Something that has been explained to me numerous times is how we remember things. I think it's pretty cool, so I figured I'd pass it on to you all. Now, I may not be able to tell you the year Alexander the Great was born, but I can sure tell you the year Johnny Depp was born [1963, if you were wondering]. When there's something you've heard once, it gets stored in your short-term memory, and if you never think about it again, you will soon forget it. But, if there's something you hear once, and again, and again, somewhere in your frontal lobe, your hippocampus takes that fact or memory and stores it in your long-term memory. Think about if you can rattle off your first phone number. The same thing applies. If I told you the numbers 823-6235 and asked you to tell me what they are next week, odds are you couldn't remember. But through repetition, you remember phone numbers.
This all is fine and dandy, but why do you care? Well, knowing this, you can apply it to yourself. When you're studying for a test, repetition helps you to remember what you're trying to do. It also is known that when you sleep is when that marvelous little hippocampus transfers memory to long-term. It also replays the day's memories, storing them where they should go. Which tells you all night cram sessions are NOT the best idea.
The brain is insanely complicated, and I don't pretend to understand it at all. But, with some cleverly worded Google searches [by which of course I mean typing "memory" into the search box] , I learned just a little bit about memory. Very cool stuff.
Hope I posted on the right date!
Also, hit me up about some random facts. I'm FULL of them. Yay, hippocampus!
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8 comments:
haha, thanks for that wonderfully random comment on memory. I had actually learned some of this from my old Social Studies teacher, but the sleeping advice was helpful. I do love to sleep! I think the latest I have gone to bed this year was 11pm.
Wow! Who knew that sleep was actually that important!! It seems that people who say things like "I only got four hours of sleep last night" think they are pretty cool for staying up so late, but really they have just lost their memory! Ha.
haha yes way to say it rachel. We have our memory, while they are loosing theirs. wohho! I'm a kinda random person at times too. Ask my friends and they will tell you that I am obsessed with snapple facts. They are underneath every cap, and since my whole family simply can't live without snapple I tend to memorize (haha) each fact, because I have heard them so many times. very interesting topic though meghana. I liked it!
oooohhhhhhh yes! Vicki knows the most random things ever, just because of snapple caps. Oh and ask her to say "snapple caps" in that wierd (weird, but i'm trying to prove a point) voice. Its hilarious.
And Johnny Depp is that old? Oh my, he looked a little bit younger in the movies I saw.
But...interesting subject. And thank you for not writing a huge post...I didn't want to have to read a huge one.
haha well thanks. just figured i'd put it out there. i'll have to take you up on the random facts, vicki!
and to mary: yes, johnny depp is 45. but he ages VERY gracefully.
okay, so my dad told me that you will remember someone's name better if you say it at least three times in a sentence when you first meet them. for example (i'll play a short scene for you):
"Hi, I'm Emily. What's your name?"
"Hi, Emily (that's one). I'm Chelsea."....they continue their conversation..."What's your favorite song, Emily (two)?"....keep talking...they are now leaving..."Bye! Nice to meet you, Emily (3)." I know, I know, sound really repetitive, but I always do that..and it works! :)
When it comes to me, I have a poor memory for remembering my things. However, I can remember words numbers or phrases really well.(For ex. those memory tests I have taken are a joke because I ace them constantly). This also means I am good at remembering things that I have learned over the years as well in school. I never have know why this is and I have really have not given the effort to find out.
This is really interesting! I already knew that studying for tests a little bit each day is the best method (which teachers constantly advise),but I never looked into the reasoning behind this. Well, now I know! Your post really helps me because I always have trouble with my memory! Chelsea, I'm going to try out your advice, because I'm terrible with names.
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