In “The Extended Mind,” Andy Clark and David Chalmers’ argue for what they call “active externalism.” This theory holds that the meaning of mental content is not just in our heads, but external to the mind where environment plays an active role in deriving mental processes. As part of this lengthy paper, Clark and Chalmers propose a theory of memory that holds that memory is a kind of mental storage recorded in the mind, as if the facts were recorded in a notebook. As that in my term paper I will be constructing my own theory of memory in response to this one, in this paper, I will explain Clark and Chalmers’ theory of memory by explaining their example of Otto and Inga.
According to Clark and Chalmers’ memory is an example of an extended
mental state where environmental factors drive mind into the world. As such memory is a storage of ideas and experiences that can be called upon by the mind to be used in our day-to-day cognition. To illustrate this, Clark and Chalmers use an the compares the two examples of functional memory. In the first example, Inga is a typical person who heard from a friend that there is a new art museum opening, and she wants to go see it. After deciding to go, Inga thinks for moment and remembers that her friend told her the museum was on 53rd Avenue. Since she believed this event constituted her memory, Inga acted on the memory and went to the museum. As such, Inga’s memory was sitting somewhere in storage of memories waiting to be called upon. The second example, Otto suffers fro Alzheimer's disease and cannot recall his memories. Because of this, Otto carries around a notebook where he writes down and looks up all the information he needs to recall. Like Inga, Otto also heard from a friend about the art museum. So, when he wants to go to the museum, he looks up the location in his notebook and goes to the museum. According to Clark and Chalmers, memory and the notebook are functionally equivalent, and that consulting for Otto the notebook is just like consulting the mind for Inga. For Clark and Chalmers, Inga’s memories work just like Otto’s notebook and are therefore functionally the same. Just as Inga uses her memory daily, Otto consults his notebook for everyday pieces of information and recall. Just as Otto must consult his notebook, and these written statements are brought to the forefront of his mind before retreating in to the storage of the notebook, Inga’s memories are accessed by the mind and then retreat back into her memory storage. In both cases, memories are readily accessible, and to say that Inga’s beliefs disappear when on the they are not on the forefront of the mind would be the equivalent of saying that Otto’s beliefs disappear when his notebook is filed away. According to Clark and Chalmers, it would be pointlessly complex to explain have to explain Otto’s actions in terms of his notebook, just as it would be just as pointless to explain Inga’s actions in terms of memory. Essentially, Otto’s notebook and Inga’s memory are conceptually the same thing, they just present a different way of accessing needed information. As such, Otto and Inga both have functionally the same method for memory and this shows that the mental state of having a memory can be both internal and external, thus supporting their thesis that mental content lies beyond what is under the skin or in the brain.
In chapter one of Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer discusses memory and persuades the reader of its importance. Foer’s primary claim is that memory is essential. Joshua Foer uses a variety of different voicing techniques to create intimate distance. He also uses a variety of analytical and stylistic techniques to emphasize the importance of his claim and to persuade the reader. He supports his argument by discussing the impact of memory on daily life, the positive effects of improving one’s memory, and the incomplete nature of our collective memory as a society without external resources.
Human memory is flexible and prone to suggestion. “Human memory, while remarkable in many ways, does not operate like a video camera” (Walker, 2013). In fact, human memory is quite the opposite of a video camera; it can be greatly influenced and even often distorted by interactions with its surroundings (Walker, 2013). Memory is separated into three different phases. The first phase is acquisition, which is when information is first entered into memory or the perception of an event (Samaha, 2011). The next phase is retention. Retention is the process of storing information during the period of time between the event and the recollection of a piece of information from that event (Samaha, 2011). The last stage is retrieval. Retrieval is recalling stored information about an event with the purpose of making an identification of a person in that event (Samaha, 2011).
Atkinson, R.C. & Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control process.
Internal validity, unlike external and construct validity, deals with causal relationships. In other words, the question is whether any additional research that is found is actually associated with the study that is being conducted. The question, again, is whether we can be confident that the outcome of the study is a result of the experiment itself. What this means is that internal validity is the extent to which a change in a given variable is caused by the change in another variable.
...pporting details. At the conclusion of the article, the authors share their thoughts on how it might be virtually impossible to determine when a memory is true or false. I also like their willingness to continue the investigations despite how difficult it might be to obtain concrete answers.
The second chapter of Naturalizing the Mind is in the main an attempt to provide an account of introspective knowledge consistent with the Representational Thesis. Dretske takes introspective knowledge to be a given and proceeds by trying to explain how such knowledge is possible without appealing to an ‘inner sense’, an idea that seems to conflict with the Thesis’s commitment to externalism about the content of mental states. To this end, he proposes that introspection is a species of displaced perception.
My theoretical orientation can best be described as a mixture of Person-centered therapy and feminist therapy. Where person-centered therapy is all about being aware of oneself and feminist therapy encourages personal empowerment. Those two together create a great theme of evolving to become something greater in life. I believe that human behavior is a result of feeling like you, have a sense of belonging in the world. Similar to what Maslow’s hierarchy, people need to feel a sense of love in order to be happy and confident in one’s self. Once they are content with themselves as result, they will project that same love towards others. When considering my approach, I want clients to be authentic and confident in who they are. The individual
Knowledge can be achieved either through the justification of a true belief or for the substantive externalist, through a “natural or law like connection between the truth of what is believed and the person’s belief” (P.135). Suppose a man named George was implanted with a chip at birth, which causes him to utter the time in a rare Russian dialect. His girlfriend Irina, who happens to speak the same Russian dialect, realizes that every time she taps his shoulder, he tells her the time and he is always right. She knows that he is right because she checks her watch. Because she thinks this is cute, she never tells him what it is that he is saying. One day, Irina’s watch breaks but instead of getting it fixed, she just taps George on the shoulder whenever she needs to ask for the time.
J., & Banich, M. T. (2003). Memory. In M. T. Banich (Ed.), Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychology (pp. 322-364). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Memory is the tool we use to learn and think. We all use memory in our everyday lives. Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. We all reassure ourselves that our memories are accurate and precise. Many people believe that they would be able to remember anything from the event and the different features of the situation. Yet, people don’t realize the fact that the more you think about a situation the more likely the story will change. Our memories are not a camcorder or a camera. Our memory tends to be very selective and reconstructive.
Externalities are defined as positive or negative impacts and consequences that non-related parties face due to an economic activity in a compact and comprehensive manner. The nature of the externality can be determined by the nature of activity and the consequences that third parties face. Negative externalities distort the market in various manner for example the polluters make decisions only on the direct costs and they never consider indirect costs and as a result because the polluter is not bearing the indirect costs these costs are not translated at the user end and as a result the total cost of production becomes way higher than private costs and thus it distorts the free market mechanism. One of the realistic solution to counter the
Wheeler, M. A., Stuss, D, t., & Tulving, D. (1997). Toward a theory of episodic memory: The frontal lobes and autonoetic consciousness: Psychological Bulletin, 121, 331-354
Organisation is the most important element in management. Any organization is located and operated in the environment. Every action of all organizations is possible only if it allows its realization. The internal environment is the source of its vitality. It involves the capacity needed for the functioning of the organization, but at the same time can be a source of problems and even her death of the organisation. The external environment is the source that supply organization resources. The organization is in constant exchange with the external environment consequently it provides itself with survival. The main objective of this work is to consider elements of the internal and external environment of the organization which are in a constant
These examples of experiments show how greatly our memory and recollection is influenced by many factors. The creation of false memories is still being studied
(1885), H. E. (2013, October). Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology. Retrieved November 07, 2017, from