Memory and the Human Lifespan



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Author | Steve Joordens |
“Book Descriptions: "Memory and the Human Lifespan" are twenty-four lectures by Professor Steve Joordens of the University of Toronto Scarborough, who has been repeatedly honored as both teacher and researcher. The lectures lead a startling voyage into the human mind, explaining not only how the various aspects of your memory operate, but the impact memory has on your daily experience of life.
The various memory systems provide the continuity of consciousness that allows the concept of "you" to make sense, creating the ongoing narrative that makes your life truly yours. Without those systems and the overall experience of memory they make possible, you would have no context for the most crucial decisions of your life. You would have to make—without the benefit of experience and knowledge—the decisions that determine not only your quality of life, but your very survival. And your ability to learn, or even to form the personality that makes you unique, would similarly be set adrift.
Course Lecture Titles
24 Lectures, 30 minutes per lecture
1.Memory Is a Party
Using the metaphor of a party whose “guests” include the different components of the complex interactions that make up memory, Professor Joordens introduces you to several kinds of memory—including episodic, semantic, and procedural—to arrive at an initial understanding of the variety of processes at work in human “memory.”
2. The Ancient “Art of Memory”
Techniques to embed and retrieve memories more easily—so-called mnemonic strategies—date back at least to classical Greece. See how one such technique—the Method of Loci—can help improve the episodic memory you depend on to recall a group of items such as grocery or to-do lists.
3. Rote Memorization and a Science of Forgetting
Is a mnemonic strategy always the most useful? Examine rote memorization and how it differs from mnemonics. Also, get an introduction to the work of Hermann Ebbinghaus, whose 19th-century experiments in remembering and forgetting marked the first scientific examination of memory.
4. Sensory Memory—Brief Traces of the Past
Begin a deeper discussion of the different kinds of memory, beginning with sensory memory and how its brief retentive power lets you switch from one stimulus to another—and even gives you your sense of “the present moment.” Here, the focus is on iconic (or visual) memory and its auditory counterpart, echoic memory.
5. The Conveyor Belt of Working Memory
Plunge into the mental processes that allow you to work with information, often with the goal of solving a problem. You learn that these processes can also be used to keep information briefly “in mind,” though they require effort and are prone to interference.
6. Encoding—Our Gateway into Long-Term Memory
How does information make its way from your temporary working memory into long-term memory so you can access it again when you need it? This introduction to encoding explains the process and offers useful tips for improving your own recall.
7. Episodic and Semantic Long-Term Memory
Strengthen your grasp of how these two key memory systems function. You explore the relationship between them with analogies that range from the job requirements of London taxi drivers to the famed “holo-deck” of the Star Trek television series.
8. The Secret Passage—Implicit Memory
Encounter still another category of memory—a way in which your experiences can enter long-term memory without the kind of “effortful encoding” discussed earlier. You learn why this sort of memory creation is vitally important, yet also unreliable as a substitute for conscious effort.
9. From Procedural Memory to Habit
In this lecture, you see that your memory for procedures is useful not only in the “muscle memory” of physical skills, but also in cognitive processes. Also, learn about constructivist learning, in which the explicit structure of a procedure—which is usually taught verbally—instead is learned implicitly during exploratory practice.
10. When Memory Systems Battle—Habits vs. Goals
What happens when implicit or procedural memories become so powerful they seize control? In this examination of the tenacity of habits, learn how and why habits are formed and what steps might be useful in changing them, or at least regaining control.
11. Sleep and the Consolidation of Memories
Does sleep play a role in strengthening memories of your experiences during the day? Gain a sense of the latest research about a subject that is difficult to study as you explore the relationship between sleep and memory, including the possible link between specific sleep stages and specific kinds of memory.
12. Infant and Early Childhood Memory
How does the maturation of memory fit into a child’s overall brain development? Gain invaluable and surprising insights into the month-by-month and year-by-year development of a child’s capacity for memory, beginning ...”