Monday 28 April 2008

How much can we remember at once?

When I studied memory during A level psychology I was fascinated by what we know about memory. I chanced across this article today http://www.livescience.com/health/080428-working-memory.html.  I like it because memory was initially presented in very simplistic terms. It's nice to see extra levels being added that fit my experience of learning and using my memory. I agree with the concept that better working memory relates to your intelligence at that point. My experience is that the times I'm at my best my memroy is on top form and when I'm not working well my memory is often not working so well. This is often when I'm tired, overloaded or unwell.

I believe many parts of the brain have their own fitness level. One that's trainable and when it's been trained well and given sufficient rest it helps you do great things. Among other areas I'd include memory and concentration as key areas in this.

If this is true then it would correlate with computers. It's well understood that as memory improves applications can grow and become smarter. Though this must be coupled with the ability to manipulate information much faster. Otherwise they'd be smart but slow. Fascinating how things relates improvements in computer capabilities with improvements in human capabilities. Key point is that humans have a lot of space to store and link information and can do it very quickly.

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