Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Importance Of Memory - 1185 Words

Memory plays a crucial role in our lives. Everything we know and much of what we do is because of our memory. Because of its importance, memory has constantly always fascinated researchers. Without our memory, we would have no sense of identity, no idea of who we are. Memory is comprised of all the information that is encoded, stored and can be retrieved when needed. When encoding occurs, information is being processed by the brain. There are multiple types of encoding such as structural (what words look like) , phonemic (what words sound like) and semantic (what words mean). Once the information is processed, it is stored. The sequence of storage goes from sensory memory to short-term memory to long-term memory. In sensory memory, sensory†¦show more content†¦One such psychologist was George Miller (1956). In his experiments, Miller (as cited in Weiten, 2013) asked his participants to repeat a random, unfamiliar list of words. On average, most people listed around seven of the words. Thus, George Miller concluded that people could remember seven unfamiliar items, give or take two items in either direction, in their short-term memory. He also concluded that when new information is introduced, it replaces the old information in the short-term memory storage. Another psychologist, Nelson Cowan determined that the capacity of short term memory is not seven, but it is instead, four with a range of plus or minus one. Cowan believed that past researchers didn’t account for techniques such as chunking, in which multiple units of information are stored as a single unit (Cowan, 2010). These previous studies on the capacity of short-term memory can help researchers decide how many items to put in their experiments to ensure that their results are accurate. Cowan and Miller both focused on the number of items that can be stored in short-term memory at a time, without regards to the amount of information can be stored in each item and how long it takes. Researchers at Harvard University, G.A. Alvarez and P. Cavanagh, conducted an experiment to see whether the amount of information related with each item had an effect on the number of items the participants were able to remember. Their dataShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Memory : Importance Of Memory1960 Words   |  8 PagesThe Importance of Memory Memory plays a significant role in a person s everyday life. Actions and emotions are based on the memories that are stored in a person s head. People then act in certain ways because of the thoughts that run around within their brains. These thoughts are born from the memories of past experiences and a person can recognize the emotions they felt when they were in a certain situation. Without these memoires, people would not know how to react under certain circumstancesRead MoreThe Importance of Memory767 Words   |  4 PagesThe importance of memory What will happen if all human lost their memory? What if we can’t remember anything anymore? Can our society keep running? Can we live? The answer is simple. We can’t live without memory and the modern society will be destroyed. Here I’ll explain to you one by one. Memory plays a big role in our life. It is the processes by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Everything we see, we do, we think, will goes to memory and transform to implicit or explicitRead MoreMemory Awareness : The Importance Of Memory734 Words   |  3 PagesMemory sharpness is often associated with age, so to speak. Yet age alone is not enough to significantly reduce a persons ability to remember unless some disorder that block processing pathways exists, like Dyslexia and Alzheimers. To maintain keen memory and focus, one has to develop perseverance in many aspects of his life as an individual. 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Does photographic memory exist and is it neurologically conceivable? In principle, photographic memory includes the capacity to recollect things so strikingly that a real picture is held in the psyche. Individuals with photographic memory can as far as anyone knows recall a boundless measure of dataRead MoreThe Importance Of Memory In 1984975 Words   |  4 Pages Memory. According to the Webster Dictionary, memory is â€Å"The power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained especially through associative mechanisms† (Webster Dictionary) Taking that under consideration, imagine if everyone didn’t remember the last time they smiled, their siblings last birthday, or the last really good meal they had. The last time they laughed so hard their ribs hurt, the last time they had so much fun that they couldn’t believe it really even happenedRead More Importance of Memory Color Essay1611 Words   |  7 PagesImportance of Memory Color One of the most influential aspects on the quality of our lives is color. We use our perception of color every day. Without color we could not see traffic signals or enjoy sunsets, and learning techniques would be much more difficult. Color is an important function that signals and helps facilitate perceptual organization. Memory color is a phenomenon in which an objects characteristic color influences our perception of its color. The study of what colors willRead MoreEssay about The Importance of Memory1549 Words   |  7 PagesThe Importance of Memory I remember lying in my bed one night when I was six years old, staring at the ceiling in the darkness, covers pulled up to my chin, thinking, â€Å"Someday, I’ll wake up and I’ll be twenty years old. And someday I’ll wake up and be forty. What will I look like? What will I be doing? Will I be happy? Will I remember what it was like to be six?† Memory has always been a concern of mine – mainly, is mine deficient somehow? Everyone else seems able to remember the minutiaeRead MoreThe Importance Of Collective Memory In 19842005 Words   |  9 Pagesextreme control over the society’s collective thought and memory Oceania believes that it can effectively control the past, present and future. Most people disagree with that claim because they believe that the absolute truth and individual memory hold more importance to reality and society. However, I will argue that view is quite naà ¯ve, and in fact collective memory is the only thing that matters in a society. The aim of a collective memory is to give a society an identity, and the only way it achievesRead MoreThe Importance of Memory in Margaret Atwoods Handmaids Tale.2065 Words   |  9 PagesFor this essay I aim to show the importance of memory and of remembering the past in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid’s Tale is a Ã¢â‚¬Ë œspeculative fiction’ first published in 1985 but set in the early 2000s. The novel was in response to changes in US politics with the emergence of Christian fundamentalism, the New Right. Atwood believed that society was going wrong and wrote this savage satire, similar to Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’, depicting a dystopia which she uses as

Myths According to Joseph Campbell Free Essays

Kevin Gerbier What is a myth? When one thinks of a myth perhaps one thinks about a story being told by the fire, or a dramatic tale about an invincible hero, or perhaps a cosmological occurrence that caused everything to be. Personally, when I think of the word myth, I think of the ancient Greeks or Romans with their many gods and goddesses; however, to most, the story being told by a myth is simply that, just a story. To most the term â€Å"myth† has been confused for a legend or folklore. We will write a custom essay sample on Myths According to Joseph Campbell or any similar topic only for you Order Now The truth of the matter is however, that to religious scholars, a myth is more than just a story; a myth is how a society’s religion came to explain what seemed the inexplicable. With modern science booming and being capable of explaining the events that our ancestors could not, there has been a mix up on the term â€Å"myth† and on the function that it plays in the religious backbone. As a scientist, when I hear the word myth or that something is simply a myth, I understand that as being false or completely untrue; or, when people in south America are told the horrendous story of the â€Å"chupa cabra† that is simply disregarded as a â€Å"myth,† a folklore invented by someone who may have seen an animal they did not know and simply disguised it as a monster. The reality of the matter however, is that, scholarly, a myth is as true as anything else can be. This does not necessarily mean that when one hears the story of the great flood it literally means that god flooded the entire world. A myth can be based on historical facts or none at all; the facts are not what make a myth true but it is the story that inspired it and the content of it. A myth is simply a metaphorical poem telling a story that explains the human encounter with the unknown. This is where the religious aspect ties in with the scholarly view of myths. Every religion has it’s own story or â€Å"myth† on how the universe was created, how humans came to be, where life came from, and so on. These stories show a kind of relationship with the supernatural and the mortal beings. Myths began as stories that were told by word of mouth; eventually however, they began to be written and in a religion’s sacred writings. From these written down myths, the teachers or the wise from each religion can interpret the metaphorical story that has been passed down from older generations of that religion and enlighten those who follow it. The importance of myths is how it functions and plays a role in a particular religion and society. Joseph Campbell was a mythologist and a writer. He believed that myth was in fact non-fiction and that it played a great role in how it functioned with religion and beliefs. He wrote The Hero’s Journey where he outlined four major components that gave a function to myths. These were that, first myths produce a mystical function, myths also have a cosmological function, myths posses a sociological function, and finally myths have a psychological function according to joseph Campbell. The mystical function of myth is meant to keep the believer in awe and be able to experience first hand the power of the divine through the story. The stories are meant to engage the listener or reader so that they can relate to an extent beyond their comprehension. This function places the believer in a humble state when the realization of how miniscule they are compared to their â€Å"god. † The mystical function unites the believer with the â€Å"transcendent reality† to which they originated from. This function is meant to instill a sense of faith to that which cannot be directly seen but is felt when engaged in the story. The cosmological function of myth is one that can be seen less in our advanced society due to all the scientific research that has discredited many of the sacred texts’ stories on creation and many other subjects the divine. For example, the Christian myth about the Garden of Eden, Adam, Eve, and the forbidden tree could once have been seen as factually true. With modern science as an ally, we are no longer confined to that story as an explanation to our beginnings. The cosmological function however is meant to do just that, narrate a divine story that explains that which inexplicable at the time the story was created. The third function of myths is the sociological function; this function of myths can be trivial and sometimes twisted and turned for a select group’s own benefit. Not only do the metaphorical stories told in myth explain how the world functions or came to be per say, but also they leave teachings of social order and divine order. An example of this can be seen in the Bible where homosexuality is said to be an â€Å"abomination. † This type of lesson leads the believers in straying away from that sort of behavior because their god frowns upon it. The sociological function is also meant to build a better society by instilling a sense of morals, ethics, and customs upon the people. The problem with this type of function arises when zealots begin to use the rules and orders set in their sacred texts to their selfish needs and neglect the rest. The final function of myths is that they possess a psychological function and this may perhaps be the most important one of the set. This functions links the believer with him/herself and helps them with internal struggles they may have at some point by being able to relate to a â€Å"hero† in the mythological story. Such hero can be seen in the story of Lot found in the bible; Lot faced many hardships and struggles because god was testing his faith through them. Once his struggles were through and god saw that Lot did not lose faith in him, Lot was rewarded in multiple amounts to more than what he had before his hardships. This kind of story tells the believer that no matter what they might be going through they are being tested for a greater purpose. This is the type of self lesson that the psychological function of myths posses. The term â€Å"myth† is a term that is thrown around very loosely in our society to describe something that may be untrue or with a fictitious background. As discussed, the term is much more than that and has some truth to it. Stories in myths were told as metaphors and had truthful insights and lessons behind them. Myths serve a mystical, cosmological, social, and psychological function that allows believers to relate to the stories in a much different level. A divine level perhaps. Myths connect the believer to their divine entity, to the society they are living in, and to themselves. How to cite Myths According to Joseph Campbell, Essay examples