3 ms·
Resisting brain shrinkage: reminds me of a somewhat different but related report I heard in the past of a group of nuns who seemed to age very well such that th
by hereme888 5y ago
Resisting brain shrinkage: reminds me of a somewhat different but related report I heard in the past of a group of nuns who seemed to age very well such that their cognitive functions remained seemingly strong into old age. They donated their brains to research, and upon study significant shrinkage was found similar to some degree of Alzheimer's. I think the conclusion was that because they kept themselves so active and busy, whatever synaptic connections were necessary for their daily functioning were kept strong, alongside important life memories. Another strong case for how "retirement" is harmful.
Generally, the rate at which memory synapses weakens is similar across the general population (stability of a memory synapse), so for super-agers it is probably genetic.
I may not have a super-ager brain, but as a lifelong learner and brain-health lover I've placed all my significant memories into a spaced-repetition program I use for everything, and thus am able to recall at will all sorts of important memories in life. I'm keeping my important synapses strong.
There's another category besides super-agers: people with hyperthymesia: "a condition that leads people to be able to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail. It is extraordinarily rare, with only about 60 people in the world having been diagnosed with the condition as of 2021." There's a documentary about these people. You ask them: what important event happened in your life on January 7th, 1980, and they can answer it accurately.
- fouc 5y agoI'm curious how do you judge which memories are significant enough to put in your spaced-repetition program?
- hereme888 5y agoIt's usually something that brings up very positive emotions, like childhood memories, wedding/honeymoon pictures, me at various stages of life, important transition periods, people I want to remember well, etc. For the "negative", I've mostly resorted to journaling in ways that help me self-discover and resolve the past, such as SelfAuthoring.com exercises that I continually write and re-write from time to time (I bought and copied the exercises to my local drive).
- kiba 5y agoLondon taxi driver has enlarged hippocampus so it isn't impossible to make changes that's big enough to have noticeable impact on your brain structure. I haven't seen anything that indicates that is also true for episodic memory though.
- jchanimal 5y agoWhich spaced-repetition program?
- hereme888 5y agoSuperMemo. Not advertising it, but I've found it's the best for my needs despite the effort it takes to stick to it. I would liken it to an average computer user making the effort to learn and stick to Emacs because they really believe it will pay off in the long term. And SuperMemo sure has paid off for me.
- LittleFishyChan 5y agoYo, I’ve been using SuperMemo for 15 years (I set up a Google Alert for “spaced repetition” years ago). I started with foreign language words but gradually it took over my entire “memory life,” including positive memories, jokes and other stuff I didn’t think I would use it for. It feels like a secret weapon that isn’t so secret, it works great but requires discipline to maintain the habit.
- mikewarot 5y agoSpaced repetition program - I think I have had one by accident, organizing and tagging all the photos I've taken since 1997. If I took a picture of it, I can likely tell you all about the events surrounding it. My wife tells me things we did, and there aren't photos of those occasions, so I know I'm not remembering everything. The photo albums our parents and grandparents had were spaced repetition.
- hereme888 5y agoThat's awesome. Good thoughts. The attention and strength of emotions really do affect the strength of memory synapses, and you got it so right in that the most common form of spaced repetition is something we all experience: recalling and thinking about memories, including re-opening photo albums.