characterized by the fact that the memorization of information occurs without visible effort on our part.

• semantic memory- memory of such facts as the multiplication table or the meaning of words. You probably won't be able to remember where and when you learned that 9 x 8 = 72, or from whom you learned what the word "stock" means, but nonetheless this knowledge is part of your memory. Perhaps you will be able to remember all the torment that the study of the multiplication table brought you. Both episodic and semantic memory contain knowledge that can be easily told and declared. Therefore, these two subsystems form part of a larger category called declarative memory.

• procedural memory, or remembering how to do something, has some similarities with motor memory. The difference is that the description of the procedure does not necessarily imply the possession of any motor skills. For example, in your school years, you were supposed to be taught how to work with a slide rule. This is a kind of "knowing how", which is often contrasted with descriptive tasks that involve "knowing what".

• Topographic memory- the ability to navigate in space, recognize the path and follow the route, recognize familiar places.

Features of the functioning of memory

Memory Properties

• Accuracy
• Volume
• The speed of memorization processes
• Speed ​​of playback processes
• The speed of forgetting processes

Patterns of memory

Memory has a volume limited by the number of stable processes that are basic when creating associations (connections, relationships)

The success of recall depends on the ability to switch attention to the basic processes, to restore them. The main technique: a sufficient number and frequency of repetitions.

There is such a pattern as the forgetting curve.

The Laws of Memory

Law of memory	Implementation Practices
Law of interest	Interesting things are easier to remember.
Law of comprehension	The deeper you become aware of the memorized information, the better it will be remembered.
Installation law	If a person gave himself the installation to remember information, then memorization will happen easier.
Law of Action	The information involved in the activity (i.e. if the knowledge is put into practice) is remembered better.
Law of context	With the associative linking of information with already familiar concepts, the new is absorbed better.
Law of inhibition	When studying similar concepts, the effect of "overlapping" the old information with the new one is observed.
The Law of Optimal Row Length	The length of the memorized row for better memorization should not be much greater than the amount of short-term memory.
edge law	It is best to remember the information presented at the beginning and at the end.
Law of repetition	Information that is repeated several times is best remembered.
Law of incompleteness	Incomplete actions, tasks, unsaid phrases, etc. are best remembered.

Mnemotechnical methods of memorization

Mythology, religion, philosophy about memory

• In ancient Greek mythology, there is a myth about the river Lethe. Lethe means "oblivion" and is an integral part of the kingdom of death. The dead are those who have lost their memory. And on the contrary, some who were awarded preference - among them Tiresias or Amphiaraus - retained their memory even after their death.
• The opposite of the Lethe River is the Goddess Mnemosyne, personified Memory, sister of Kronos and Okeanos - the mother of all muses. She has Omniscience: according to Hesiod (Theogony, 32 38), she knows "everything that was, everything that is, and everything that will be." When the Muses take possession of the poet, he drinks from the source of knowledge of Mnemosyne, which means, first of all, that he touches the knowledge of the “origins”, “beginnings”.
• According to Plato's philosophy, Anamnesis is recollection, recollection is a concept that describes the basic procedure of the process of cognition.

see also

Notes

1. Maklakov A. G. General psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2001. - 592 p.
2. Norman, D. A. (1968). Toward a theory of memory and attention. Psychological Review, 75,
3. Atkinson, R. C, & Shiffrin, R. M. (1971). The control of short-term memory. Scientific American, 225, 82-90.
4. Craik, FIM; Lockhart RS (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior 11(6): 671-84.
5. Zinchenko P.I. The problem of involuntary memorization // Nauchn. notes of Kharkov ped. Institute of foreign languages. 1939. T. 1. S. 145-187.
6. C. Jung Tavistock Lectures
7. Coltheart, Max (1980). Iconic memory and visible persistence. Perception & Psychophysics 27(3): 183-228.
8. Sperling, George (1960). "The information available in brief visual presentations". Psychological Monographs 74: 1-29.
9. Unwin. Baxt, N. (1871). Ueber die Zeit, welche notig ist, damit ein Gesichtseindruck zum Bewusstsein
10. John Kilstrom Professor, University of California, Berkeley Lecture 10. Memory. Part 1.
11. B. Meshcheryakov, V. P. Zinchenko, Big Psychological Dictionary, St. Petersburg: Prime EUROZNAK, 2003.- 672 p. Article "Memory physiological mechanisms". S. 370.
12. Miller, G. A. (1956) The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97.
13. FSB - Federal Security Service, CCM - Candidate for Master of Sports, Ministry of Emergency Situations - Ministry Emergencies, Unified State Examination.
14. FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation, PHD - Philosophy Doctor, TWA - Trans World Airlines, IBM - International Business Machines.
15. Conrad, R. (1964). "Acoustic Confusions in Immediate Memory". British Journal of Psychology 55 : 75–84.
16. Reznikova Zh. I., Ryabko B. Ya., Information-theoretic analysis of the "language" of ants // Zhurn. total Biology, 1990, Vol. 51, No. 5, 601-609.
17. Reznikova Zh.I. The language of ants will lead to discovery, Science First Hand, 2008, N 4 (22), 68-75.
18. Stanislav Grof Areas of the human unconscious. - M .: Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, 1994. - 280 p. - ISBN 5-88389-001-6
19. Athanassios Kafkalides. Knowledge from the womb. Autopsychodiagnostics with psychedelic drugs. - St. Petersburg: IPTP, 2007. - ISBN 5-902247-11-X
20. Kuzina S.A. How to improve your memory. - M.: Publishing house of the agency "Yachtsman". - 1994.

Literature

• Arden John Development of memory for dummies. How to improve memory = IMPROVING YOUR MEMORY FOR DUMMIES. - M .: "Dialectics", 2007. - S. 352. - ISBN 0-7645-5435-2
• S.Rose Memory Device from Molecules to Consciousness.- Moscow: "Mir", .
• Luria A. R. Neuropsychology of memory. - Moscow: "Pedagogy", .
• Luria A. R. A little book about great memory. - M., .
• Rogovin M.S. Problems of the theory of memory.- M., .- 182 p.
• Shentsev M. V. Information model of memory. , S.Pb.2005.
• Anokhin P.K., Biology and neurophysiology conditioned reflex, M., 1968;
• Beritashvili I.S., Memory of vertebrates, its characteristics and origin, 2nd ed., M., 1974;
• Sokolov E. N., Mechanisms of memory, M., 1969:
• Konorski Yu., Integrative activity of the brain, trans. from English, M., 1970;
• Aristotle "On Memory and Remembrance"; Plotinus "On sensation and memory"; Paul Ricoeur. Memory in the culture of Ancient Greece
• Paul Ricoeur. The Tradition of Inner Discretion (Augustine on Memory)
• P. Giri. Memory // Dictionary of medieval culture; Y. Arnautova. Memoria (Middle Ages)
• F. Yeats. The Art of Memory // Yeats F. The Art of Memory. "University Book", St. Petersburg, 1997, p. 6-167.
• P. Nora. Problems of places of memory // France-memory. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of St. Petersburg. un-ta, 1999, p. 17-50.
• Month S. V. Aristotle's treatise "On Memory and Remembrance" // Questions of Philosophy. M., 2004. No. 7. P.158-160.
• Assman Ya. Cultural memory. Writing, memory of the past and political identity in the high cultures of antiquity. M.: Languages ​​of Slavic culture, 2004
• Halbvaks M. Social framework of memory. Moscow: New publishing house, 2007
• Psychology of Memory: Reader / Ed. Yu. B. Gippenreiter, V. Ya. Romanova
• Maklakov A. G. General Psychology. - St. Petersburg. : Peter, 2001.

Links

• Mechanisms of memory and forgetting. Passing from the loop "

It is difficult to imagine how we would live without memory. But what is memory? What processes are involved so that we can easily accumulate and reproduce information? Scientists have determined what properties memory has and how this complex associative mechanism works. We will talk about the laws, theories, psychology and physiology of this property.

What is memory

Memory is a complex of mental abilities to accumulate, store and reproduce information. Without these skills, it is difficult to imagine the existence of man. Academician Ivan Sechenov argued that without the ability to store sensations and information, we would forever remain in the developmental phase of a newborn. After all, how to satisfy basic needs if there is no single idea about this?

The title of flagship in the study of memory has been tacitly assigned to Hermann Ebbinghaus. The researcher, experimenting on himself, formulated the definition of memory, revealed the nature and mechanism of its action.

Today it is known that the level of its development depends on:

• work of the nervous system;
• formation of each of the memorization processes;
• upbringing, level of education;
• kind of activity.

In addition to personal characteristics, memory has an age framework. For example, preschoolers, primary school students, teenagers remember new things in different ways. Based on this, there are theories stating that before the age of 3, a child is able to learn several languages.

It is difficult to answer the question “what is normal memory”, since it is developed differently for everyone. But some deviations still occur. We can live with them all our lives without giving due importance.

The most common disorders are:

• hypomnesia- reduced ability to remember anything;
• hypermnesia- intrusive memories, feverish excitement;
• paramnesia- distortion of memories, their substitution or deformation.

Memory Properties

• Capacity- the amount of material that can be remembered.
• Memorization speed- individual pace of assimilation of new things.
• Storage duration- the period from the appearance to the disappearance of the material.
• Reproducibility– the level of reliability of the initial facts.
• Playback speed- the rate of search for the necessary statements.
• Noise immunity- resistance to all kinds of obstacles.

Memory processes

memorization

We remember information both voluntarily and involuntarily. Personally significant facts are deposited in the mind usually by themselves, while we maintain a passive position. Memories in this case are fragmentary. We remember what bouquet of flowers we received on our first date, but we forgot what we were wearing ourselves. It's not that someone set a goal to remember the bouquet and considered its components for the whole evening. This is how selectivity works.

An interesting study was conducted by psychologist Blum Zeigarnik. She proved that unfinished actions are remembered better. For example, if we missed the train, did not achieve a promotion, did not get what we expected, then we will definitely fix this event firmly in our minds. As it turned out, situations with a positive resolution do not last long. This is the effect of negative emotions resulting from stress and disappointment.

Psychologists have determined how the memorization process works. It is based on repetition and meaningful perception. There is a special area of ​​psychology - mnemonics, within which the principles of associative memorization are studied. For example, the transfer of information through images, pictures, schematic images.

Depending on the type of memorization, there are 4 types of memory: motor, figurative, verbal and emotional. Each person is more developed one way or another.

Saving material

Depending on the level at which the material is recorded, there are sensory, short-term, long-term and operational types of memory. Each of them has its own characteristics.

Playback

There are four forms of information reproduction:

• Recognition- occurs when we repeatedly see an object.
• Memory- the object is missing, but with the help of associations, you can involuntarily reproduce the forgotten.
• Remembrance- to reproduce the material, you need to make an effort.
• R eminiscence- belated reproduction, that is, the recall of what seemed long forgotten.

Forgetting

This is the process of reducing the amount of stored data. This is a regular, natural action, which is only in rare cases an anomaly. Forgetting is due to the following factors:

• Time- already after 60 minutes, we tend to forget half of what we heard.
• Usage activity We forget what we don't use all the time. But the ability to swim, ride a bike or know a language is fixed on a subconscious level, so it is not forgotten.

Physiology and psychology of memory

Physiological aspect

Physiologists carefully study memory, the definition of which is due to studies of the nervous system. Thus, the volume of our “archive” depends on the number of nerve cells involved. It has also been proven that DCO, LEO, CaMKII proteins are necessary for memorization and active brain work. It is their lack that causes various diseases associated with amnesia.

The connection between memory and physiological activity is known. California scientists have found that physical activity increases the level of gamma-aminobutyric and glutamic acid in the brain. 20 minutes of active exercise is enough for the concentration of the necessary compounds to increase at a level sufficient for memorization.

Theories of memory in psychology

Memory in psychology is a property that helps a person navigate in space and time. Whole theories have developed about what processes occur to us during memorization.

• Associative- our brain is looking for a connection between objects, pulling up from the "archive" everything that is involved in this situation. The search goes beyond the categories of similarity or contrast.
• behavioral- to remember the material, you need to do exercises. So the material is securely stored.
• cognitive- information is processed using blocks. Some blocks recognize it, others create an oriental map, and others hold it.
• activity– a view of the process as the interaction of a person with the world.

How the laws of memory work

• Law of interest- interesting or unusual facts are remembered for a long time.
• Reflections- what we understand, realize, is perceived deeper.
• Settings- if there is a desire to remember something, then it will happen.
• Actions- when the theory is fixed in practice, the action is better remembered.
• attention- memory and attention are inseparable, since only concentration on an object helps to maintain an accurate idea of ​​it.
• context- facts fixed by associations are assimilated more reliably.
• Braking- if we study similar concepts, then one “overlaps” the other, neutralizing both.
• The edges- what is given at the beginning or end of the text is more clearly preserved.
• Repetition- if the material was repeated several times, it will be remembered better than the one that was said once.
• incompleteness- unsaid phrases or incomplete actions are remembered better
• gradualism- Portioned material is easier to remember.

Human memory has become the subject of many studies and theories. It is not surprising, because a person has unique property collect, store and reproduce information. We told what laws govern this process, revealed its psychological and physiological features. In order not to forget, use the article as a cheat sheet.

What is memory

What we feel and perceive does not disappear without a trace, everything is remembered to one degree or another. Excitations going to the brain from external and internal stimuli leave “traces” in it that can persist for many years. These "traces" (combinations of nerve cells) create the possibility of excitation even when the stimulus that caused it is absent. Based on this, a person can remember and save, and subsequently reproduce his feelings, perceptions of any objects, thought, speech, actions.

Just like sensation and perception, memory is a process of reflection, and not only that which acts directly on the senses is reflected, but also that which took place in the past.

Memory- this is the memorization, preservation and subsequent reproduction of what we previously perceived, experienced or did. In other words, memory is a reflection of a person's experience by remembering, preserving and reproducing it.

Memory is an amazing property of human consciousness, it is the renewal in our minds of the past, images of what once impressed us.

In my old age I live again, The past passes before me. How long has it been rushing full of events, Waving like a sea-ocean?

Now it is silent and calm, Not many faces have been preserved by my memory, Few words reach me, And the rest has perished irrevocably...

A.S. Pushkin."Boris Godunov"

No other mental function can be carried out without the participation of memory. And memory itself is unthinkable outside of other mental processes. THEM. Sechenov noted that without memory, our sensations and perceptions, "disappearing without a trace as they arise, would leave a person forever in the position of a newborn."

Imagine a person who has lost his memory. The student was awakened in the morning, told to have breakfast and go to class. Most likely, he would not have come to the institute, and if he had, he would not have known what to do there, would have forgotten who he is, what his name is, where he lives, etc., he would have forgotten his native language and could not say a word . The past would no longer exist for him, the present would be unpromising, since he can remember nothing, cannot learn anything.

Remembering any images, thoughts, words, feelings, movements, we always remember them in a certain connection with each other. Without the establishment of certain connections, neither memorization, nor recognition, nor reproduction is possible. What does it mean to memorize a poem? This means memorizing a series of words in a certain connection, sequence. What does it mean to memorize some foreign word, such as the French "la table"? It means to establish a connection between this word and the subject that it denotes, or the Russian word "table". The connections that underlie the activity of memory are called associations. Association is a relationship between separate views in which one of these views calls another.

Objects or phenomena connected in reality are connected in the memory of a person. To remember something means to connect what is remembered with something, to weave what needs to be remembered into a network of already existing connections, to form associations.

There are several types of associations:

- by adjacency: the perception or thought of one object or phenomenon entails the recall of other objects and phenomena adjacent to the first in space or time (this is how a sequence of actions is remembered, for example);

- similarity: images of objects, phenomena or their thoughts evoke a memory of something similar to them. These associations underlie poetic metaphors, for example, the sound of the waves is likened to the speech of people;

- by contrast: sharply different phenomena are associated - noise and silence, high and low, good and evil, white and black, etc.

Various associations are involved in the process of memorization and reproduction. For example, we recall the surname of a familiar person, a) passing near the house in which he lives, b) meeting someone who looks like him, c) naming another surname that comes from a word that is opposite in meaning to that from which the surname comes an acquaintance, for example, Belov - Chernov.

In the process of memorization and reproduction, semantic connections play an exceptionally important role: cause - effect, the whole - its part, the general - the particular.

Memory connects a person's past with his present, ensures the unity of the individual. A person needs to know a lot and remember a lot, more and more every year of life. Books, records, tape recorders, cards in libraries, computers help a person to remember, but the main thing is his own memory.

In Greek mythology, there is the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne (or Mnemosyne, from the Greek word for "remembrance"). By the name of its goddess, memory in psychology is often called mnemonic activity.

In scientific psychology, the problem of memory is “the same age as psychology as a science” (P.P. Blonsky). Memory is the most complex mental process, therefore, despite its numerous studies, a unified theory of memory mechanisms has not yet been created. New scientific evidence shows that memory processes are associated with complex electrical and chemical changes in the nerve cells of the brain.

Types of memory

The forms of manifestation of memory are very diverse, since it is associated with various spheres of human life, with its characteristics.

All types of memory can be divided into three groups:

1) what a person remembers (objects and phenomena, thoughts, movements, feelings).

Accordingly, they distinguish: motor, emotional, verbal-logical and aboutdifferent memory;

2) How a person remembers (accidentally or intentionally). Here allocate arbitrary and involuntary memory;

3) how long memorized is preserved.

This short term, long term and operational memory.

Motor (or motor) memory allows you to memorize skills, skills, various movements and actions. If this type of memory did not exist, then every time a person would have to re-learn how to walk, write, and perform various activities.

emotional memory helps to remember the feelings, emotions, experiences that we experienced in certain situations. Here is how A.S. Pushkin:

I thought my heart had forgotten The ability to suffer easily, I said: what was, Can't be! Not to be! Gone are raptures and sorrows, And gullible dreams...

But here again they trembled Before the powerful power of beauty.

K.S. Stanislavsky wrote about emotional memory: “Since you are able to turn pale, blush at the mere recollection of what you have experienced, since you are afraid to think about a long-experienced misfortune, you have a memory for feelings, or emotional memory.”

Emotional memory is of great importance in the formation of a person's personality, being the most important condition for his spiritual development.

Semantic, or verbal-logical memory is expressed in the memorization, preservation and reproduction of thoughts, concepts, reflections, verbal formulations. The form of thought reproduction depends on the level of speech development of a person. The less developed speech, the more difficult it is to express the meaning in your own words.

Image memory.

This type of memory is associated with our sense organs, thanks to which a person perceives the world around us. According to our senses, there are 5 types of figurative memory: auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile. These types of figurative memory are unevenly developed in humans, one of them is always predominant.

Arbitrary memory presupposes the presence of a special goal to remember, which a person sets and applies appropriate techniques for this, makes strong-willed efforts.

involuntary memory does not imply a special goal to remember or recall this or that material, event, phenomenon, they are remembered as if by themselves, without the use of special techniques, without willpower efforts. Involuntary memory is an inexhaustible source of knowledge. In the development of memory, involuntary memorization precedes voluntary. It is very important to understand that a person involuntarily remembers not everything, but what is connected with his personality and activities. First of all, we involuntarily remember what we like, what we accidentally paid attention to, what we actively and enthusiastically work on.

Therefore, involuntary memory also has an active character. Animals already have involuntary memory. However, “the animal remembers, but the animal does not remember. In man, we clearly distinguish both these phenomena of memory” (K. Ushinsky). The best way to remember and keep in memory for a long time is to put knowledge into practice. In addition, memory does not want to keep in mind that which is contrary to the attitudes of the individual.

Short-term and long-term memory.

These two types of memory differ in the duration of the preservation of what a person remembers. Short-term memory has a relatively short duration - a few seconds or minutes. It is sufficient for the exact reproduction of the events that have just occurred, the objects and phenomena that have just been perceived. After a short time, the impressions disappear, and the person usually finds himself unable to remember anything from what he has perceived. Long-term memory provides long-term storage of material. What is important here is the setting to remember for a long time, the need for this information for the future, their personal significance for a person.

Allocate more operational memory, which refers to the memorization of some information for the time required to perform an operation, a separate act of activity. For example, in the process of solving any problem, it is necessary to keep in memory the initial data and intermediate operations, which can be forgotten in the future, until the result is obtained.

In the process of human development, the relative sequence of the formation of types of memory looks something like this:

All types of memory are necessary and valuable in themselves; in the process of life and maturation of a person, they do not disappear, but enrich, interact with each other.

Memory processes

The main processes of memory are memorization, reproduction, preservation, recognition, forgetting. By the nature of reproduction, the quality of the entire memory apparatus is judged.

Memory begins with remembering. memorization- this is a memory process that ensures the preservation of material in memory as the most important condition for its subsequent reproduction.

Memorization can be unintentional or intentional. At unintentional memorization a person does not set a goal to remember and does not make any efforts for this. Memorization happens by itself. This is how one remembers mainly that which is of vital interest to a person or evokes a strong and deep feeling in him: “I will never forget this!” But any activity requires a person to remember many things that cannot be remembered by themselves. Then comes into effect intentional, conscious memorization, i.e. the goal is to remember the material.

Memorization can be mechanical and semantic. Rote is based mainly on the consolidation of individual connections, associations. Semantic memorization associated with thought processes. In order to memorize new material, a person must understand it, comprehend it, i.e. find deep and meaningful relationships between this new material and the knowledge he already has.

If the main condition for mechanical memorization is repetition, then the condition for semantic memorization is understanding.

Both mechanical and semantic memorization are of great importance in the mental life of a person. When memorizing proofs of a geometric theorem or analyzing historical events, literary work semantic memorization comes to the fore. In other cases, remember the number of the house, telephone, etc. - the main role belongs to mechanical memorization. In most cases, memory must rely on both comprehension and repetition. This is especially evident in educational work. For example, when memorizing a poem or any rule, understanding alone cannot be enough, just as mechanical repetition cannot be enough.

If memorization has the character of a specially organized work associated with the use of certain techniques for the best assimilation of knowledge, it is called memorization.

memorization depends:

a) on the nature of the activity, on the processes of goal-setting: arbitrary memorization, based on a consciously set goal - to remember, is more effective than involuntary;

b) from the installation - remember for a long time or remember for a short time.

We often start to memorize some material, knowing that in all probability we will use it only on a certain day or until a certain date, and that then it will not matter. Indeed, after this period, we forget what we have learned by heart.

It is better to memorize emotionally colored material, to which a person treats with an interest that is personally significant for him. Such a memory is motivated.

This is very convincingly shown in the story of K. Paustovsky "Glory to Boatswain Mironov":

“... And then an unusual story happened to the boatswain Mironov in the editorial office of Mayak ...

I don't remember who - the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs or Vneshtorg - asked the editors to provide all the information about Russian ships taken abroad. You need to know that the entire merchant fleet was taken away in order to understand how difficult it was.

And when we sat through the hot Odessa days over the ship lists, when the editorial office was sweating from stress and recalling the old captains, when exhaustion from the confusion of new shipping names, flags, tons and deadweights reached its highest tension, Mironov appeared in the editorial office.

Drop it, he said. - So you won't get a damn thing.

I will speak and you write. Write! The Jerusalem steamer is now sailing under the French flag from Marseille to Madagascar, chartered by the French company Paquet, French crew, captain Borisov, all our boatswains, the underwater part has not been cleaned since 1917. Keep writing. Steamship "Muravyov-Apostol", now renamed "Anatole". Sailing under the English flag, hauling bread from Montreal to Liverpool and London, chartered by Royal Mail Canada. I last saw him last autumn in New Port New.

This went on for three days. For three days from morning to evening, smoking cigarettes, he dictated a list of all the ships of the Russian merchant fleet, called their new names, the names of the captains, voyages, the state of the boilers, the composition of the crew, the cargo. The captains just shook their heads. Marine Odessa was agitated. The rumor about the monstrous memory of the boatswain Mironov spread with lightning speed ... "

An active attitude to the process of memorization is very important, which is impossible without intense attention. For memorization, it is more useful to read the text with full concentration of attention 2 times than to reread it inattentively 10 times. Therefore, attempts to memorize something in a state of severe fatigue, drowsiness, when it is not possible to focus attention properly, is a waste of time. The worst and most uneconomical way of memorization is to mechanically reread the text in anticipation of it being memorized. Reasonable and economical memorization is active work on the text, which involves the use of a number of techniques for better memorization.

V.D. Shadrikov, for example, offers the following ways of arbitrary or organized memorization:

Grouping - dividing the material into groups for some reason (by meaning, associations, etc.), highlighting strong points (abstracts, titles, questions, examples, etc., in this sense, compiling cheat sheets is useful for memorizing ), plan - a set of strong points; classification - the distribution of any objects, phenomena, concepts into classes, groups based on common features.

Structuring the material is the establishment of the mutual arrangement of the parts that make up the whole.

Schematic - a picture or description of something in general terms.

Analogy - the establishment of similarities, similarities between phenomena, objects, concepts, images.

Mnemic techniques are certain techniques or methods of memorization.

Recoding - verbalization or pronunciation, presentation of information in a figurative form.

Completing the memorized material, introducing something new into memorization (using words or intermediary images, situational signs, etc. For example, M.Yu. Lermontov was born in 1814, died in 1841).

Associations establishing relationships by similarity, adjacencies or opposites.

Repetition consciously controlled and not controlled processes of material reproduction. It is necessary to start trying to reproduce the text as early as possible, since internal activity mobilizes attention to the strongest degree and makes memorization successful. Memorization is carried out more quickly and is more durable when repetitions do not follow one another directly, but are separated by more or less significant intervals of time.

Playback is an essential component of memory. Reproduction can proceed at three levels: recognition, reproduction itself (voluntary and involuntary), recall (in conditions of partial forgetting, requiring volitional effort).

Recognition- the simplest form of reproduction. Recognition is the appearance of a feeling of familiarity when re-perceiving something.

Involuntarily, an unknown force draws me to these sad shores.

Everything here reminds me of the past...

A.S. Pushkin."Mermaid"

Playback- a more "blind" process, it is characterized by the fact that the images fixed in the memory arise without relying on the secondary perception of certain objects. It is easier to learn than to reproduce.

At unintentional reproduction thoughts, words, etc. are remembered by themselves, without any conscious intention on our part. The reason for unintentional playback may be associations. We say: "I remembered." Here thought follows association. At intentional reproduction we say, "I remember." Here the associations follow the thought.

If reproduction is difficult, we speak of recall.

Remembrance- the most active reproduction, it is associated with tension and requires certain volitional efforts. The success of recall depends on the understanding of the logical connection of the forgotten material with the rest of the material that is well preserved in the memory. It is important to evoke a chain of associations that indirectly help to recall the necessary. K.D. Ushinsky gave the following advice to teachers: do not impatiently prompt a student who is trying to remember the material, since the process of recall itself is useful - what the child himself managed to remember will be remembered well in the future.

Remembering, a person uses various techniques:

1) intentional use of associations - we reproduce in memory various kinds of circumstances that are directly related to what needs to be remembered, in the expectation that by association they will cause the forgotten in the mind (for example, where did I put the key? turned off I iron, leaving the apartment?, etc.);

2) reliance on recognition (they forgot the exact patronymic of a person - Pyotr Andreevich, Pyotr Alekseevich, Pyotr Antonovich - we think that if we accidentally get to the correct patronymic, we will immediately recognize him, having experienced a feeling of familiarity.

Recall is a complex and very active process that requires perseverance and resourcefulness.

The main of all the qualities that determine the productivity of memory is its readiness - the ability to quickly extract from the stock of memorized information exactly what is needed at the moment. Psychologist K.K. Platonov drew attention to that. that there are l RODI who know a LOT, but all their baggage lies in the memory of a dead weight. When you need to remember something, the necessary is always forgotten, and the unnecessary “gets into your head on its own.” For others, the luggage may be smaller, but everything is at hand in it, and exactly what is needed is always reproduced in memory.

K.K. Platonov gave helpful tips for memorization. You can’t first learn something somehow at all, and then develop the readiness of memory. The readiness of memory itself is formed in the process of memorization, which must necessarily be semantic and during which links are immediately established between memorization and those cases when this information may be needed. Remembering something, you need to understand why we do it and in what cases certain information may be needed.

Saving and forgetting- these are two sides of a single process of long-term retention of perceived information. Preservation - is retention, and forgetting - it is a disappearance, a dropping out of the memory of the memorized.

At different ages, in different life circumstances, in various types activities, different material is forgotten, as remembered, in different ways. Forgetting isn't always so bad. How overloaded our memory would be if we remembered absolutely everything! Forgetting, like memorization, is a selective process that has its own patterns.

Remembering, people willingly resurrect the good and forget the bad in their lives (for example, remembering a campaign - difficulties are forgotten, but everything fun, good is remembered). First of all, what is forgotten is that which is not of vital importance for a person, does not arouse his interest, does not occupy a significant place in his activity. What excited us is remembered much better than what left us indifferent, indifferent.

Thanks to forgetting, a person clears the place for new impressions and, freeing memory from a pile of unnecessary details, gives it new opportunity serve our mind. This is well reflected in folk proverbs, for example: "Whoever needs someone, that one is remembered."

In the late 1920s, forgetting was studied by the German and Russian psychologists Kurt Lewin and B.V. Zeigarnik. They proved that interrupted actions are retained in memory more strongly than completed ones. An incomplete action leaves a subconscious tension in a person and it is difficult for him to focus on something else. At the same time, simple monotonous work like knitting cannot be interrupted, it can only be left. But when, for example, a person writes a letter and is interrupted in the middle, there is a violation of the tension system, which does not allow forgetting this unfinished action. This sensation of unfinished action is called the Zeigarnik effect.

But forgetting, of course, is not always good, so it is often fought with. One of the means of such struggle is repetition. Any knowledge that is not consolidated by repetition is gradually forgotten. But for better preservation, it is necessary to introduce variety into the very process of repetition.

Forgetting begins shortly after memorization and at first proceeds at a particularly rapid pace. In the first 5 days, more is forgotten after memorization than in the next 5 days. Therefore, what has been learned should be repeated not when it has already been forgotten, but while forgetting has not yet begun. A cursory repetition is enough to prevent forgetting, but a lot of work is needed to restore what has been forgotten.

But this is not always the case. Experiments show that it is not uncommon for reproduction to be most complete not immediately after memorization, but after a day, two or even three days. During this time, the learned material is not only not forgotten, but, on the contrary, is fixed in memory. This is observed mainly when memorizing extensive material. This leads to a practical conclusion: one should not think that the best answer in the exam is what is learned immediately before the exam, for example, on the same morning.

More favorable conditions for reproduction are created when the learned material “rests” for some time. It is necessary to take into account the fact that the subsequent activity, which is very similar to the previous one, can sometimes "erase" the results of the previous memorization. This sometimes happens if you study literature after history.

Forgetting can be the result of various disordersmemory:

1) senile, when an elderly person remembers early childhood, but does not remember all the upcoming events,

2) with concussion, the same phenomena are often observed as in old age,

3) split personality - after sleep, a person imagines himself to be different, forgets everything about himself.

It is often difficult for a person to remember something on purpose. To facilitate memorization, people have come up with different ways, they are called memorization techniques or mnemonics. Let's take a look at some of them.

1. Rhyme reception. Any person remembers poetry better than prose. Therefore, it will be difficult to forget the rules of behavior on the escalator in the subway, if you present them in the form of a playful quatrain:

Canes, umbrellas and suitcases You do not put on the steps, Do not lean on the railing, Stand on the right, go on the left.

Or, for example, in Russian there are eleven exception verbs that are not easy to remember. What if they rhyme?

See, hear and offend, Drive, endure and hate,

And twirl, watch, hold,

And depend and breathe

Look, -it, -at, -yat write.

Or, in order not to confuse the bisector and median in geometry:

A bisector is a rat that runs around the corners and divides the corner in half.

The median is such a monkey that jumps to the side and divides it equally.

Or, to memorize all the colors of the rainbow, memorize the jolly sentence: "How once Jacques the bell-ringer broke a lantern with his head." Here, every word and color starts with one letter - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

2. A number of mnemonic techniques are used when remembering the dates of birth of famous people or significant events. For example, I.S. Turgenev was born in 1818 (18-18), A.S. Pushkin was born one year before the 19th century (1799), M.Yu. Lermontov was born in 1814 and died in 1841 (14-41).

3. In order to remember what is the organ of daytime vision and what is night vision - rods or cones, you can remember the following: at night it is easier to walk with a wand, and they work with cones in the laboratory during the day.

The qualities of memory

What is good and bad memory?

Memory begins with memorization the information that our senses receive from the outside world. All images, words, impressions in general must be retained, remain in our memory. In psychology, this process is called - preservation. When needed, we reproducible previously seen, heard, experienced. It is by reproduction that the quality of the entire memory apparatus is judged.

A good memory is the ability to remember quickly and a lot, to reproduce accurately and on time.

However, one cannot attribute all the successes and failures of a person, his victories and losses, discoveries and mistakes to memory alone. No wonder the French thinker F. La Rochefoucauld wittily remarked: "Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind."

So, the qualities of memory:

1) memorization speed. However, it acquires value only in combination with other qualities;

2) preservation strength;

3) memory accuracy - absence of distortions, essential omissions;

4) memory readiness- the ability to quickly extract from the memory reserves what is needed at the moment.

Not all people quickly memorize material, remember for a long time and accurately reproduce or recall exactly at the very moment when it is needed. Yes, and this manifests itself differently in relation to different material, depending on the interests of a person, his profession, personal characteristics. Someone remembers faces well, but does not remember mathematical material well, others have a good musical memory, but bad for literary texts, etc. In schoolchildren and students, poor memorization of material often depends not on poor memory, but on poor attention, on lack of interest in this subject, etc.

Performance

One of the main manifestations of memory is reproduction of images. Images of objects and phenomena that we do not perceive at the moment are called representations. Representations arise as a result of the revival of previously formed temporary connections; they can be called up by the mechanism of associations, with the help of a word, a description.

Representations are different from concepts. The concept has a more generalized and abstract character, while the representation has a visual character. Representation is an image of an object, a concept is a thought about an object. Thinking about something and imagining something are not the same thing. For example, a thousand-square - there is a concept, but it is impossible to imagine. The source of representations are sensations and perceptions - visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, kinesthetic.

Representations are characterized by clarity, i.e. direct similarity with the corresponding objects and phenomena (we internally or mentally “see”, “hear”, “smell”, “feel” touches, etc.).

Weight I see Pavlovsk hilly. Round meadow, inanimate water, The most languid and the most shady, After all, it will never be forgotten.

A. Akhmatova

But representations are usually much poorer than perceptions. Representations never convey with the same brightness all the features and signs of objects; only individual features are clearly reproduced.

Representations are very unstable and changeable. The exception is people who have highly developed ideas related to their profession, for example, for musicians - auditory, for artists - visual, for tasters - olfactory, etc.

Representations are the result of processing and generalization of past perceptions. Without perceptions, representations could not have been formed: the blind born have no ideas about colors and colors, the deaf from birth have no sound representations.

It is more accurate to call a representation a representation of memory, since it is connected with the work of figurative memory. The difference between representations and perceptions is that representations give a more generalized reflection of objects. In representations separate perceptions are generalized, constant signs of things and phenomena are emphasized and accidental signs that were previously available in separate perceptions are omitted. For example, we see a tree - an image of perception, we represent a tree - the image is dimmer, more indefinite and inaccurate.

Representation is a generalized reflection of the surrounding world. We say "river" and imagine it: two banks, flowing water. We have seen many different rivers, the presentation reflects visual signs characteristic of objects and phenomena. We can perceive only a specific river - the Volga, the Moskva River, the Kama, the Yenisei, the Oka, etc., the image of perception is accurate.

To imagine means to mentally see or mentally hear something, and not just to know. Representation is a higher stage of cognition than perception, they are a stage of transition from sensation to thought, this is a visual and at the same time a generalized image that reflects characteristics subject.

We can imagine the whistle of a steamboat, the taste of lemon, the smell of gasoline, perfume, flowers, touching something, or a toothache. Of course, anyone who has never had a toothache cannot imagine this. Usually, when we say something, we ask: “Can you imagine?!”

Speech plays an important role in the formation of general ideas, naming a number of objects in one word.

Representations are formed in the process of human activity, therefore, depending on the profession, one type of representations mainly develops. But the division of representations by type is very conditional.

The mystery of human memory is one of the main scientific problems of the 21st century, and it will have to be solved by the joint efforts of chemists, physicists, biologists, physiologists, mathematicians and representatives of other scientific disciplines. And although it is still far from fully understanding what is happening to us when we “remember”, “forget” and “remember again”, important discoveries recent years point the right way.

One of the main problems of neurophysiology is the inability to conduct experiments on humans. However, even in primitive animals, the basic mechanisms of memory are similar to ours.

Pavel Balaban

Today, even the answer to the basic question - what is memory in time and space - can consist mainly of hypotheses and assumptions. If we talk about space, it is still not very clear how memory is organized and where exactly in the brain it is located. These sciences suggest that its elements are present everywhere, in each of the areas of our "gray matter". Moreover, seemingly the same information can be recorded in memory in different places.

For example, it has been found that spatial memory (when we remember a certain environment for the first time - a room, a street, a landscape) is associated with a region of the brain called the hippocampus. When we try to get this situation out of memory, say, ten years later, this memory will already be extracted from a completely different area. Yes, memory can move within the brain, and this thesis is best illustrated by an experiment once conducted with chickens. In the life of newly hatched chicks, imprinting plays a big role - instantaneous learning (and placement in memory is learning). For example, a chicken sees a large moving object and immediately “imprints” in the brain: this is a chicken mother, you need to follow her. But if, after five days, the part of the brain responsible for imprinting is removed from the chicken, it turns out that ... the memorized skill has not gone away. He moved to another area, and this proves that there is one repository for immediate learning outcomes, and another for long-term storage.

We remember with pleasure

But it is even more surprising that there is no such clear sequence of moving memory from operational to permanent, as it happens in a computer, in the brain. Working memory, fixing immediate sensations, simultaneously triggers other memory mechanisms - medium-term and long-term. But the brain is an energy-intensive system and therefore tries to optimize the expenditure of its resources, including memory. Therefore, nature has created a multi-stage system. Working memory is quickly formed and just as quickly destroyed - there is a special mechanism for this. But for real important events are recorded for long-term storage, their importance is emphasized by emotion, attitude to information. At the level of physiology, emotion is the activation of the most powerful biochemical modulating systems. These systems release hormones-mediators that change the biochemistry of memory in the right direction. Among them, for example, are various hormones of pleasure, the names of which are reminiscent not so much of neurophysiology as of the criminal chronicle: these are morphines, opioids, cannabinoids - that is, narcotic substances produced by our body. In particular, endocannabinoids are generated directly at synapses, the junctions of nerve cells. They affect the effectiveness of these contacts and thus "encourage" the recording of this or that information in memory. Other substances from the number of mediator hormones can, on the contrary, suppress the process of moving data from working memory to long-term memory.

The mechanisms of emotional, that is, biochemical reinforcement of memory, are now being actively studied. The only problem is that laboratory research of this kind can only be carried out on animals, but how much can a laboratory rat tell us about its emotions?

If we have stored something in memory, then sometimes the time comes to remember this information, that is, to extract it from memory. But is the word "extract" correct? Apparently, not much. It seems that memory mechanisms do not extract information, but re-generate it. There is no information in these mechanisms, just as there is no voice or music in the hardware of a radio receiver. But everything is clear with the receiver - it processes and converts the electromagnetic signal received by the antenna. What kind of “signal” is processed when the memory is retrieved, where and how this data is stored, is still very difficult to say. However, it is already known that when remembering, the memory is rewritten, modified, or at least this happens with some types of memory.

Not electricity, but chemistry

In search of an answer to the question of how memory can be modified or even erased, important discoveries have been made in recent years, and a number of works devoted to the “memory molecule” have appeared.

In fact, they have been trying to isolate such a molecule, or at least some material carrier of thought and memory, for two hundred years, but without much success. In the end, neurophysiologists came to the conclusion that there is nothing specific to memory in the brain: there are 100 billion neurons, there are 10 quadrillions of connections between them, and somewhere, in this cosmic scale, memory, thoughts, and behavior are uniformly encoded. Attempts were made to block individual chemical substances in the brain, and this led to a change in memory, but also to a change in the whole functioning of the body. It was only in 2006 that the first works appeared on the biochemical system, which seems to be very specific to memory. Her blockade did not cause any changes in either behavior or learning ability - only the loss of part of the memory. For example, memory about the situation if the blocker was introduced into the hippocampus. Or about emotional shock if the blocker was injected into the amygdala. The biochemical system discovered is a protein, an enzyme called protein kinase M-zeta, which controls other proteins.

One of the main problems of neurophysiology is the inability to conduct experiments on humans. However, even in primitive animals, the basic mechanisms of memory are similar to ours.

The molecule works at the site of synaptic contact - the contact between brain neurons. Here it is necessary to make one important digression and explain the specifics of these same contacts. The brain is often likened to a computer, and therefore many people think that the connections between neurons, which create everything that we call thinking and memory, are purely electrical in nature. But it's not. The language of synapses is chemistry, here some released molecules, like a key with a lock, interact with other molecules (receptors), and only then do electrical processes begin. How many specific receptors will be delivered through the nerve cell to the place of contact depends on the efficiency, the greater throughput of the synapse.

Protein with special properties

Protein kinase M-zeta just controls the delivery of receptors through the synapse and thus increases its effectiveness. When these molecules are activated simultaneously in tens of thousands of synapses, signals are rerouted, and the general properties of a certain network of neurons change. All this tells us little about how memory changes are encoded in this rerouting, but one thing is known for sure: if the protein kinase M-zeta is blocked, the memory will be erased, because those chemical bonds who provide it will not work. The newly discovered "molecule" of memory has a number of interesting features.

First, it is capable of self-reproduction. If, as a result of learning (that is, obtaining new information), a certain additive was formed in the synapse in the form of a certain amount of protein kinase M-zeta, then this amount can remain there for a very long time, despite the fact that this protein molecule decomposes in three to four days. In some way, the molecule mobilizes the resources of the cell and ensures the synthesis and delivery of new molecules to the place of synaptic contact to replace those that have left.

Secondly, to most interesting features protein kinase M-zeta includes its blocking. When the researchers needed to obtain a substance for experiments on blocking the "molecule" of memory, they simply "read" the section of her gene, in which her own peptide blocker is encoded, and synthesized it. However, this blocker is never produced by the cell itself, and for what purpose evolution left its code in the genome is unclear.

The third important feature of the molecule is that both it and its blocker have an almost identical appearance for all living beings with a nervous system. This indicates that, in the form of protein kinase M-zeta, we are dealing with the most ancient adaptive mechanism, on which human memory is also built.

Of course, the protein kinase M-zeta is not a "memory molecule" in the sense in which the scientists of the past hoped to find it. It is not a material carrier of memorized information, but, obviously, it acts as a key regulator of the effectiveness of connections within the brain, it initiates the emergence of new configurations as a result of learning.

Get into contact

Now experiments with the protein kinase blocker M-zeta are, in a sense, "shooting on the squares." The substance is injected into certain areas of the brain of experimental animals with a very thin needle and thus turns off the memory immediately in large functional blocks. The boundaries of penetration of the blocker are not always clear, as well as its concentration in the area of ​​the site chosen as the target. As a result, not all experiments in this area bring unambiguous results.

A true understanding of the processes occurring in memory can be obtained by working at the level of individual synapses, but this requires targeted delivery of the blocker to the contact between neurons. Today it is impossible, but since such a task is facing science, sooner or later the tools to solve it will appear. Special hopes are placed on optogenetics. It has been established that a cell in which the possibility of synthesizing a light-sensitive protein is built in by genetic engineering methods can be controlled using a laser beam. And if such manipulations at the level of living organisms are not yet performed, something similar is already being done on the basis of grown cell cultures, and the results are very impressive.

It is often said that we are all actually made up of our own memories. Our life experiences make us who we are.
Human memory is still unknown to the end. However, what does human memory store? There are some misconceptions due to comparing our memory with a computer, it happens by analogy and helps us to understand our own capabilities. However, this is not entirely true. Human memory is much more complex than any memory on our computers or smart phones. Let's talk about 10 facts about human memory, some of which are the exact opposite of what we usually think of as human memory.

10 facts of human memory

1. Memory does not disappear

It is often said that we are all actually made up of our own memories. Our Life experiences make us who we are.
However, human memory is still not completely known, this is one of the reasons why some people say that they have, say, a bad memory. Such misconceptions come from comparing our memory with a computer, this happens by analogy, helps us understand our own capabilities. However, this is not entirely true. Human memory is far more complex than any memory on our computers or smart phones.
Let's talk about 10 facts about human memory, some of which are the exact opposite of what we usually think of as human memory:

2. Forgetting helps us learn

The idea that forgetting helps us learn new things seems contradictory at first glance, but consider this fact in the following way: imagine that we have created an artificial brain that can remember and recreate absolutely everything that we have ever remembered. If such a super brain tried to remember where we parked the car in the parking lot, it would automatically call into consciousness all the parked cars that we have ever seen, which was in fact a lot of cars.
In order to make such a super brain faster and more useful in real situations, we had to create a system that would filter out old, unnecessary information. We all have such a system, we call it forgetting. That's why we forget to help ourselves learn new things.

3. "Erased" memories can be revived again

This is actually another confirmation that memory does not disappear. The point is that memories may become less accessible, but it certainly can restore.
Even those memories that are difficult or impossible for us to remember are still in our memory, waiting for the right moment to enter the content of consciousness. Experiments have shown that even information that is not available for a long time can be restored in memory. In support of this fact, well-known examples such as swimming or cycling, and although they are part of motor skills, they are also related to our memory.

4. Remembering can change the content of what we already remember

Although the very basis of understanding memory, the idea that remembering changes the content of memory seems illogical. How can recollection change the content of memory?
Here's how: when we remember a particular event, that event becomes stronger in our memory compared to other memories. For example, let's try to remember a certain birthday from childhood, and remember a special gift we received. Each time we remember, all the other gifts we received on that birthday will become less available to us due to that particular memory.
The process of remembering actually reprograms the past, i.e. those parts of our past that we can remember.
This is really just the beginning. There is such a thing as false memories that can be created through this process or false memory. Psychologists have indeed experimentally confirmed the existence of false memories. In forensic examinations, such false memories can harm the entire legal process.
In conclusion, there is an interesting idea - that we actually create ourselves, in this way choosing which memories we will remember and which ones we will forget.

5. Memory is unstable

The fact that a simple action such as remembering can change memory suggests that memory is relatively unstable. We think that our memory is stable: but more often than not, we forget what we have forgotten! Yes, yes, and we hope that in the future we will not forget what we already know.
Many students will agree with this that we often underestimate how much effort it takes to learn something, but we need the same amount of effort. to keep what you have already learned. And this brings us to the sixth fact:

6. Biased attitude

It has happened to all of us. We believe that if something is very important to us, there is no chance that we let's forget it. Why, then, should we write down an important phone number or the date of a doctor's visit? After all, this is very important to us? As a rule, within ten minutes we forget such things and it will never return to our consciousness.
This has also been confirmed in the laboratory. In one study by Koryat and Björk (2005), people were taught word pairs such as "light-lamp" and then rated the likelihood that the subject would be able to answer "lamp" each time the word "light" was given. The subjects were too self-confident, and the reason was a prejudiced attitude. As a result, when they were shown a picture of the word "light", they recalled various things, such as lighting or shadows, but the correct answers were not as easy as they seemed.

7. When remembering with ease, the teaching goes badly

We think we are smart when we can remember something quickly and feel stupid when it takes us a long time to remember. From a learning standpoint, the opposite is true. When something is easy to remember, the process of learning does not take place at that moment. Only when it is difficult for us to bring some content into consciousness does the process of learning take place. Thus, effective teaching methods include testing/checking - because simply rereading the information is not enough. Learning requires effort in the process of memorization.

8. Learning is highly context dependent

Have you ever noticed that when you learn something in one context or place, such as in a classroom, it becomes harder to remember the lessons learned in other contexts/classes later? This happens as a result of the connection between teaching and where and how we do it: it depends on who is present, where we teach and in what way.
It turned out that the best memory is information that we are exposed to in different ways and in different contexts.

9. "Addition" of memory

For example, if you want to learn how to play tennis, what do you think is the best way to do it separately to learn the serve, then the right hand, then the left hand? Or would you practice all of these elements every day?
It turns out that it's easier to recall information from long-term memory when it's mixed up. First of all, this applies to motor skills, such activities as tennis, but also for RAM - for example, which city is the capital of Moldova?
The main problem with such training is that it is difficult to get started. If you practice serving and quickly move on to learning the forehand at the same time, you may forget how to serve! Even if you feel like you're not succeeding, keep practicing. This is the only way to strengthen the learned knowledge.

10. Learning is under our control

The bottom line of these facts about human memory is that we very often underestimate the control we think we have over our own memory.
For example, people find that some things are very difficult to learn and initially refuse to learn. However, techniques such as using different contexts, "switching" from one task to another, and challenging reproduction of what has been learned can help improve memory, and thus the process of learning itself.
We tend to think that the past is immutable, but the point is that it can be changed. Due to the way we remember the past, some of the memories stored in it can be changed. Remembering in different ways can help us rethink the past and thus influence our future.
It is important to understand that our memory is not as weak as we tend to believe. Maybe we can't work like a computer, but we can do even better, because it's even more interesting!