R9

Quote: “What you have to understand is that even average memories are remarkably powerful if used properly” (Foer, 2011).

Question: After reading the NY Times article, a series of questions ran through my mind from how content should be taught to students all the way to the capacity of the human mind. In terms of learning, since according to Foer, research suggests that when individuals with ‘great memories’ are compared to people with ‘average memories’, “not only did the brains of the mental athletes appear anatomically indistinguishable from those of the control subjects, but on every test of general cognitive ability, the mental athletes’ scores came back well within the normal range” (Foer, 2011), how could learning to become a mental athlete improve a student’s educational experience? What would that look like and how could memory techniques described by Foer be taught to students? After reading the article about how our memory is designed to be more advanced than how much credit is given to our mind, I wonder: have posted notes become the demise to our memory structures? Are technological advances inhibiting our memory? I would have to say: YES! We write down things on posted notes so that we don’t have to remember or we put phone numbers in our cell phones so that we don’t have to rely on our memory to recall digits before phoning a friend, all of which our memory structures are capable of retrieving.    

Personal Connection: I found the NY Times article Secrets of a Mind Gamer, to be incredibly interesting. Before ink and tablets were invented, people relied on their memory for recalling pertinent information. This article reminds me of some of the content William James described in his memory chapter; particularly, about making association with new information in order to better recall it in the future. In my personal experience, I can think back on my undergraduate experience when most exams given were in the format of multiple-choice. I learned very quickly that I could make over 100 hundred flash cards and through repetition remember the facts on the cards; those cards which were harder to memorize, I was able to think of a mnemonic to help me remember. As a result, I pretty much always remembered what I studied for my exams.     

Outside Connection: The above video illustrates a phenomenal memory structure by an individual with Autism who has been able to make sense (meaning) to something he sees and recall it later by recreating everything he viewed. It's pretty remarkable!