Learning And Memory Essay

667 Words2 Pages

In order to understand the functional relationship between learning and memory we have to first define what both learning and memory are. Learning can be described as “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, practice, or study, or by being taught” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). “Memory is the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order to use this information in the present” (Sternberg, 1999). Base on this definitions one can conclude memory is essential part of our lives. Without any memory of the past, we would not be able to operate in the present or reminisce about the future. We would not be able to remember what we did a few days ago, what we have accomplished today, or what we intend to do tomorrow. Without memory our ability to learn would not exist. Learning and Memory are linked to our cognitive abilities as well as that of animals. An example that can be used to show the relationship between learning and memory is the study of how a rat behaves in a maze. As we all know rats have been used in experimental mazes since at least the early 20th century. Hundreds if not thousands of studies have looked at how rats run different types of mazes, from T-maze, to radial arm mazes, and to water mazes. These maze studies help scientist study spatial learning and memory in rats. Maze studies helped us uncover general principles about learning that can be applied to several species, including mankind. In today’s modern societies, mazes tend to be used to determine whether different treatments affect learning and memory in rats. According to Kolata al, 2005 case study the tasks that comprise the learning battery were specifically chosen so that each one placed specific sensory, motor, motivational, and info...

... middle of paper ...

...t. Our environment changes every day, and we must be able to adapt to any situation. Even when we have knowledge of what rules and guidelines are, and know how to put into action, we are still require to combine the different variables every day. We must constantly compare the people and places around us, analyze them, and apply any new information to what we already know. This process is what makes us live, and it makes us the intelligent creatures at the top of the ecological food chain. Looking at quality of life, there is nothing more important than keeping the brain active. As we get older, the brain and its synaptic processes begin to slow down and decay. Older people have a higher probability to suffer from dementia and several other degenerative diseases. If we keep our brain learning, active, and alert the quality of life we have will be better as we age.

Show More
Related

  • Using Chunking to Increase Capacity of STM

    2614 Words  | 6 Pages

    = Memory is the process of storing information and experiences for possible retrieval at some point in the future. This ability to create and retrieve memories is fundamental to all aspects of cognition and in a broader sense it is essential to our ability to function properly as human beings. Our memories allow us to store information about the world so that we can understand and deal with future situations on the basis of past experience. The process of thinking and problem solving relies heavily on the use of previous experience and memory also makes it possible for us to acquire language and to communicate with others. Memory also plays a basic part in the process of perception, since we can only make sense of our perceptual input by referring to our store of previous experiences.

    Read More

  • Hippocampus Essay

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is the role of the hippocampus and associated areas such as the entorhinal cortex and medial septum in spatial navigation: Do theta oscillations have a significant effect on spatial navigation and could this shed light on the underlying neural mechanisms ?

    Read More

  • Total Recall Essay

    3349 Words  | 7 Pages

    The White Male Fantasy of Total Recall      After saving the planet from a ruthless dictator and barely avoiding death on the hills of Mars, Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger) puts a final spin on Total Recall with his final lines: "I just had a terrible thought. What if this is all a dream?" This last statement by Quaid leaves the audience pondering the question of reality, wondering what truly was 'real.' By the end of the film, one could easily argue a whole realm of possibilities: The events were all real; they were all a dream; they were the Recall implant fantasy played out; or they were the Recall fantasy gone haywire. In addition, the film seems to reject imperialism and the domination of white males, also rather postmodern in ideology.

    Read More

  • Memory Stages In Psychology Essay

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    Once we have learned something I believe that we will always remember it, we may forget about it at a certain time, but if we ever came across the information again, it will be retrieved from our long term memory. Just because we do not use all the information we learn it is still stored in your memory, so in all actuality we never really forget anything. If information isn’t stored in our memory then learning would be pointless.

    Read More

  • Memory And Long-Term Memory: Different Types Of Memory

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    Memory is a group of related mental processes that are involved in acquiring, storing, and retrieving information (Hockenberry and Hocenberry page 232). I will be addressing two specific types of memory: short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory holds temporary information transferred from sensory memory or long-term memory. Sensory memory is the first stage of memory and obtains information for a brief amount of time. Short-term memory is also called active memory and is stored in the prefrontal cortex which is the most active part of the brain during an activity. Short-term memory can hold information for roughly twenty seconds, but sensory memory holds information for a shorter amount of time. We usually store things such

    Read More

  • Politics Of Memory Essay

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Remembrance is an integral part of our everyday lives. Both pleasant and unpleasant memories shape who we are as human beings. The definition of memory is two fold 1. “the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information” and 2. “Something remembered from the past; a recollection” (Google Definition). The life of memory has three stages in which it is created. An event occurs in ones life it becomes encoded and stored in the brain. Following the encoding, the brain then has full access to retrieve the memory in a response to any current activity or thought. Memories are unique to each person. There are three main types of memories that are studied. An individual memory is one that is formed by his or her personal experiences. An institutional

    Read More

  • Understanding Recovered Memories: A Neurological Perspective

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    To understand the concept of recovered memories and their validity, we must first understand to an extent how memory works. The Medial Temporal Lobe is the name we give to structures in our brain necessary for memory, this mainly includes the hippocampus, however the amygdala and the frontal lobe also play important roles. The hippocampus is where our long-term memories are stored in the brain, with age this becomes more dysfunctional. The amygdala and frontal lobe both work to encode our memories into our brain, however the frontal lobe also maintains agendas, refreshes and rehearses information, aids in resisting distraction, and directs our attention to certain features (2). When we think of our memory we like to think we remember everything

    Read More

  • Declarative Memory Essay

    1877 Words  | 4 Pages

    The mammalian brain contains several different memory systems, which can be divided into declarative and non-declarative memory systems. Declarative memory can be further divided into episodic and semantic memory, and non-declarative memory can be divided into priming, associative learning, and procedural memory.

    Read More

  • Understanding Alzheimer's: A Foreseeable Epidemic

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    The horrible feeling of forgetting a coworker’s or an acquaintance’s name may be one of the most frustrating things a person can experience. This is a fact that many patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s face on a reoccurring basis. Loss of memory is a common part of the aging process and is sometimes referred to as dementia. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and is not reversible in this day and age. In fact, 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases are Alzheimer’s and in 2015 more than 5.1 million cases age 65 or older were reported (Alzheimer’s Association, 2016). The most startling statistic is that by 2050, 14 million Americans and 81 million worldwide cases are expected (Wierenga & Bondi, 2011). While dementia is a part of Alzheimer’s it also affects an afflicted patient ability to perform day to day tasks, increased mood swings, and in the later stages, the ability to even walk or care for themselves. This horrible disease

    Read More

  • Reflective Essay: Growing Up In Memory

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    As I have been reading memoirs about memory for this class, each essay made me recall or even examine my past memory closely. However, the more minutely I tried to recall what happened in the past, the more confused I got because I could not see the clear image and believe I get lost in my own memory, which I thought, I have preserved perfectly in my brain. The loss of the details in each memory has made me a little bit sentimental, feeling like losing something important in my life. But, upon reading those essays, I came to realize that remembering correct the past is not as important as growing up within memory. However, the feelings that were acquired from the past experience tend to linger distinctly. The essay that is related to my experience

    Read More

  • Ethical Theory Of Memory Essay

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    1.19. Many elderly people have trouble remembering words, people’s names, and recent events. Imagine a memory-aid product. What features would it have? What technologies would you use if you were designing it?

    Read More

  • Collective Memory Essay

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Collective memory is the cultural memory (? ) or the remembered history of a community: “Anyone who during today fixes his eyes on tomorrow must preserve yesterday from oblivion by grasping it through memory” (Assmann 2011: 17). Collective memory is the way groups form memories out of a shared past to create a common identity. The memory of a group is a construction, or reconstruction, of the past. Through the approach of collective memory we can distinguish a cultural sphere that combines tradition, awareness of history, myth in action, and self-definition. This cultural sphere is constantly subject to a vast range of historically conditioned changes (Assmann 2011: 10). Collective memory is the structures that underlie all myths and histories without any distinction between them. The past that is fixed and internalized is myth, whether it is fact or fiction (Assmann 2011: 59). Collective memory can be expressed through a variety of different medias, e.g. festivals, rituals, liturgy, symbols, flags, memorial places, museums, cultural artifacts, as well as oral and written narratives, like myths, prophecies, law material, biographies and perceived historical accounts (Van Seters 2012: 54). The memories are specifically designed to recall events in the history of the collective.

    Read More

  • False Memories Essay

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mistaken recollection of information or the recollection of an event that never happened is known as a false memory (Rajagopal & Montgomery, 2011). The study of false memories has been of interest to cognitive psychologists (Otagaar, Smeets & Scoboria, 2013) for many years as it implies that human memory is vulnerable to the influence of external information, it also implies that our ability to recall events may not always be accurate. One major issue that has arisen with the research on false memories is the argued validity of eyewitness testimony (Wade, Green & Nash, 2011). Eyewitness testimony is the verified report made by someone who witnessed a crime (Wade et.al., 2011). False memories can interfere with the correct recollection of criminal offences which can potentially result in inaccurate accusations of a crime (Wade et.al., 2011). Researchers have been interested in studying false memories to develop a better understanding of how false memories work, and to what extent our memories can be assumed accurate (Jou & Flores, 2013).

    Read More

  • Learning and Memory Applied

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Learning and memory are fascinating. The world could not function without either. They both are used in many different fashions in a wide variety of places. Learning and Memory have been carefully studied by professionals but are also well known and used by the common people on a daily basis. I am one of those common people, a student who is constantly learning and making the most of my memory. Since enrolling in The Psychology of Learning and Memory class I have come to the realization that I encounter situations in my life that exemplify the very concepts I have studied. I have also learned that it is beneficial to apply the lessons learned in class to my everyday life. Positive reinforcement, learned helplessness and serial recall are a few among many of the learning and memory models that have come to action in my life and in my final reflections surrounding the course.

    Read More

  • The Relationship between Learning and Memory

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    Learning to tie shoes and ride a bike requires the encoding, storing, and retrieving of past observations of the procedure. With a lot of practice, children master these skills so well that they are able to remember them the rest of their lives. Memory is the storing of information over time. It is one of the most important concepts in learning; if things are not remembered, no learning can take place. As a process, memory refers to the "dynamic mechanism associated with the retention and retrieval of information about past experiences" (Sternberg 260). We use our memory about the past to help us understand the present. The study or memory in psychology is used in different ways, as well as there are many different ways to study how memory works in humans. In psychology there are many tasks used to measure memory, and different types of memory storages that human's use, such as sensory storing, or short term storing. There are also a lot of techniques that humans use to improve their memory, which they can use to learn, such as mnemonic devices. All these things can be classified as important issues in the study of human memory and ways of learning.

    Read More

More about Learning And Memory Essay

Open Document