April 05, 2008

How does the mind store information? What kinds of memory do people have? How easy is it for you to remember certain things? In the following experiments, you can learn something about human minds. Or, you can skip that and read about the human memory model. I forget what it was I was going to say.
posted by Hank Mabuse 16 years ago
  • I recently saw a special on chimpanzees on the National Geographic Channel. Chimps have crazy mad short-term memory skills! The researchers used a test where numbers 1-10 were randomly scattered across a computer touch screen. The numbers flash for a few seconds, and are replaced by squares. The challenge is to touch the squares in the correct numerical order. It's stunning to watch the chimps absolutely ace this test. Watch the video clip and be amazed!
  • Damn Quicktime. I've been learning a little about this (on a fairly basic level) for college lately, and it's true for kids and adults that you're more likely to remember the context in which the brain stores the information than the information itself. So if you learn something new but in a context that doesn't necessarily match the knowledge (I don't know, like you're at the zoo looking at elephants and someone tells you how to fix a leaky faucet), you probably won't remember much beyond the fact you were looking at elephants. Or maybe you'll need to look at elephants to recall the information, because that would be funny.
  • Can we expand, please, on "Damn Quicktime"? I have been prompted to install, have done so (to a degree), and am still unable to use these links, and am still wary of allowing quicktime to change my startup registry. Ideas?
  • Cool link, Hank! The same website has a mnemonic generator that'll come in handy. I'm reading this book called "Mistakes were made but not by me" written by a couple of psychologists and they talk about memory problems in humans. There's a chapter that even explains Hillary's latest gaffe - the claim she came under sniper fire on a visit to Bosnia....
  • RtD: I was just too lazy to download the plugin, so I rtfa but didn't check out the experiments.
  • I wouldn't uee quicklime - prett caustic.
  • I thought I read the article, but there was this stampede of elephants outside my window, and I just can't remember... Am I supposed to comment on this?
  • Suuure, Cap'n, I see the peanut butter elephant too.
  • Speaking of that, TuM, where is Captain R lately?