To
answer the first question posed for this blog, does learning depend on memory;
I would have to say yes it does. I honestly don’t know if it’s holistically
dependent on it though, but I would say it’s an extremely large chunk. In order
to be able to recall through either behavior or communication (verbal, written,
or nonverbal) that information or act has to make its way past the encoding
step and at least into short term memory.
Our memory has a filing system, one that the hippocampus helps to regulate, and it’s through the storage and retrieval process that determines how and what we recall. If we don’t use something on a regular basis it doesn’t just go away, it just gets put at the bottom of filing stack. For example, when I clean out my filing cabinets at work I look over students’ exams and papers from years ago. When I see their work I remember their face, something they said in class, and/or how well they did overall. Now if I was asked right now to remember something about that class from several years ago my memory would seem limited. At times I can’t recall information off-the-cuff that I learned during my college years, but I notice how, at what seems like random times, I instantly remember some tidbit of it. This is most likely due to the retrieval cue(s) that was originally attached to it.
I don’t think we forget the things we learn or specific information that at one time we were able to recall. The mind, specifically long term memory, is like a giant warehouse for storage, it has no limits. However, when we feel cognitively overloaded, what we are being asked or expected to remember we don’t have the energy to draw attention to it, leaving it left to be quickly disposed of. Granted there is some information or aspect of an experience that we are surprised we recall because we weren’t trying to remember it, but I don’t think we forget what we learned.
Our memory has a filing system, one that the hippocampus helps to regulate, and it’s through the storage and retrieval process that determines how and what we recall. If we don’t use something on a regular basis it doesn’t just go away, it just gets put at the bottom of filing stack. For example, when I clean out my filing cabinets at work I look over students’ exams and papers from years ago. When I see their work I remember their face, something they said in class, and/or how well they did overall. Now if I was asked right now to remember something about that class from several years ago my memory would seem limited. At times I can’t recall information off-the-cuff that I learned during my college years, but I notice how, at what seems like random times, I instantly remember some tidbit of it. This is most likely due to the retrieval cue(s) that was originally attached to it.
I don’t think we forget the things we learn or specific information that at one time we were able to recall. The mind, specifically long term memory, is like a giant warehouse for storage, it has no limits. However, when we feel cognitively overloaded, what we are being asked or expected to remember we don’t have the energy to draw attention to it, leaving it left to be quickly disposed of. Granted there is some information or aspect of an experience that we are surprised we recall because we weren’t trying to remember it, but I don’t think we forget what we learned.
As for
the vivid recollection versus fuzzy recall of experiences that we would rather
forget, I think that has to do with the emotionality of the event itself. We
tend to attach emotions to information during the storage process. Events and
conversations that carried more emotions tend to be better recalled. What I do
find fascinating is how some emotional experiences are hazier to recollect than
others. What I’d be curious to know is what specifically determines this? Is it
specific emotions such as fear or shock that over stimulate our ability to
identify and retain certain details?
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