DailyDirt: Misty Water-Colored Memories
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
There’s a lot we still don’t know about how our own brains work. Our minds are sufficiently complex that the only practical way to begin studying how they work is to categorize the different processes and try to look at how those individual parts operate. How the brain stores memories is a fascinating field — that’s just starting to yield some real scientific knowledge. Here are just a few tidbits on remembering things.
- Older brains don’t remember stuff as well as younger brains because the pathways leading to the hippocampus degrade over time. Now we just need to figure out how to rejuvenate those connections — or grow completely new ones. [url]
- The “doorway effect” is a fairly common phenomenon in which you walk into another room and then realize you’ve forgotten why you’re there. The effect works in virtual environments as well as in real life, but don’t blame the doorway — it’s more likely that your brain is pre-programmed to purge your working memory after a triggering event. [url]
- Connecting our brains to computers could, if done right, extend our memories and computational abilities. Some predictions say it’ll happen in about 100 years, or maybe sometime in 2100. [url]
- To discover more interesting articles on the human mind, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Filed Under: brains, doorway effect, hippocampus, memories, mind, predictions
Comments on “DailyDirt: Misty Water-Colored Memories”
The "doorway effect"
And here I thought it was called the “bong effect”.
Understanding coloured by belief
We have no understanding of the simple things, how on earth would we ever understand the more complicated.
After many years, it has become obvious that researchers in every field have forgotten a very simple principle. We use models to gain understanding, but models we use are not the reality. That is “the map is NOT the territory”.
Understanding is always based on the models we use. The models we use are based on we believe to be true.
A thought to think of for the future.
regards and good day to all
STREISAND!!!111
Just two postings on from one that mentioned the Streisand, too.
The “doorway effect” is a fairly common phenomenon in which you walk into another room and then realize you’ve forgotten why you’re there.
For me, when that happens (which is relatively rare), returning to the previous room is usually enough to restore the original memory.
What the hell, man? I’m over the big six 0 and keeping the memory cells tickin’ over is simple – red wine, fine food, a decent rpg (eg dragon Age origins, fully modded) and the occasional dose of Arcade Fire…
… cheap beer, fast food, Dragon Age 2 and anything by anyone who ever appeared on any of Simon Cowells pap will lead to the total recall of a gnat…
…and that ‘doorway’ effect is endemic in my local mountain view of the ocean 5 star restaurant toilet door… hmmm, ah, thats right, comb the hair and straight out to the wine cellar…
STREISAND!!!111
good catch on the title… 😛
Moder Science Will Have The Answer
I am pretty sure that with time we will be able to find the answer to how to keep our brains young and vibrant, how to restore pathways and how to keep them fully functional, it is really just a matter of time.