When asked if he knew the speed of sound, Einstein said he “didn’t carry such information in my mind since it’s readily available in books.”
1. Your memory of events is distorted within seconds, from BPS Research Digest. “The researchers said their findings have obvious implications for crime scene witnesses. Imagine a witness sees a man wielding a gun, and imagine seconds later they also see a person nearby falling from a gunshot wound.“
2. New evidence that children start forming solid memories when they are 2 years old, from io9. “What’s your earliest accurate memory? Chances are, it occurred after your third birthday, and until recently, scientists assumed that this was because children do not form accurate memories until the ages of three or four. But a new study from New Zealand suggests that children can correctly recall experiences from when they were two years old.”
3. Having superior working memory capacity can make time go faster, from BPS Research Digest. “Working memory is like a neural memo-pad. People with higher working memory capacity can hold more items in mind whilst solving a concurrent problem or performing a distracting task. There’s been some excitement lately about the possibility that working memory can be improved through training, with knock-on benefits for IQ and academic attainment.”
4. Memory And Amnesia In The Movies, from The Guardian. “Amnesia, or memory loss, is a popular plot device in films, but as clinical neuropsychologist Sallie Baxendale of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery notes in this 2004 British Medical Journalarticle it is almost always depicted inaccurately.”
5. If you could erase your memory with a pill would you take it? from io9. I suppose I would if I’d had an experience that was 100% traumatic and 0% useful, and there are plenty of people who’ve had such experiences. The Forgetting Pill at Wired.
6. How Marijuana Destroys Your Memory, also from io9. Not just a stereotype – smoking pot really does seem to affect short term memory.
7. How Often Are Your Memories Incorrect? from Big Think
8. Memory Is Not a Recording Device: How Technology Shaped Our Metaphors for Remembering from Brainpickings
9. How Your Brain Likes To Be Treated At Revision Time from The Guardian
10. Amnesia and the Self That Remains When Memory Is Lost from The Atlantic
11. Why We Should Memorize, from The New Yorker
12. Neurologist Oliver Sacks on Memory, Plagiarism and the Necessary Forgettings Of Creativity from BrainPickings
