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In his classic 1977 work memory researcher Kenneth Higbee describes three classes of memory--recall, recognition, and relearning--as a way to capture the breadt
by wahern 5y ago
In his classic 1977 work memory researcher Kenneth Higbee describes three classes of memory--recall, recognition, and relearning--as a way to capture the breadth of the meaning of the word but also to explain that as often discussed memory isn't necessarily a singularly discrete concept. In the context of the third class, relearning, there is very little that we outright forget, and forgetting looks more like a continuous function:
> The psychologist read passages of Greek to his son from the age of fifteen months to three years. He later tested the boy for retention at ages eight, fourteen, and eighteen by having him memorize the original passages and some comparable new passages. At age eight it took the boy 27 percent fewer trials to memorize the original passages than the new passages, suggesting a considerable savings in relearning effort as a result of retention of the earlier learning. The methods of recall and recognition would likely have shown no evidence of remembering. The savings decreased from 27 percent at age eight, to 8 percent at age fourteen, and to only 1 percent at age eighteen.
Higbee, Kenneth L. Your Memory: How It Works and How to Improve It (p. 28). Da Capo Press. Kindle Edition. (citing 21 H. E. Burtt, "An Experimental Study of Early Childhood Memory: Final Report", Journal of Genetic Psychology 58 (1941): 435-39.)
- telesilla 5y agoI also think there are a lot of connections we make in relation to our muscles : after some decades my hands can still play piano pieces I learned when young and my torso and legs can balance and ride on a bicycle immediately after many months of not. Perhaps the brain is not the only store of memory.
- magicalhippo 5y agoNot sure if it's outside of the brain, but it seems to me that indeed different types of memories are stored differently. As an example, I can only recall my own phone number if I try to type it on a keypad, either a real phone or mentally visualizing me hitting the digits. I only have this for a few phone numbers though, and not other numbers in general. I also have some childhood memories that on the one hand seem vivid when I recall them, yet I struggle to describe when I want to tell others about them. Then the memory suddenly feels elusive, like a dream. Yet when I think about them, it's like I'm there in the moment... Other childhood memories are crystal clear and I can tell you all about them in great detail. I also have a sequencing error, I'll fairly consistently swap the last two digits of a sequence when recalling. This was especially annoying when I worked at a grocery store, and would tell the customer the total was 371 say rather than 317 as the register showed. Yet I've never noticed any other sequencing issues, and being a programmer there's plenty of opportunity for noticing.
- HKH2 5y agoYes, there is declarative, procedural and episodic memory, and they are stored in different ways. If you take away the hippocampus (if I'm not mistaken), you can still form procedural memories but not episodic memories. There was a relatively famous case of that happening.
- azeirah 5y agoIt is notable that the cerebellum, a very important part of our brain that controls voluntary movement as well as balance, coordination and posture is incredibly dense. > The cerebellum makes up just 10% of the total volume of the brain, yet it contains an estimated 50% to 80% of the brain's neurons. I wonder if "muscle memories" are just a side-phenomenon of involving more neurons in this densely populated area of the brain.
- wahern 5y agoThe spinal cord does provide autonomous gross stimulus responses, like pulling away a burning hand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_reflex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_reflex It doesn't seem surprising that it may exhibit more complex behaviors, such as suggested in this study about learning complex motor tasks: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26125597/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26125597/