Associating Memories
and their Components
Working Memory
External Memory
Stored Information (Perceived Content)
Learning (Memorising) and Understanding
Development of Brain Functions in Humans
BRAIN, MIND AND
BEHAVIOUR (Human Behaviour and how the Mind works)
Instincts and Instinctive Behaviour
Conscious Behaviour: Learning and Evaluating, Memory and Memorising
Associating
Memories and their Components
Suppose we remember a person saying something. The component parts of
this memory, components such as shape of face, sound of voice, colour
of hair, are stored in different locations. They are associated with each
other, cross-indexed if you like, so that a memory can be recalled from
remembering just one of its components. Component memories are continually
being associated with other old or new component memories, enormously
increasing the range and flexibility of what can be recalled.
And so we may be able to recall a person's name by remembering the colour
of his hair, or the shape of his face.
Working
Memory
The working memory enables the brain to evaluate the mass of incoming
information and select what is to be retained and memorised and what is
to be rejected.
External
Memory
In addition we have the vast mass of externally prepared and stored information
which is accumulating. It has accumulated ever since people told stories
to their young who in turn retold them to later generations and ever since
writing was invented and the printed word accumulated, followed by pictures,
photographs, films and videos, television and computerised manipulation
of text and images. All of which spread and proliferated together with
corresponding search (recall, retrieval, associating and selecting) procedures.
STORED
INFORMATION (PERCEIVED CONTENT)
Much of what we are storing includes semantic information, that is information
which consists of words and is about words, information relating to what
words mean and imply.
And images, that is scenes, including events and sequences of events,
and their components.
Including what happened, when it happened and the sequence in which it
happened. People with an eidetic (image-retaining) memory remember images,
often clearly and in detail <1>. "Many, if not all, young children
apparently do normally see and remember eidetically, but this capacity
is lost to most as they grow up. What is in young children an apparently
general capacity has become a remarkable rarity in adults." {6} The
information one receives may be fact or fiction, right or wrong, intended
to inform or to mislead, understood or misunderstood. Even so, what is
stored is the perceived content of the received information.
LEARNING
(MEMORISING) AND UNDERSTANDING
Rose defines an animal's learning by "learning is a response by an
animal to a novel situation such that, when confronted subsequently with
a comparable situation, the animal's behaviour is reliably modified in
such a way as to make its response more appropriate" {6} <3>
Pointing out that human memory is very different from that of a non-human
animal, Rose says that "procedural memory dominates the lives of
non-human animals, ... but declarative memory profoundly shapes our every
act and thought." Our memory includes a verbal memory which "means
the possibility of learning and remembering without manifest behaviour."
But our memory consists
of much more than just verbal memories.
Continually associating new information with older information, and older
information with other older information, is much more than random cross-referencing.
It is because of the meaningful way in which we associate over such large
volumes of stored information, that the process of associating amounts
also to the seeking of meaningful associations. So to me it seems that
all the information we take in and retain results in a more comprehensive
view and deeper understanding of the world in which we live, of our social
organisation and physical environment. Thus, in the end, at some time
and in some way, the information we have taken in affects and changes
what we do, changes our behaviour.
INSTINCTS
AND INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOUR
We saw that instincts are an innate form of behaviour, that is a form
of behaviour which is not learned but which the animal performs from birth,
without being trained to do so.
Behaviour relating to survival of a species, such as attack, defence and
sexual behaviour, is instinctive and responses are automatic. Territory
is acquired by force and defended. Might is right.
CONSCIOUS
BEHAVIOUR: LEARNING AND EVALUATING, MEMORY AND MEMORISING
As mammals evolved
from reptiles, there evolved the ability for storing new experiences as
they happen and so creating a store of experience-based memories.
A primitive animal's
memory seems to be largely procedural. Both procedural and declarative
memories are long-term memories, but declarative memory is located and
used in a different way.
Human beings are learning
all the time, memorising information and then recalling it when it is
required.
What is being memorised includes what we are taught, what happens to us
and to others and any lessons learned as a result. And when it happened
and the sequence in which it happened. Including also the meaning of words
and what is implied. And in addition we have the vast mass of externally
prepared and stored information which is accumulating at an accelerating
pace.
Massive volumes of
information are being received. The incoming information is evaluated
and we memorise only information which seems to matter. Some is retained,
the rest rejected. Retained short-term (working) memories are converted
to long-term memories. So only a part of the incoming information is retained
and stored, that is memorised, so becoming available for recalling later
when required.
Aspects of memories <9> are stored in different locations. Aspects
such as colour, shape, event, phrase, place, time, date. Aspects like
shape of face, sound of voice, colour of hair.
Memories are associated, crossindexed if you like, with their different
aspects and can be recalled by recalling an aspect associated with the
memory one wishes to recall. Component memories are continually being
associated with other old or new component memories, enormously increasing
the range and flexibility of what can be recalled. A process which continually
keeps available memory components which relate to those of current interest,
and memory components which are more frequently used than others.
Human beings store memories by means of changed neural pathways, by means
of persistent modifications to the structure of neurons and their synaptic
connections, by means of biochemical changes. {6} <3>
So we are strengthening neural pathways or associations by frequently
using or recalling them, weakening memory components which are not being
used.
Hence using neural pathways holds memories at higher, more easily accessible
levels of memory, makes them more readily available. Infrequently recalled
memories would seem to be overlaid by more frequently used ones, seem
to be reduced to lower levels of awareness, of accessibility.
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ICOMMUNICATING
NON-VERBALLY: CONVEYING INFORMATION BY USING IMAGES
Instinctive Behaviour
Subconscious Behaviour (Functioning)
Memorising
Instinctive
Behaviour
Dreaming trains animals and human beings in instinctive responses and
then keeps instinctive behaviour fully trained.
Dreaming does so by generating situations which require responses of the
fight, flight, affection kind. A dream produces a corresponding response
which, however, is not translated into action as the dreamer's body is
normally paralysed by the mind for duration of dreaming (REM) sleep.
Frequent replaying strengthens corresponding neural pathways and so trains
the individual to respond and to respond quickly.
Subconscious
Behaviour (Functioning)
As mammals evolved from reptiles, the added functions included organs
such as the autonomic nervous system for the automatic control of body
functions, of functions such as digestion, the fluid balance, body temperature
and blood pressure.
A key finding of this report is that the right hemisphere of the human
brain is able to communicate by using images with the brain's older and
more primitive component organs which have no verbal skills. And this
enables us to communicate intentionally (that is 'consciously') with our
autonomic nervous system and ask it by visualising to control body functions
and to affect our body's immune system. Any or all our senses can be included
when visualising.
Clinical trials have shown remarkable success in areas such as the treatment
of cancer and heart disease. Communicating with one's autonomic nervous
system by visualising is a conscious activity.
Hence it is possible to direct and use the mind's subconscious maintenance
and control capabilities, and so enable environmental experience and knowledge
to be applied for one's benefit. That is, one's knowledge and experience
can be consciously applied towards modifying the mind's subconscious control
of body functions for the benefit of the individual.
Memorising
It is while REM sleeping that dreams are generated and that we appear
to be filing away (memorising) memories for later use. Much of dreaming
may then be the creating and recalling of associations. As the night progresses
this process seems to become more intuitive, delving deeper into stored
memories and associations, associating with earlier memories and their
aspects, tending to go back in time towards childhood.
Becoming more intuitive by going through likely or apparently associated
filed images or other stored memory components (aspects) in their different
locations.
In this way keeping long-term memories intact and relevant by continually
associating and reassociating their various parts. So we are strengthening
neural pathways or associations by frequently using or recalling them.
This process at the same time would seem to weaken those memory components
we are not thinking about or which are not being used.
ADAPTING
TO THE ENVIRONMENT: CHANGING INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOUR
A key feature which distinguishes mammals from the reptiles from which
they evolved would seem to be that the mammalian brain contains organs
for the experience-based recognition of danger and for responding to this
according to past experience. And for some conscious feelings about events.
Millions of neural pathways connect the organs which generate experience-based
memories, and also those which generate conscious feelings with associated
behavioural response patterns, to the reptilian parts of the mammalian
brain.
It seems that feelings such as attachment, anger and fear have emerged
with associated behavioural response patterns, and that behaviour is less
rigidly controlled by instincts.
So it seems that instinctive behaviour can be modified by feelings of
care and affection and also by experience, particularly when repeated
frequently.
Neural pathways are created and strengthened by being used, others weakened
by not being used. We react accordingly and it seems as if memories are
being created which modify instinctive behavioural responses.
It also seems that instinctive behaviour has to be controlled, and modified
according to the environment in which we find ourselves, in every generation,
and that the mammalian and human parts of the brain play a major part
in this.
ADAPTING
TO THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE: CHANGING BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS
We adapt to the world
in which we live in much the same way. What happens to us and what we
do, and what happens as a result, changes neural pathways. A trace is
left, neural pathways are changed, memories are formed. Playing is one
way of learning how to behave, of learning about social co-operation and
conflict, about family relations and about bringing up a family. From
infant through child and adolescence to being an adult, we go through
a long period in which we learn through playing and by experience. And
learning by experience and by gaining knowledge continues while we are
alive.
Social responsibility, the caring, giving and sharing with others, the
taking on of responsibility for others, including conflict management,
can be and is being taught.
What human beings do, what happens to us, is also memorised if thought
relevant. These memories can be recalled when required and in this way
will affect our future behaviour. Additionally we also absorb information
from external memory, from the mass of information now available to us
from sources external to ourselves. And the action we take, what we do,
depends on evaluating the situation, what we know and how we feel about
it. The outcome itself is evaluated and becomes part of our memories.
It seems that on the whole people may not be able to recall feelings,
that most people can only recall how they felt about something at the
time. Each new experience adds to our knowledge and plays a part in shaping
our view of the community and society in which we live, of the world at
large, and helps to determine our behaviour.
EVALUATION
AND UNDERSTANDING
Behaviour of the primitive
animals from which human beings evolved is instinctive. Which means that
behaviour relating to survival, such as attack, defence or sexual, is
automatic. Territory is acquired by force and defended. Might is right.
The mammalian brain includes the older reptilian brain and is linked to
it. With the mammalian brain emerged feelings such as attachment, fear
and anger together with associated behavioural response patterns. Mammalian
behaviour is less rigidly controlled by instincts. The human brain includes
the mammalian brain and human emotional responses depend on neuronal pathways
which link the right hemisphere to the mammalian brain.
It takes human beings many years to bring up their children and it is
the right hemisphere which is concerned with a wide range of emotions
and feelings of care and affection for the young and for the family, and
then for other people and the community.
For human beings, primitive (reptilian) instinctive urges and behaviour
are overlaid by mammalian care and affection for one's young and human
care and affection for one's family and community. Behaviour is aimed
at survival of the young and of the family, and then is for the good of
family, other people, community.
The right hemisphere is linked to the primitive older part of the brain
which has no verbal, semantic or reasoning ability and so functions subconsciously
(below the level of consciousness). Hence the right hemisphere communicates
with the 'subconscious' functions of the older part of the brain by using
images. Communicating by using images is fast.
And so the right hemisphere communicates using images and has highly developed
spatial abilities, is intuitive and imaginative, is concerned with emotions
and feelings. Speech, that is thinking and communicating by using words,
seems to have evolved later. The left hemisphere communicates by using
words, has highly developed verbal and semantic abilities, is logical
and systematic, concerned with matters as they are. Images may be described,
or transformed into a narrative, by the left hemisphere.
Hence behaviour is
not only determined by feelings but also by knowledge, understanding and
reason.
So the human brain includes the processing and memorising of images and
of their components, and the development of language and corresponding
mental processing connected with memory and memorising. It also includes
a wide range of emotions, of feelings, of care and affection, and the
capability for objective and logical thinking and evaluation. And the
later development of written languages and artificial images. We are continually
gaining information by learning, by reading or studying, learning from
the experiences of others, gaining verbal information and pictorial images
from external memory. The mind evaluates this incoming information and
decides what is to be retained and memorised, rejecting the remainder.
Information about what has been happening to oneself is treated in the
same way.
And when something is happening to oneself, when one is doing something
or planning to do something, we recall relevant information from memory,
add other available information, and before taking action we evaluate
all the information we now have. What happens as a result of the action
we took is again evaluated and memorised for later use.
Hence behaviour is
not only determined by feelings but also by knowledge, understanding and
reason.
So the human brain includes the processing and memorising of images and
of their components, and the development of language and corresponding
mental processing connected with memory and memorising. It also includes
a wide range of emotions, of feelings, of care and affection, and the
capability for objective and logical thinking and evaluation. And the
later development of written languages and artificial images. We are continually
gaining information by learning, by reading or studying, learning from
the experiences of others, gaining verbal information and pictorial images
from external memory. The mind evaluates this incoming information and
decides what is to be retained and memorised, rejecting the remainder.
Information about what has been happening to oneself is treated in the
same way.
And when something is happening to oneself, when one is doing something
or planning to do something, we recall relevant information from memory,
add other available information, and before taking action we evaluate
all the information we now have. What happens as a result of the action
we took is again evaluated and memorised for later use.
Continually associating
new information with older information, and older information with other
older information, is much more than random cross-referencing.
It is because of the meaningful way in which we associate over such large
volumes of stored information, that the process of associating amounts
also to the seeking of meaningful associations. So to me it seems that
all the information we take in and retain results in a more comprehensive
view and understanding of the world in which we live, of our social organisation
and physical environment. And thus, in the end, at some time and in some
way, the information we have taken in affects and changes what we do,
changes our behaviour.
{REFERENCES
AND LINKS}
How it Works: Electroencephalograph, Helen Davies Guardian
Scanner can see Brain in Action ,John Illman Observer
A Triune Concept of the Brain and Behaviour
P D MacLean University of Toronto Press,
Private Myths: Dreams and Dreaming
Anthony Stevens Penguin Books, 1996
The Making of Memory
Professor Steven Rose Bantam Books, 1993
The Life of the Brain
Professor Steven Rose,Guardian
Motivation Summary
http://www.solbaram.org/
Manfred Davidmann
The Will to Work: What People Struggle to Achieve
http://www.solbaram.org/
Manfred Davidmann
Brain and Mind (Cogito)
http://www.educ.drake.edu/romig/cogito/brain_and_mind.html
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