Citation: Birkenbihl, Vera F., and Paul R. Scheele. Memory Optimizer Personal Learning Course. 1st ed. 2001. Print.
Basic background: This was recommended to me on Steve Pavlina’s site in his college student advice tips thing, which I just had to look at despite being currently a senior. It comes in both audio and print format, but I’ve only gone through much of the print at this point in time, with some from the audio.
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“Wanting to [do work] but no doing anything today? ” Promise yourself to do only a little today (this sounds very similar to a lot of stuff I’ve been reading lately. The “just this once” effect, so good).
Trick:
Training
Repertoire
Improve your
Competence&
Knowhow
Memory:
Memory meant to be autobiographical, and learned in connections to others (why you can’t remember that Civil War battle date in AP USH)
Traditional memory systems: based off making dull info “colorful” and thus “biographical”
Memory web: Everything we know is a thread in a gigantic 3-D web, which are connected to others.
The more information is used, more firmly attached to other threads of web, thus easier to recall.
Auxiliary threads: Helper threads to pull in necessary information.
Understanding: Being able to relate something in your web to the knowledge.
Reconstructing memory – remembering a memory recalls threads that are attached to it as well, thus reinforcing the entire system.
THE MEMORY PYRAMID:
Pyramid ground – billions of individual events (details?)
Memories that make up pyramid = compilations of these details
Memory pyramid is gigantic – 11 miles of territory that we can explore (recall using power of thought) through a 15 inch flashlight beam (trying to remember something).
Three parts to pyramid:
Foundation: The 15 inches of consciously registered info.
Middle of Pyramid: Divided into 3:
1. Individual autobiographic memories (ie what you experience at a party)
2. General memories (general assumptions and expectations from certain events and actions, ie parties are loud)
Top of Pyramid (3rd part): Abstract ideas/Plato ideas/Schacter global memories/Kotre’s thematic memories – The big picture
Takes longer time to build up higher parts of pyramid (they’re condensed after all), but no particular level of the pyramid is more important than the others. Also, higher = clearer – they are more ideal, abstract (ie a perfect circle can be imagined, but drawing one is much harder; you don’t imagine a roughly drawn circle while drawing to draw a perfect circle).
Interesting note on individual memories: They prevent Alzheimer’s, b/c Alz disease kills sense of self via destroying individual memories. Since Alz detoriates personal memories, many victims still know how to operate stuff, they simply lose sense of self. By strengthening autobiographical memory fibers, Alz effect can be slowed.
From theory to reality: Since gain more abstract ideas when aging, but these are not lost unlike autobiographical memories, most old people are the poets, sages, etc.
