Memory Psychology

I read the article Memory Psychology by Saul McLeod. This article is reliable because it is a very recent article and therefore have more recent facts, it was published in 2007. http://www.simplypsychology.org/memory.html

• Memory is the term given to the process involved in the storage and retrieval of information in the brain.
• Memory is very important without memory of the past it would be impossible to operate in the present or think about the future.
• Without memory we could not learn anything new.
• When new information comes into our memory system it had to be changed into a form that the system can change so it can be stored.
• There are three main ways memory can be changed or encoded (Visual, Acoustic, Semantic)
• If we can’t remember something it may be because we are unable to retrieve it.
• A large part of the research on memory is based on experiments done in laboratories.

How the Mind works

In this Book, Daniel Schacter claims that there are seven reasons why memories malfunction. They are transience, absent mindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence. Transience, absent mindedness, and blocking are omissions: we fail to bring to mind a desried fact, event, or idea. Transince is a basic feature of memory, and the reason for many memory problems. Absent mindedness involves a breakdown at the interface between attention and memory. Blocking stops or slows down the process of trying to retrieve a certain memory. The next 4 reasons for memories malfunctioning is misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence. All of those involve some form of memory that is present but is either incorrect or unwanted. These ideas are connected to how the mind works and why some memories are forgotten because it describes the 7 main problems for why memories malfunction.

• There are 7 main problems or issues as to why memories malfunction. 
• Names of people and places are probably the most easily blocked memories.
• The forces of persistence is the most effective after traumatic experiences.
• The older people get the worse their memories get.
• Human brain is the most complex object in the entire universe. 
•   Suggestability in memory refers to a persons tendency to incorporate misleading information from sources exteranly.
• Suggestability is closely related to misattribution.

Memory Recall

http://www.human-memory.net/processes_recall.html

• Memories are not stored in out brain like books on a shelve they are more scattered and in different places.
• Getting memory back requires going back to the nerve pathways the brain made when "encoding" the memory, and it depends on the strangth of the pathways to determine how fast a memory can be brought back.
• Most of what we remember is by direct retreival.
• Also the brain is able to decide in advance whether or not there is a point to searching a memory for a particular fact.
• There are 2 main methods of accessing memories, recognition and recall.
• Recognition is considered to be better than recall.
• Recognition only requires 1 process whereas Recall requires a 2 step process.

Alcohol and Memory

http://www.memory-loss.com/herbal-remedies/memory-loss/alcohol-and-memory-loss

• Excessive alcohol use can lead to random blackouts and temporary memory loss or amnesia
• Blackouts are common for alcohol abusers and can even be a warning sign to drinkers and their friends that there may be alcohol abuse.
• Alcohol has far reaching effects on many areas of the brain.
• When alcohol is consumed the body starts to break it down right away and it creats a negative charge in your brain.
• The brain also receives less oxygen when alcohol is present.
• Alcohol has a negative effect in the central nervous system.
•  Even for healthy drinkers blackouts are often traumatic when serious and typically unforgettable memories are impossible to remember.

1.  Can the effects of alcohol on the brain ever be reversed or fixed?
2. Is there a type of alcohol that doesn't effect the brain as badly?

Memories

http://www.school.eb.com/ebi/article?tocId=204490

• If there is a memory you have forgottten it can actually be relearned quicker the second time you do it.
• Some information can only be resurfaced under circumstances that are similar to the situation they were trying to remember
• Forgetting actually serves a good purpose because it allows people to discard information that is no longer useful.
• Old memories actually interfere with the new memories people are trying to recieve.
• Severe head trauma can resault in the loss of memories and sometimes the memories cannot be restored.
• Memory can be affected or erased even without any type of head injury or trauma, it can be erased by hypnosis.
• Sometimes memories can eve be brought back by hypnosis when the memory is repressed because of a traumatic situation.

This article made me think can memories ever be remembered by force or are they forever lost? Does alcohol affect memory and how? How much does age affect your memory? How much do people really remember about there childhoods? I dont know much about memory but I do know that as you age it decreases and that there are many diseases that can corrupt your memory and cause you to forget things.

Memories

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/human-memory3.htm

• When someone wants to remember something they bring it back at an unconscious level.
• If you have "forgotten" something you might not have actually forgotten it you might not have registered the memory in the first place so you havent really "forgotten" it at all.
• At a time when someone has tried to remember something and they couldnt but later on have remembered what might of happened was that there was a type of mismatch in trying to retrieve the memory.
• As people get older memory tends to decrease.
• Once a memory is created it must be stored no matter how breifly.
• Many experts think there are 3 ways to store a memory.
• First in the sensory stage then in short-term memory and ultimately  for some memories  in long-term memory.

1. Can you choose to forget something?
2. How much memory do people lose over time?

Why do some people remember parts of their childhood but others dont?

1.How does memory work?
2.Can people control or block what they do or dont want to remember?
3.Can traumatic events effect what a person remembers?
4.Is a person able to bring back memories that were forgotten?

I already know that everyone remembers different parts of their childhood and that some people might block certain memories that are unpleasant. For me most of my childhood memories i dont remember well and i only remember certain memories even though they arent very significant. The memories i do remember are only small clips of events that happened.