Forgetting and factors influencing it. Memorization and reproduction of information End-to-end mental process

If you have no motivation or incentive,

you will not acquire thorough knowledge,

necessary for success.

(Bill Zeiss)

When we say "I can't remember the names or the places I've been or the things I've done", we have to ask ourselves if we really tried to remember all this. It is quite possible that we did not have a real need for this, or that we did not make due efforts to achieve the goal. We unconsciously sort incoming information: we leave the important for storage in memory, we discard the rest. Most often this happens automatically, and we do nothing intentionally to keep some trace in memory. Surprisingly, in most cases, our memory does its job well even without the participation of consciousness. Problems arise when useful information I don’t remember why in everyday life we ​​sometimes endure great inconvenience.

If you want to remember something, but for one reason or another you are unable to do all the mental operations necessary for this, do not despair! You just have to understand what happens when you remember and forget. Once you understand this, you will be able to move from the automatic functioning of memory to its functioning with the participation of consciousness: instead of waiting for the memories to pop up by themselves, you will deliberately provoke them to appear. You will have to correct your tendency to forget, taking into account your usual passivity. Gradually, you will become more selective in choosing the details you remember and learn to focus on things that are essential for your goals. You will become a more active observer and will be able to use associations to store more details in memory. The very study of how quality records accumulate in the brain will increase the manageability of your memory. To facilitate the retrieval of information from memory, you will attract everything you have: feelings, intellect, imagination. Thus, you will extremely sharpen your attention, and we so often lack it!

The purpose of this book is to teach you to consciously do things that your brain doesn't do unconsciously. To understand which of your actions are effective and which are not, the following exercises will help you.

We have a desire to understand the operation of any mechanism only when it fails. And memory is not a mysterious mechanism that works independently of our control! Very few people have an exceptional memory, but the rest should not despair. Let us try to understand the mechanism of memory in order to draw useful conclusions from this understanding. As children, we never think about how we manage to remember anything. We try to do it by touch, and some succeed more, others less. In school, for memorization, they most often resort to the method of repetition. There are, however, many other methods that, combined with repetition, give better results in remembering all sorts of things, whether they be names, events, numbers, or other useful information.

First of all, you should find out what are the conditions for the functioning of memory. Thinking about human nature will lead us on the right path: a set of rewards and rewards pushes a person to act voluntarily - after all, any action taken requires effort. We must constantly adapt to changes in the environment, but we change our behavior only when the game is worth the candle, that is, when we get personal satisfaction. Having noticed that with some actions everything happens in the best way, we learn and remember them, without particularly feeling the efforts being made. Indeed, work seems easy to us if it is pleasant to do, just as it is pleasant, say, playing cards or reading a good book. This also applies to the operation of the memory mechanism.

At the basis of every effort of memory lies a need or interest. Agree, no one forgets to eat or go to work, because you can’t live without it. The reward in this case is obvious and outweighs the inconvenience. Need and interest create the motivation needed to attract attention and to focus it on what is desirable to remember. Concentration of attention is supported by attention itself, and without it there is no way to guarantee the preservation of traces in memory. The degree of this concentration plays an important role in the process of memorization. Also important is the work done by the mind when concentration is achieved. The last condition for the correct functioning of memory is the sufficient structural organization of the memorized.

It is easier to understand what has been said by presenting the mechanism of memory functioning in the form of a chain with the following links:

Forgetting occurs every time this chain is broken. When something appears that seems more important to us at the moment, it completely captures our attention and everything else fades into the background. The circumstances of life, however, can make us remember what we have forgotten. Forgetting is also an integral part of the memory function. We have to instantly forget many things in order to focus on what we are currently going to do. While it may be sad to think about it, we have forgotten most of what we learned in school. However, we are well versed in the knowledge gained there that we use daily, for example, the ability to read and count. Moreover, if we need to acquire new knowledge in order to, say, improve our skills, it is easy for us to recall the already forgotten foundations of knowledge that were laid down in us before. Learning will be less difficult, as we will find in our memory a whole system of knowledge or a “card file of references”. We won't have to start from scratch, which gets harder as we age. This is undoubtedly the best argument for a good education: it is a genuine contribution to the formation of a type of memory that does not change so easily under the influence of age or events - recognition memory, allowing to identify the information already recorded in it. However, with a cursory acquaintance with the subject, it is not always imprinted in the memory for a long time. You won't always be able to remember many things you've learned before if you've only learned them for immediate use, as is the case when you're cramming for an exam, for example. As soon as the need for this knowledge has passed, they disappear without leaving a trace. These traces in your memory, the auxiliary words that open access to the memory, can be smeared or even erased if the information is of little importance to you.

What happens when you forget? Representing the memory scheme as a chain, we see that there are three possible reasons for breaking the connection between the links: 1) lack of need, interest, or motivation; 2) lack of attention or concentration; and 3) poor organization of the material. Any of these reasons alone, or any combination of them, can lead to memory failure. Why, for example, anxiety or depression so often impair memory performance? When we are depressed, we have a complete lack of interest and motivation, and it is very difficult for us to focus. And when we are disturbed, the object of concern takes over our attention and we are not able to perceive the rest. Thus, without concentration of attention, one cannot expect that the thought will take shape in the form of a correct structure that facilitates its extraction from memory.

Your first task is to look for vulnerabilities in the links of your memory mechanism. Since you have taken up this book, then you have the proper motivation, and your main problem, apparently, is connected with attention or with the organization of memory traces. As a matter of fact, the only serious reason for your difficulties is probably the poor organization of the material to be remembered. Dayade, if you really want to remember something, are very attentive and also make great efforts, forgetting occurs due to the fact that the memories are not clearly prepared or classified enough to be easily retrieved. The information is actually there, but it is very difficult to find. In this case, special techniques for organizing memory structures will help you a lot. Most of the complaints about "holes in memory", however, stem from a lack of attention. If in the beginning nothing was written down, then there is nothing to remember! But how can you be sure that you have written something in memory well? You can't be absolutely sure, but you can get a good idea of ​​this by analyzing the conditions under which you tried to record information. To better understand your memory failures, you need to know how your environment and your emotions affect the quality of information recording. When you are in the grip of emotions or the environment does not allow you to keep your attention, expect a weakening of the memory. This happens in cases where

- Are you in a hurry;

- you are worried or worried;

- Circumstances are pressing on you;

- you are distracted;

- you are interrupted;

– there are distractions or deviations from the topic;

- you are dominated by emotions (excitement, euphoria, depression);

- you are absorbed in other things;

- you are tired or feel sleepy (under the influence of alcoholic beverages or drugs);

- you are again in familiar places;

- you perform automatic actions;

- act out of habit;

- what you have to remember does not matter to you.

To think that under such conditions your memory will be able to function properly would be to believe in a miracle! You can’t count on it, and you can’t blame your memory if you were unable to focus or you didn’t have enough time to organize the information. It is not always possible to suppress anxiety, overcome absent-mindedness, or avoid rushing. So don't be too hard on yourself; you can only try to change the situation, i.e. stop, relax, concentrate, but sometimes this is completely impossible, as, say, in the case when you are late for the train.

Both young people and people of middle and older age sometimes find themselves in circumstances in which it is easy to forget something. Never rush to pass judgment on your memory. Say not “I forgot”, but depending on the situation - “I can’t remember now”, “I didn’t pay attention”, “I didn’t hear you”, “I didn’t listen”, “I didn’t fix it in my memory” or “ I didn't try to remember properly. Thus, by varying your vocabulary, you will point to different possible reasons his forgetfulness. The feeling of awkwardness will leave you, and you will stop blaming your memory for the first reason that comes across. You need to rejoice every time you remember something in time - for example, slamming the car door, you remember that you left your coat inside. You slammed the door reflexively, and the reflex worked so quickly that you didn't have time to stop and think. In this situation, you could only remember the coat after the fact, slamming the door. Oddly enough, but often say "I forgot" just at the moment when something is remembered. We are so impatient that we actually leave our memory no chance of receiving praise. Rather, you should congratulate yourself by saying, “It’s good that I remembered this - even if it took a few seconds for this to happen.” Leave the word "forget" for cases with serious consequences. The more you know about the functioning of memory, the easier it will be for you to deal with it. This book will help you gain greater control over your memory by consciously processing what you remember; and the methods of organizing it, which you will soon master, will make it much easier for you to retrieve the necessary information from memory.

Imagine that you want to record some text or song on a tape recorder. First of all, you must make sure that your device is working properly. (Similarly, the doctor should check for pathological - fortunately very rare - changes in your brain that are responsible for serious memory impairment.) Next, you must check for any sources of noise interference that can ruin your recording; and in the case of memorization, you will need to discard all thoughts that are not directly related to what you want to fix in memory. Memorization is based on concentration of attention. You must focus on the memorized subject and devote enough time to it. If you develop your visual memory, you will easily reproduce very bright mental images what you want to remember. All our senses are involved in creating such images. And how often we do not actually perceive what our eyes see, hear out of the corner of our ear, not listening, we are not fully aware of our feelings! By developing attention, you simultaneously activate your sensual and intellectual abilities. Creating mental images requires both imagination and intelligence. By associating some image with the available sensory perception, you will improve the quality of information recording in memory: association is the third key prerequisite for good memory.

The clearer the information is recorded, the easier it is to find it. As already mentioned, a good record is provided by three conditions: concentration(attention) image, association. What is the role of associations in this? If at the moment you remember something that you could not remember before, it means that some external reason or your own thought caused you to associate with a forgotten thing. When you see, hear, touch, taste or smell something and at the same time remember something else (a place, a person, a feeling), you are responding to some kind of stimulus. At the same time, memories pop up on their own, regardless of your will, and, as in a chain reaction, one awakens the other. You can gain some control over the mechanism for recalling memories by choosing the right stimuli to create associations (this book will walk you through the details of this approach later). For example, if you often forget to take your umbrella with you, try the following trick. Leaving the house, every time you cross the threshold of the front door. So, think about this door and imagine it, mentally placing your wide-open umbrella in its opening. Hold this combination of images in your mind for a few moments. The next time you see the front door, the umbrella will pop into your mind. When choosing an association for the desired image, try to find such a stimulus that you will inevitably encounter at the appropriate moment: it will serve as a kind of switch on the mental image of the thing that needs to be remembered. The secret of success in the above example lies in 10 seconds, during which a person imagines two objects combined into one image.

The formation of mental images and their associations facilitates the processes of remembering - the most weak link the entire chain: it first of all provides a very reliable record of information in long-term memory, and also provides traces with "addresses" for their search. As we age, it becomes more and more difficult to find the necessary information in memory. The following methods will help you organize your trace system and search for them. As studies show, the responsibility for memory failures is, as a rule, not so much the poor storage of information as the system for accessing it. Spontaneous recall gives mediocre results, while a well-organized mechanism for finding the right traces is much more effective. A good guarantee that traces will be easy to find is provided by providing them with “search addresses” at the very moment of recording. The art of good use of memory consists in the ability to successfully select these addresses, preferably in the form of visual associations.

The methods described in the book are based on the principle that a good memory is not so much an innate gift, but the skillful use of it. Even talented artists have to practice, because the talent lies in us only potentially. As the proverb says, "The blacksmith is made in the forge."

1. Chain

To improve your memory, you need to understand how its mechanism works, what hinders it, and what makes it easier to work. This mechanism can be represented as a chain, between the links of which breaks sometimes occur, leading to memory impairment.

Need or interest - Motivation - Attention - Concentration - Organization

2. Attention

Attention - the central link in the chain of memory processes - is a necessary prerequisite for memorization. It is impossible to maintain a sufficient level of attention when the mind is occupied with something else. This happens with all kinds of interference: distracting events, deviations from the topic, strong feelings, fatigue, anxiety, depression, or the need to perform automated actions.

When control over attention is gained, spontaneous, random memorization gives way to intentional memorization with the participation of consciousness. This is the first step towards a good fixation of the material in memory.

3. Recording information in memory

Recording information requires concentrated attention: it allows you to select what you need to remember and give thoughts an ordered structure.

4. Retrieving information from memory

Any kind of organization of the memorized material facilitates the work of memory, but mnemonic techniques are especially effective, since the provision of the resulting memory traces with "identification marks" or "addresses" greatly simplifies access to them. Art good use memory consists in the ability to successfully choose such signs, preferably in the form of visual images.

So, it depends on you whether you will gain some control over your memory: there is nothing to blame on memory if you lack attention, which is not always possible to concentrate. In the absence of attention, there can be no certainty that the necessary traces will remain in the memory.

We forget much more than we remember.

(Thomas Fuller)

Robert's explanatory dictionary defines memory as "the ability to preserve and reproduce the states of consciousness experienced in the past, and what is associated with them." Like any mental process, the work of memory is very complex. To remember something, we leave aside other memories, which are instantly forgotten. In general, we forget more things than we remember. What really matters is the choice and the quality of the memories. Usually we have no problems when we remember exactly what we need. In fact, we should rather rejoice in our ability to forget a lot. Most people with phenomenal memory are not so happy: they would like not to remember too much! During normal functioning of memory, a natural balance is maintained between remembering and forgetting. As Alexander Chase noted in his aphorism: “Memory is that with which we forget.” We will soon see why this is so. Here we will consider a number of theoretical models that describe the mechanism of memory from different angles. All of them complement each other, and each of them adds something to our holistic view of mnestic processes.

Anatomy

The structures responsible for memory are scattered throughout the brain, although a region called the hippocampus, at the base of the temporal lobe of each hemisphere, is of particular importance. If this area on one side of the brain is damaged, memory processes can still proceed, but with bilateral damage, memory function is seriously impaired.

neurochemistry

The hippocampus contains large amounts of acetylcholine, which serves as a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that transmit signals from one neuron (nerve cell) to another. If there is not enough acetylcholine in the brain, memory impairment occurs. A rough analogy is a car stopping due to lack of gasoline. In such cases, doctors sometimes prescribe drugs such as choline in the hope of restoring normal levels of acetylcholine (and thus memory), but the results of such treatments are unpredictable and often disappointing.

The second cause of memory disorders can be a violation of the metabolism (metabolism) of the brain, which develops in old age. The metabolism of the brain is maintained mainly through the oxidation of carbohydrates, which provides energy. Part of this energy is spent on the synthesis of acetylcholine.

electrophysiology

It is now possible to study mental activity by recording the electrical currents that arise in the brain in the form of an electroencephalogram (EEG). If the metabolism of the whole body slows down, as happens in old age, then there is also a weakening of the waves of electrical activity of the brain. It seems that the degree of this weakening corresponds to the degree of development of brain disorders. Note, however, that there are significant individual differences, and in older people they are more pronounced than in younger people.

Information processing (stimulus-response)

The information we want to remember is processed in our head, which is called "coding". The information processing model is a stimulus-response model in which a stimulus is an external signal perceived by our senses. The stimulus is registered, and then "fits" in a certain way into the system of memory traces. In the future, when a new stimulus appears, the response can occur already taking into account previously recorded information. In other words, every impression enters the brain through the senses: we see, hear, taste, smell or touch something. External stimuli constantly keep us awake. Knowing all this, you can greatly increase your chances of remembering something: you just need to strengthen the deliberately chosen stimuli that we will surely meet when we need to remember this subject, circumstance, etc. The stimulus-response system works as follows: the brain perceives a stimulus, this stimulus is registered in memory, and then some second stimulus or signal activates the mechanism for extracting information about the first.

Degree of detail in coding

The more pre-processing information is subjected to, the more correctly it is recorded. A deep thought stays in memory much longer than a fleeting or superficial judgment. Any new thought that has not yet been subjected to in-depth development should be recorded in writing: it is not yet woven into the general fabric of your thoughts, not inscribed in a certain context, and therefore fragile and can easily be erased from memory. To improve processing new information it is very important to establish mental connections and structure new information. For greater confidence in remembering information, repetition is most often used. However, this method affects memory mechanically and superficially, and its fruits are felt only for a short time, unless it is supplemented with more complex mental operations that leave deeper and more ordered traces. This explains why children so easily forget what they have learned by heart without truly understanding the meaning and establishing a connection with real life, i.e. deep assimilation. To subject information to thorough processing and encode it for long-term storage, it is important to perform a number of mental operations: comment on new data, evaluate their significance, ask questions, compare and compare with something. This development of a network of associations, both emotional and intellectual, increases the efficiency of memorization - you will see this later, having done the appropriate exercises.

Along with this, the formation of traces in memory significantly depends on the mood and the environment. We tend to remember something experienced in a certain setting when we get into it again. Memories of ancient times often arouse vivid emotions in us. Events that have greatly disturbed us leave a deeper imprint on our memory than events of a neutral nature. Each of us colors the stimuli coming from outside with our own emotions and cultural context. As Hamlet says: "Nothing in itself is either bad or good, our thought makes it so." We are constantly interpreting the world around us: we perceive it, and then pass the information we receive through our own filters. That is why the testimonies of witnesses who observed the same incident differ so much. As the psychologist Elizabeth Loftus observed, “We create our own memories,” giving them a form that is specific to our personality. Memory is a creative function, and our consciousness can take much more part in it than is usually the case in reality.

Timeframes (dependencies and links)

Our life flows in time frames, and the same applies to our memories. Some impressions last for only a few seconds or minutes, others for months and years. As Edouard Herriot said: “Culture is what remains when everything

specific information has already been forgotten. In reality, there seems to be some kind of selection process going on, separating what is meant to be remembered for a short time and what is meant to be remembered for a long time. This selection can go both unconsciously and with the participation of consciousness, if we give Special attention certain stimuli and try to fix in memory only the information that seems to us especially interesting. The inquisitive mind is constantly thinking, thus reinforcing old memories with new associations. It is in this continuous selection of information that our culture consists: we are what we have absorbed into the active register of our memory, accessible at any moment. Our “I” is what we think, say, do, eat, and all this together reflects both the state of our entire culture and our individuality.

Immediate (sensory) memory retains traces of impressions received in previous moments. It rarely worsens, since there is no need for a solid record, and the extraction of information occurs automatically and, moreover, almost simultaneously with the perception itself, so there is simply no time to forget. Good example use of such a process - typing on a typewriter. When reading text, a word is remembered only for the time it takes to play it on the keyboard (usually less than a second); then it is forgotten, the next word takes its place, and so on. It is interesting to note that in people suffering from amnesia, immediate memory is usually not impaired; unfortunately, it cannot replace long-term memory.

short term memory saves information up to about 5 seconds. This is a working (working) memory, which holds no more than seven elements - a kind of storage chamber with seven cells. It operates on the principle of a card index of links, with the help of which you can extract more detailed information. These seven cells can contain concepts or ideas that in turn can evoke associations and reminiscences. The contents of short-term memory last longer only with continuous repetition. An example of this is the repeated dialing of a phone number when you cannot get through to someone. You must mentally repeat the number until you dial it.

Both mentioned types of memory do not need a complex thought process, so they are superficial and sensitive to outside interference. If you are interrupted while you are typing a phrase or dialing a phone number, you will have to play everything from the beginning.

long term memory requires longer procedures and complex mental operations. Its duration can vary greatly. Information that is essential to us is consciously recorded into long-term memory. This is called semantic coding and involves the inclusion of new information being recorded in a certain context in accordance with its meaning. Without long-term memory, learning would be impossible. Any new knowledge is in one way or another connected with what is already known, our mind here not only resorts to mechanical repetition, as in the case of short-term memorization, but seeks to establish connections and interpret new information in the light of old information already available. For example, when actors learn roles, they first carefully analyze the text, and then reproduce the scene on this basis, bringing their emotions, facial expressions and other elements of their culture into it. A clear record in the memory of new knowledge requires time, concentration and deep thinking. Some people have a special gift for successfully organizing elements of information for better memorization, and those who are also observant easily use the imagination to find suitable associations. Alas, most often this does not happen by itself, but this can be learned and thus improve your memory.

In his theory of memory, Plato used a metaphor: he compared memory to a wax tablet, the quality of which determines how well one can write on it. According to Plato, good or bad memory given to us from birth. As it was believed in the ancient world, the fate of a person is determined by the will of the gods and there is little that can be changed in it. It is clear that with such ideas, memory was perceived as an innate gift. Plato did not explain what, from his point of view, could be "good quality wax" or how all the memories recorded on it are brought together. However, in a world where oral tradition was very strong (before the invention of printing, peoples relied mainly on memory, passing on the cultural heritage in the form of stories and ballads about historical events), Plato must have taken for granted the use of mnemonic devices - these props for memory, which were widespread at the time.

In recent years, psychologists have placed special emphasis on such models of the memory device, in which, to facilitate the subsequent search for information, the memorized elements are organized into an ordered system. It has been shown that the availability of information recorded in the brain depends on how our own thought was organized at the time of its recording. It is now recognized that the successful structuring of ideas greatly facilitates the work of memory. Note that the ability to organize the memorized material, as well as to concentrate attention, is not innate. Both are acquired as a result of training, and therefore at any age it is not too late to begin to exercise and improve your skills. Gerontological research has shown that the French saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is not true: people can learn at any age. This can be seen in the many subjects over 55 years of age who were able to be taught new thinking strategies, although the training itself took them somewhat more time than younger ones.

It is very important to understand how our memory works - in this way we will tear off the mystical cover from it. When we know why we remember something and forget something, many possibilities immediately open up. Plato's wax tablet metaphor is still interesting for its imagery, but nowadays some psychologists prefer to compare the intellect to a computer, thereby emphasizing the principles of memory. Both analogies complement each other. One can also think that all impressions, images, feelings and thoughts are recorded in the brain in the same way that documents are copied: our mind is like a photographic plate and in many ways resembles a Platonic wax tablet. I can imagine that thousands of images perceived by our brain are classified by it with the efficiency of a computer. Given the amount of information that the brain accumulates, it's hard not to admire this wonderful memory device. For most of us, throughout our lives, memories are correctly "sorted into shelves", and their file cabinets are organized into a vast network with internal relationships. The brain categorizes memories in a very practical way, according to the frequency with which they are used in life, and they accordingly rise closer to the level of consciousness or recede into the unconscious.

For clarity, we illustrate this on a conditional model with a number of zones painted in different colors. Imagine a system of three layers. The upper layer is very close to the level of consciousness. It contains information useful in everyday life, which you have to refer to frequently. I personally see this layer as blue and clear as day. It is in it, for example, that our active colloquial dictionary is located, constantly mentioned names, frequently dialed phone numbers, etc. This is a very busy area, from which the necessary information is constantly issued. Other levels follow, where information is stored in an ordered form that we do not need so often.

The middle layer contains "passive" material, which we refer to less frequently. To extract information from here, one has to resort to auxiliary associations (including mnemonic devices). This second layer seems to me to be a rusty zone, quieter, where our memories, as if covered with rust, rest in peace. With age, as vital activity decreases, this second layer increases due to the decrease in the first. It is in this second layer that the once learned foreign languages ​​that we rarely use are stored. I remember how uncomfortable I felt during the first days of my internship in France, my homeland. Other words came to my mind in English, and during the conversation there was not enough time to translate them. Many times I stumbled over words like "to focus" (to concentrate, in French - se concentrer, fixer), the French sound of which is unlike English, and therefore difficult to translate when fast speech, although I specifically prepared for the use of these "tricky" words. French, which I no longer used systematically in the US, faded into the background and was replaced by English, especially in a very specific area of ​​my work. But since I understood the reasons for the difficulties that arose during the translation, I did not needlessly scold myself. Instead of being tormented by remorse, I patiently waited for all the necessary knowledge to pass from the rusty area to the blue, which eventually happened under the influence of the new environment and as a result of the re-elaboration and frequent use of various French terms.

The lowest layer is adjacent to the area of ​​the unconscious. It looks gray to me, like a zone of the unknown. This is perhaps the largest of all three layers, because each of us registers millions of impressions in our minds from the day we were born.

Psychoanalysts say that as a result of an active process called repression, traces of unpleasant experiences pass into this gray zone. That is why memories of traumatic situations (aggression, violence, etc.) are sometimes blocked in memory. However, for the most part they are not completely suppressed, but are only forced out into the gray zone in order to make room for other memories that are more relevant at this time and therefore placed closer to the level of consciousness. With age, when the present is no longer so exciting, much more attention is paid to associations related to the past. When they stop looking forward, they look back. This is why older people often remember events or experiences from twenty years ago better than what they ate for breakfast today. (However, if they ate something out of the ordinary like black caviar, you can bet they'll remember it!)

Memories of the distant past, as it were, are waiting to be awakened by a strong emotion, like the Sleeping Beauty of Charles Perrault. We, like in the theater, need a prompter that would remind our minds of long-standing events. Most often, such a prompter is some kind of sensory perception, entailing a succession of images, words and sensations imprinted in the memory in days long past. This retrieval follows the stimulus-response principle described at the beginning of this chapter. This is what is called involuntary recall, since the perception-stimulus acts unexpectedly for ourselves.

Examples of involuntary recall abound both in life and in literature. In Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, we find a classic example of such a reminiscence. The author dipped a piece of biscuit into a cup of tea, and at the moment when the dipped piece touched his palate, he experienced something unusual: the present with all its boring gloom disappeared, and he himself was overwhelmed with a joyful feeling. Straining his attention, he waited, trying to understand the reason for the change. “Suddenly, an old picture popped up in my mind. It tasted the same as the little piece of biscuit that my aunt Léonie served me on Sunday mornings in Combray after she dipped it in her herbal tea.” Connected in the depths of memory with its original context, this feeling pulled a chain of images of a happy childhood. "The whole of Combray and its surroundings, everything that has appearance and hardness, gardens and cities, splashed out of my cup of tea."

Note that Marcel Proust had the patience to wait a few seconds for the brain to restore the entire chain of diverse memories. Instead of focusing only on the image of his aunt, the author facilitated further memory work by focusing on the taste sensation and the pleasure that it delivered. The fullness of awareness played a decisive role here - thanks to it, there was enough time for the "manifestation" of traces of memory. In such cases, the willingness to dive into the past serenely is also important: anxiety can block the brain's networks of connections and make it difficult to extract information.

If you want to remember more details, freely surrender to the awakening feelings - and the memories will consistently pop up before your eyes. As you will learn in later chapters, your mind can also play an active part in the process of recording and retrieving memories. Awakened consciousness is a great aid to memory, and it also gives you a deeper satisfaction from contact with the world around you.

No one can say whether nature is perfect or not. Indeed, for this it is necessary to cover such a volume of knowledge that it is impossible to be sure of their completeness and accuracy. Obviously, not everything "goes well in this best possible world," as Voltaire's Candide once believed. Philosophy, religion and science teach us, however, that the imperfections of nature (for example, earthquakes or epidemics) also play a role in the structure of the universe. This also applies to the memory system. Its seeming flaw, the propensity to forget, makes sense and ultimately makes us happier, because memory primarily serves the needs of the present moment. We better remember what is important and pleasant for us and easily forget everything else, including unpleasant events. Sometimes we forget something really important for us, and this can lead to tragic consequences - for example, if we forget to turn off the gas. The whole question is this: do we keep in memory all the events that have happened to us, or only the most vivid ones, both good and bad? In recent years, the mechanisms of both storage and forgetting have been intensively studied in the hope of understanding how accidents happen and why eyewitness testimony is so unreliable. According to Elizabeth Loftus, memories are pre-sorted in the brain and subsequently stored only those that have undergone proper processing in long-term memory. On fig. Figure 2.1 schematically shows the possible fate of information in the brain. Information received from the outside world enters short-term memory, where it can be stored through repetition, and then transferred to long-term memory or completely forgotten. In the process of transferring for long-term storage, information is processed, which consists in its ordering - complex structuring with the participation of our entire personality.

Recent studies have shown that memory traces are constantly changing: reality is distorted, we “correct” it with each repeated recall. Loftus explains why memory can deceive us: “The fact is that we very often do not see things as they really are. Even if we quite accurately fix the events of the past in memory, the resulting traces do not remain unchanged - they are subject to extraneous influences that lead to their distortion. Even among those with the most brilliant memory, its traces are very plastic. One of Maurice Chevalier's songs speaks of a disagreement that arose between a couple of lovers because they each remember the past in their own way and in very different ways. He is romantic, she is quite earthly, but was there a moon that night? .. We will never know. Our brain filters and selects the events we experience through a mechanism that is obscure to us, controlled by the subconscious. The choice of things to remember depends on our mood, place of stay, moment in time, cultural traditions and other factors. Being completely sure that we are right, we may remember some event in a completely different way than our friends remember it. This is why the testimony of witnesses is often of little value. We see only part of the picture, usually the one we want to see. A good illustration is the story of Rashomon in Kurosawa's film. Each of his characters has their own version of the same event, and in the end the viewer comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to find out what really happened. In view of the limited reliability of memory, we should not be too confident in declaring that we remember something well. If, however, we memorize the course of events consciously and methodically, we are much more likely to retain a more objective picture. For example, you can specifically train police officers to fix their attention on some specific things - on car numbers, physical signs of people or places, etc.

Although it is impossible to claim an impeccable memory, because it depends in part on unconscious processes, it can be improved by developing your attention. Memory is subjective, it is part of our personality. We can learn to control it, at least to the limited extent that our life itself can be controlled. The amazing thing about memory is that it reconciles the emotional and rational principles in us, and you will only benefit if you actively influence their unification.

In view of the importance of visual memory for memory processes, I will conditionally liken the brain to a camera. So, imagine that your brain is a very sensitive camera that captures everything that is displayed in it. Most of the time it focuses automatically and we don't realize what is being done to create a sharp image. When you have memory problems, it's like an autofocus system malfunctioning: you now have to manually adjust the lens, which is what you actually do when you immerse yourself in reading a fascinating book or other interesting activity. Book plots and activities worthy of your attention, you choose based on your goals. You become the master of the process of registering events with memory and, perhaps, act more creatively in doing so - you are, as it were, making your own movie. You outline the plot of this film and choose from which angle to shoot. You may be aware that when your mind was under automatic control, it was limited in its manifestations. However, he was well-adjusted to effectively choose what was important for him to register in a given situation. This is a complex mechanism that operates unconsciously while under the influence of a sufficiently strong motivation. Such motivation may be related to work, a sense of responsibility, natural curiosity, or life aspirations. The choice of memorable images in each situation depends on its specifics. You can take control of memory by moving to "manual control", i.e., becoming aware of what you want to remember. Make a general plan of action in accordance with your "plot" and take note of all the information related to it. With the intervention of consciousness, much more faithful and persistent traces remain in your memory.

When analyzing what you remember, think about your mood, feelings and impressions. Do not hesitate to comment on this emotional context. This at the right time will make it much easier for you to retrieve information from memory. Such training of the mind will develop your curiosity, sometimes dormant in us. Curiosity is the very key to our attention, which will open the way for us to a good memory.

Memory is a complex mental process that can be better understood by looking at it from different perspectives.

A. Physiological aspect

1. Anatomy: An important memory center is located in the hippocampus, located in the temporal lobes of the brain.

2. Neurochemistry: one of the substances necessary for the functioning of memory is acetylcholine; it is found in the hippocampus large quantities and plays the role of a neurotransmitter.

3. Electrophysiology: brain activity is reflected in the electrical activity of the brain (electroencephalogram).

B. Psychological aspect

1. Information processing (stimulus-response): the recording of information in memory and its retrieval are greatly facilitated with a conscious choice of stimuli and concentration of attention on them.

2. The degree of information processing: the simultaneous consideration of our logical and emotional reactions guarantees a better record of the material in memory. The better the quality of the recording itself, the easier it is to extract.

3. Time Frame: There are two kinds of memory. Short-term memory is superficial and fragile. So that the information does not disappear from it after a few seconds, you have to repeat it to yourself. Long-term memory is deeply rooted in our minds. It is supported by semantic coding, i.e. searches for the meaning of the remembered. This memory is associated with complex mental operations.

4. Storage: the system is built from three layers (active, passive, latent) in accordance with the frequency of access to recorded information. To facilitate memorization, one can conditionally imagine these layers (zones) painted in three colors: blue - the active zone of the present, the color of rust - the passive zone of the recent past, gray - the sleeping beauty among the sleepy kingdom in the foggy gray zone of the distant past.

CONSCIOUSNESS

BLUE ZONE

Information used regularly, essential in everyday life. Easily removed

ACTIVE

RUST ZONE

Information retrieved less frequently. Excellent memory in the form of recognition

PASSIVE

GRAY ZONE

A lot of information accumulated since childhood. Requires a "prompter" to play. Involuntary memory (stimulus-response recall)

LATENT

SUBCONSCIOUS

5. Memory is imperfect - it is subjective, subject to distortion (memories are modified after each retrieval), forgetting is an integral part of the memory mechanism.

I. Degree of information processing

The questions below may seem absurd to you, and their sequence strange; an explanation of this can be found at the end of the exercise. Read the list of words and questions to them. Read only one line at a time, while closing the others. Answer "yes" or "no", then turn the page and write down all the words that you remember from memory.

1. Water - Do you like the combination water – desert island?

2. Flower - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

3. Train - Do you like the combination train – desert island?

4. Tire - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

5. Month - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

6. Leg - Do you like the combination leg – desert island?

7. Chocolate - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

8. Prince - Do you like the combination prince – desert island?

9. Carpet - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

10. Keys - Do you like the combination keys – desert island?

11. Bird - Do you like the combination the bird is a desert island?

12. Ruler - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

13. Boots - Do you like the combination boots – desert island?

14. Gold - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

15. Book - Do you like the combination book – desert island?

16. Newspaper - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

17. Candy - Do you like the combination candy is a desert island?

18. Honey - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

19. Box - Do you like the combination the box is a desert island?

20. Cat - Does this word contain the letter "e"?

You have noticed, of course, that two types of judgments are required of you here. Review your responses to see if type 1 or type 2 judgments help you remember words better. Mark those words that were proposed to be associated with a desert island, and compare their number with the number of other memorized words. Now compare both types of judgments and draw a definite conclusion about the influence of the emotional moment on the degree of structuring of the remembered information.

Note: try to remember the same words 48 hours later: the results will be more impressive. The purpose of this exercise is to get you to respond to the question of whether you like this imaginary situation on a desert island by giving an immediate emotional response. This emotional judgment is compared with the intellectual one when answering the second question (about letters), and we see that words that excite an emotional reaction are better remembered.

II. IMMEDIATE RE-READING

At this stage, you should already have a pretty clear understanding of how our memory works. Test your memory by not rereading the text. What do you remember from the previous chapter? Use the best way to remember: immediately reread what you just read. Immediate re-reading is the best way to remember. Strike while the iron is hot, that is when it is easiest to strike.

III. TEST FOR ATTENTION

Many people do not pay much attention to their surroundings. When you host guests in your home, try a little experience. After about half an hour of communication, when the conversation has already begun, ask your friends to turn their backs on their nearest neighbors so that they cannot see them. Ask someone to answer a series of questions about your roommate or neighbour.

1. What color is he (or she) wearing? Try to describe this dress.

2. Does the neighbor wear a tie or neckerchief?

3. Is he (or she) perfumed?

4. What kind of shoes does he (or she) have on?

5. Does she carry a handbag?

6. Does she wear jewelry? If yes, describe them.

7. Describe his (or her) hair: color, type, hairstyle?

8. What color are his (her) eyes?

9. Does he (or she) smoke?

10. Does he (she) hold a glass in his hand? You can also ask questions about the decor of the room in which you host guests. To do this, the easiest way is to take them to another room or to the garden. You will see how little people are observant, but with practice anyone can become observant. If you're too shy to put on the show, try this quiz on yourself!

Youth is not really a period of life.

It's a state of mind and you're just as young

how moldy are your hopes, and just as

old, how old is your despair.

(anonymous)

Age features

With age, they do not necessarily become wiser, but often lose self-confidence. “There is no more self-confidence,” as the Beatles song “Help” sings. In fact, we begin to feel the need for outside help only when we notice a number of changes in ourselves. Fear of old age plays tricks on us, changing our point of view. We begin to worry about forgetfulness over trifles that we previously did not attach importance to, such as the fact that we keep losing our keys or forgetting where we parked the car. This kind of forgetfulness happens to anyone at any age. But at 20, she doesn’t bother a bit, and at 40, we are already thinking: “What is happening to me? Or am I already approaching the sunset of life? at the age of 60 we conclude: “I am already falling into childhood.” Your judgments reflect the state of your inner anxiety, and deep down you already need encouragement.

I remember one young man who suffered from severe memory impairment due to drug poisoning. Can you guess what it was that bothered him the most? No, it was not connected with his work or the intimate sphere of life. “I can't even remember the order in which the light switches are on the wall in my hall,” he told me. “I don’t remember that either,” I answered in bewilderment. I told this guy that I personally would never have thought to memorize the location of the switches. For the most part, people in this case resort to random trials, like chimpanzees: after going through all the buttons or keys, they get to the right one. Ideas about our own memory do not always reflect the real picture. Ask members of your family or friends what changes in memory they observe in themselves? Some of these changes are real, while others are completely fictional. Perhaps you were always distracted before and forgot a lot of things without attaching importance to it? Maybe you focused on one kind of information (dates or instructions) and left everything else unattended? Try to recognize your self-deception by analyzing times when your memory failed you. Ask your loved ones if you have experienced something similar before. Ask yourself, "In the past, did I have such a good memory for people's names, places, brands, films, books, plays, prescriptions, instructions, recipes, dates, events, travels, errands, letters, dates?" After examining the past, ascertain the present state of affairs. Ask yourself: “What kind of forgetfulness have I been complaining about lately? What exactly did I remember well before, but today I began to forget? If it becomes clear to you that your memory has indeed deteriorated, try changing your lifestyle in such a way that you have incentives to remember all kinds of things.

Think about whether you are in such conditions that you can relax without fear of serious consequences if your memory fails you? Are you shifting your worries onto other people more often than before? Do you need to remember some information to the same extent as before? Are there things that you remember without problems? Are you busier than before, less, the same? Does the current state of affairs give you less reason to concentrate, or maybe you have fewer opportunities to exercise your memory? When was the last time you wrote a paper or report? Do you often think about the content of books, films or articles in more or less depth?

The answers to these questions will reveal to you a simple truth: the work of memory depends on the need for it. When the pressure on it eases (for example, if you have completed a course of study or got a job that does not require effort, especially mental), the burden subsides and memory skills are gradually lost. Do you notice in yourself a slowdown in the rhythm of life, laziness of the mind, which imperceptibly take possession of you and deprive you of incentives? Or do memory stimuli occasionally occur? Are you overwhelmed by black thoughts that completely take over your mind? Isn't this new attitude a natural adaptation to the new realities of the day? Does your memory still have significant potential? Memory is subject to the dictates of our environment, and people for the most part adapt to the environment, not trying to live simultaneously in two realities: in the present and in the past. Sometimes, however, our "I" (ego) does not adapt as well to changing circumstances as our memory. Then we experience inconvenience and problems arise. I once met a 38-year-old psychologist at a science seminar who complained about his recent memory difficulties. “I used to have a phenomenal memory: I could keep in mind all the references to literature that were made aloud at scientific conferences. Now I have to write everything down!” I asked how important it was to him and his career to memorize all those references. He replied that he used to see this as a great advantage: it distinguished him from his colleagues, and thus he had a better chance of promotion. Indeed, during this period of his life, he achieved his goal: he became his own boss and no longer had the need to impress anyone. The strongest motivation that had driven his memory to perform miracles was gone. Instinctively, he began to direct his energy to remembering information of a different kind, which he needed more in his new socio-professional position. It turned out that his memory in other areas remained excellent. And although he was pleased to be convinced that he had no real memory problems, he still regretted the feeling of triumph he had previously experienced from the knowledge of his ability to keep so many references in his mind. I countered that he could now focus on new goals—say, remembering names or specific information about his patients—or take advantage of the freedom of action that had been opened up to him.

We need to resist psychosocial changes that negatively affect our memory, because in this way we can significantly improve the situation. As the psychologist B.F. Skinner, "this is a very encouraging way to fight aging, since it is much easier to change your environment than your body." You can change the decor in your room so that it stimulates the mind more; find a friend who would like to talk about books, films, articles; take up the study of some new subject, which will be useful for the development of memory.

After 65 years - the third age?

People in whom aging proceeds harmoniously instinctively know how to adapt to the ongoing changes. Throughout life, our body is constantly changing. This primarily concerns metabolism: the need for food decreases, we spend less and less energy, and if we continue to eat as much as we ate in youth, then we gain weight, thereby overloading the heart. More subtle changes are taking place in our brains, but they can be brought under control if we keep our mind active. In this case, it is not the number of preserved neurons that is important, but the way they are used. Studies have shown that most people use only about 10% of the potential of their brain. Thinking about thinking strategies changes the situation in many ways, especially as you get older. You can learn new strategies at any age. Our environment is changing, as is our personal life. You may find yourself in another city, away from family and friends. There comes a point in life when our children leave us to build their own lives, we retire and sometimes face financial hardship and illness. Social contacts become more rare. Friends die and are hard to replace.

Darwin showed that animal species manage to survive if they are able to adapt to environmental changes. The same applies to human beings, with the added advantage that they themselves, individually or collectively, can influence their environment and adapt it to their needs. Skinner, at the age of 78, emphasized the importance of coming to terms with your age-related changes and building your life depending on them. “Quietly acknowledging your weaknesses and consciously taking regular care to stimulate your thinking” will help you reduce inner anxiety. In this chapter, you will learn about the changes that memory undergoes with age and how to deal with it.

Reaction slowdown

FROM As we age, we need more and more time to remember or remember something. Reactions are slow, and from this it is clear why it becomes more difficult to find the necessary information in the memory card index. Often, when we open our mouths, we cannot remember the word that is spinning on our tongue. Our reflexes become more sluggish, and thought does not grasp the essence of the matter so quickly. The rhythms of our body and mind are changing. When conducting tests with no time limit for response, the results in most cases show that older people are not inferior to younger people in terms of reasoning ability and intelligence level. They have no difficulty in recognition tests, such as when choosing from multiple options. However, they find it difficult to find the answer to a question without a special prompt, as in tests for filling in a gap in a phrase.

If you're starting to feel the effects of age, avoid rushing and you'll still be good at most of your normal tasks. Ask yourself: Why the rush? What difference does it make if it takes a second more or less?” When planning your day, set aside more time for doing this or that work. Avoid situations where you have to rush. In particular, if you can’t remember something right away, stay calm and patient - after all, it is the extraction of information from memory that slows down with age. Give your brain time to work in a new rhythm, and learn mental strategies that can compensate for age-related slowdown in reactions and the additional expenditure of energy associated with it. There are more chess and crossword champions among the elderly than you might think. In your declining years, you can probably even learn electronic games if you have motivation and patience. Here is my personal experience: I took lessons from Mr. Pac-man and after many failures and long exercises, I came to the conclusion that I learned to play better than most of the children I observed. Although their reflex reactions were somewhat faster than mine, I had an advantage in strategy. I have discovered that my worst enemy is nervous tension. I play best when I can relax. (In the chapter "Relaxation" you will learn how to relax under any circumstances.) Quickness for mental activity is not essential. That is why many artists and intellectuals over eighty can continue to work if they are in good health. Changes in the brain are less dramatic than in the body. They sometimes happen so gradually that they are not perceived as a problem.

Deterioration of the functions of the sense organs

With age, sensory perceptions change for everyone, but c. varying degrees. Sometimes this leads to errors in diagnosis: for example, they make a diagnosis of "senile degradation of the visual system", when in fact the patient has only a cataract. Similarly, one can unfairly reproach one's memory. If we didn’t really see or hear something, it’s hard to find traces in memory that had nowhere to come from. The sense organs are the gateway to the brain and thus to memory. You should find out if you have at least minor age-related changes in sensory functions (hearing, vision, taste, smell, touch), and take the necessary measures to correct them. Sit closer to the interlocutor and closer to the TV screen. Do not hesitate to ask to repeat what has been said. Tilt your ear to the mouth of the interlocutor. Use corrective glasses, a magnifying glass, a hearing aid. More than before, pay attention to the methods that you will learn about in this book. By developing all your senses, you will compensate for the shortcomings of some of Them and thus enrich your life and your memory.

Narrowing the field of attention

The field of attention also narrows with age, and older people cannot work effectively for as long as before. If you find that you get tired faster, you need to put up with it. When you feel that attention is waning, pause, take a nap, or even take a short walk. Change activities, invigorate your brain fresh air and exercise. Instead of reading for an hour straight, take a break after half an hour of reading (bookmark it so you can quickly find the page), get up and stretch your legs. If your back is tired, move to another chair. Too soft pillows should be avoided - they make you sleepy. Make sure you have good lighting. You don't have to make an effort on yourself. Some minimum of comfort is necessary for concentrated attention.

Sensitivity to outside interference

It is quite obvious that people become more distracted with age, and external interference can greatly impair memory functioning. Don't worry if you forget what you were doing when you were interrupted. Just go back and walk slowly around the house, looking around; you will soon come across an object that looks like what you did before. If you are busy with an important task, such as issuing checks, try to arrange yourself so that you are not disturbed. When you receive a call, do not pick up the phone immediately. This will give you time to quietly interrupt your activity and make a mark on which it will be easy for you to continue it in the future. And in general, put an end to the tyranny of the phone. Ask your friends and family to wait up to six rings before hanging up, or better yet, set your phone to answer automatically. This will allow you to commit to memory what you were doing before the break. When you listen to something, try to stare at some neutral point on the ground or on the floor - then you will be less distracted by visual stimuli. And when you are busy reading seriously, turn off the radio and TV and find yourself a secluded corner where nothing distracts your eyes: no pictures, no photographs, no view outside the window. This will help you focus.

Difficulties when combining several cases

Because of their greater sensitivity to interference, older people find it difficult to multitask. For example, try not to talk when signing a check or other document, and when you are driving, do not look for your way without stopping the car. Focus on just one thing and you'll do it well. If you are naturally inclined to do different things at the same time, then according to the classification of psychologists, you belong to the “type A”. This type of personality is too quick to hand, always active, constantly wanting to do more than he is able to, often restless. Without a doubt, changing this property of character is difficult, but still possible. Perhaps it's not bad that nature makes us slow down our rhythm of life - after all, such a dispersion (the so-called polymorphic activity) entails not only a deterioration in memory performance, but also cardiovascular diseases due to stress. Do you think that despite aging, it is necessary to be constantly under the yoke of haste? Think about the general course of your life, think about whether you need a discharge? Define a hierarchy of life priorities and do not do more than one thing at a time. Your health will only get better.

Memory capabilities

With age, our memory weakens by 20 - 40%. There are great individual differences in this respect, and some of them are due to heredity. Sometimes some deep anxiety enters our mind - a source of oppressive and obsessive thoughts. If this is so, then the release of such underlying anxieties will undoubtedly lead to the restoration of sufficient memory efficiency. The first task in any memory training should be to free the intellect so that it can think freely.

Loss of the ability to spontaneously organize thought processes

It becomes more and more difficult to give thoughts an orderly structure ... The reason, perhaps, lies in part in the lack of proper practice due to the decrease in vital activity; but the tendency to repeat old patterns may also play a role, leaving little room for new ways of thinking. The desire to think with new concepts, to develop new ideas, gradually weakens. In order for creativity not to die out with age, you need to make intellectual breakthroughs, strive to explore new areas, instead of chewing on the old and delving into it. Everyone is able to master new thinking strategies, thereby compensating for the natural decline in the ability to organize thoughts. This is another example of the transition from automatism to meaningful and thoughtful behavior.

Medications and their side effects

If you are taking any medicine, you and your doctor should make sure that it does not side effects. Some drugs sometimes cause drowsiness or distraction, which can drastically impair your memory due to a weakening of attention or mental slowdown.

Diseases and dementia

One of the main fears of aging people is the fear of senile dementia. More and more often you hear complaints of this kind: “Today I have already lost glasses twice. It's impossible! I'm already out of my mind." Be so merciful, don't use the words "falling into childhood" or "out of my mind", because by doing so you humiliate yourself, moreover, often misuse this term. Only 12% of people over 65 have true signs of senile dementia - a disease characterized by profound memory impairment, disorientation and often paranoid behavior. This disease occurs in both sexes, but it is more common in women, perhaps because they live longer than men on average. Most of those suffering from this disease entered their seventh or eighth decade. If you are concerned about the state of your memory, then you are no doubt not affected by this disease. Old people who have fallen into childhood do not realize that they forget a lot, and when this is pointed out to them, they often do not believe it and enter into disputes.

Two other psychiatric disorders that affect memory are Alzheimer's disease and Korsakoff's syndrome. Alzheimer's disease is a form of premature senile dementia that affects people in more early age sometimes even forty. Later, this term began to be used for patients of all age groups, becoming a synonym for senile dementia (the exact medical term is senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type). This disease is accompanied by a decrease in the amount of a substance in the brain necessary for the functioning of memory. The lack of this substance, called acetylcholine, is very significant during the disease and cannot be compensated. Extensive research is currently underway on this disease, but no cure has yet been found. There is irreversible brain damage, somewhat similar to the damage seen in Korsakoff's syndrome, which is caused by alcoholism. The treatment of such unfortunate patients is in most cases limited psychological help family in group therapy and practical advice on how to alleviate the situation. Be that as it may, we are talking about a pathology that is very dissimilar to natural aging.

We examined the physiological changes that inevitably accompany aging and the pathologies that occur. If, after reading all this, you are still concerned about your memory problems, you need to see a neurologist or psychiatrist. A serious brain disease does not allow you to engage in normal daily life. Mental illnesses such as those described above proceed slowly and imperceptibly, their manifestation is indistinct, and the course of development is unpredictable. In contrast, people who feel great in a natural setting, but complain of a memory disorder, can easily list what and when they forgot last week. It is even amusing to state that they remember every such case in great detail. As you can see, while the future may still seem bleak to some of us, we are a tiny minority of us. For most there is hope! You can perfectly adapt to the physiological changes with natural aging. But memory problems arise equally due to psychosocial changes, which in most cases are fixable.

Retirement

Changing the rhythm of life and narrowing the scope of activities often lead to memory problems. As rewards become less frequent and demands from others less and less, we have less incentive to maintain our attention at the same level. In truth, without external stimuli, we have little or nothing to lose if our memory fails. In this situation, a person tends to reduce his mental activity. The responsibility for our activities, entrusted to us before, forced us to constantly make some kind of choice, focus on the main thing and streamline our thoughts. Without this responsibility, we "fall into disrepair" to some extent. Activity is a stimulant for both mental and bodily functions. If you stop doing minimal exercise, your joints will rust. If you stop stimulating your mental activity, that is, forcing your brain to move, your intellect will be less productive. You need to find yourself a new kind of activity and set yourself new goals that promise new rewards.

When we retire, hobbies take on a much larger role in our lives. You need to find an activity that both pleases you and stimulates your mind. Give space for the manifestation of your talents to decorate the lives of those around you. During this period of life, many realize their innermost plans. Of course, it is not always possible to travel around the world! But everyone can enjoy life in one way or another. It is important to find a new style of your existence and feel good in your own skin. This style will undoubtedly differ in many ways from the attitude that your work has previously defined. As Skinner emphasizes, “as we age, we need to develop a new way of thinking.” Retirement can be an age of reflection. This may be a good time to rethink our notion of utilitarian "utility." Is it necessary for happiness? Eastern philosophers do not think so.

Leisure can both liberate and oppress the psyche. An excess of free time sometimes makes us feel guilty, as society, and often religion, form a psychological attitude towards work. Then you need to build your life around what you really enjoy doing. Keep busy with your mind and develop your talents. You can enroll in some of the adult courses in your city or in the faculty for the elderly. You can start teaching yourself (the transfer of knowledge often gives you a lift) or study a subject that interests you. Finally, this is the right moment to do, for example, woodworking or learning a foreign language. For the latter, a good reason and even a real reason can be meeting people in interest circles or a trip abroad. The main thing is to keep your mind on your toes and openly discuss your ideas with other inquisitive people. Set a specific goal for yourself, like studying birds, planting flowers, or sailing, and use that to train your memory.

Living alone

Living alone is often difficult if you have spent most of your life side by side with a spouse or companion. Relationships between people (business, friendship or family) give rise to mutual dependence. It is possible that in many cases you have relied on your spouse's good memory and are now completely overwhelmed by the abundance of little things to remember, and you feel that you are not able to cope with it. It takes time to rebuild your life, especially when you are mourning the death of a loved one. The loss of a spouse always deeply traumatizes the soul and entails a number of new worries. It can be said, however, that mourning itself acts as an anesthetic. You feel some kind of numbness inside you, a complete inability to perceive a new reality without a loved one. This detachment from the outer world keeps us from unbearable pain; but at the same time, we lose control of our attention.

Organize your life so that you can meet your basic needs on your own. First of all, take care of your health. Remember the ideal of the ancients: a healthy mind in a healthy body.

Explore what you spend time on - this will partially compensate for the lack of motivation and distract from capitulatory thoughts like "why take a shower?". Get out of bed as soon as you wake up, make yourself a good breakfast, go for a walk, and have at least one full meal a day. This may seem impossible to some of us, but it's actually easier than you might think. Anyone can learn how to cook simple and nutritious meals. Find out if there are cooking classes for bachelors nearby. If not, find a good cookbook in the library. Leave the habit of swallowing something to kill the worm without even sitting down at the table. From this, the feeling of hunger disappears, but the body does not receive the nutrients it needs. Nutrition and movement are as closely related as regimen and longevity.

Do not forget also about the hygiene of the spirit. You can overcome the difficulties caused by life changes. There are many ways to dispel the blues. To improve your mood, you can turn to nature or music: both have positive, pleasant emotions. Distracting activities give unexpected results, sometimes surprising. When you choose to do something like this, you act instead of lamenting your fate. Go to the cinema, to the park, to the sea, admire nature, read, listen to music. Any transition to active action distracts you from contemplating your misfortune. In a number of activities, physical activity is combined with relaxation. Music, in particular, improves mood and drives away dark thoughts, if only it is properly chosen. Whether you prefer jazz, contemporary songs, folklore or classical, choose sublime and lively tunes. It is believed that baroque music (Mozart, Handel, Vivaldi, Bach) is especially cheerful and soothing. It reflects the ideal of carelessness proclaimed in that era for the delight of a small group of privileged nobility. The music of the 19th century is also cheerful, but not so carefree. The works of the Romantics (Chopin, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Mendelssohn, Liszt) express mixed feelings nostalgia for the past and longing for an unknown future. They are full of strong emotions, this is the music of extremes, unbridled joy or deep sadness, and it awakens more feelings in the soul than the restrained melodies of baroque composers. Whatever music you choose, it will improve your mood, distract your thoughts and give you more than you expect: it will bring back fond memories. Time passes, but we keep it in ourselves thanks to memory. We can learn to revive the past at the behest of consciousness. Such a skill is priceless, especially for those who are lonely. Memories of happy days entertain our mind. Research has shown that mood is the real catalyst for memories. By recreating the environment to your liking, you can awaken in your mind pictures of events that occurred under similar circumstances.

losses

The more we have, the more we have to lose. Throughout life, each of us experiences losses: a spouse, friends, family members go to another world, we lose the physical abilities of the body and our social status. For many older people, incomes are falling, purchasing power is falling; many also lose interest in what they used to do. After retirement suddenly disappears pride in their work, authority, power and prestige. With the end of responsibility for work, the specific incentives that reward you for your work also cease to operate. Nobody else cares what you do. All these losses can lead to depression - main reason memory problems in people of a certain age. Depression occurs as a result of a number of changes in the biological balance and lifestyle of the individual. As biochemical studies have shown, with aging, the content of biogenic amines in the brain decreases, and this can explain why people are more prone to depression in old age (an excess of biogenic amines, on the contrary, causes euphoria). In addition, successive losses play an important role in falling into a depressive state. We imagine ourselves lonely, people without a future. The present is too empty and too painful to focus on, and we begin to live in the past. Turning away from the present, we cease to be interested in the world, including ourselves. This loss of interest can lead to carelessness, malnutrition, deep depression, and always leads to memory impairment.

Sorrow, grief and mourning

If you have recently lost a loved one, you need to surrender to your grief and observe mourning. In this situation, problems with attention are inevitable. You need to be patient with yourself, realizing that the memory impairments that have arisen are temporary. Feel free to express your spiritual sadness. Trying to keep your grief in yourself only delays its gradual disappearance in time. Take your grief to a sympathetic friend, or see a psychologist or therapist. It is recognized that by sharing his grief, a person relieves the soul. The very fact of expressing one's mental pain in words reduces the load on the subconscious. Don't lock yourself up in loneliness and pain when you can help yourself. Force yourself to do something. Playing cards or billiards, visiting the library, club, house of culture or the social center of your city hall - all this is much better than self-isolation and mourning yourself. To change your present, you need contacts and activities. In order for the brain to continue to work properly, incentives are needed. The longer you are inactive, the longer the depressed state of mind will last and the more your memory will degrade. Severe depression is cured with medication. If these tips are not enough for you, do not hesitate to consult a doctor.

State of mind and mindset

Depression and negative thinking go hand in hand. We live according to our philosophy of life. As the French philosopher Jean-Marie Guyot says: “The future is not what comes to us, but what we ourselves go to.” This thought makes the glass balls of fortune-tellers and soothsayers break, highlighting a very simple truth: we ourselves determine our future by how we live today in the present. If we want to be happy with life tomorrow, we must pay more attention to what we think and do now, and the possible consequences of our actions. Sometimes we poison our own existence without realizing it, and look for someone or something to blame for our failures. This behavior is caused by both conscious and subconscious attitudes stemming from our education and social environment. They determine our line of conduct, and this behavior itself will be the key to our future success or defeat.

The secret of success, of course, lies in the belief that it is achievable. Such a positive attitude creates the proper motivation for perseverance and action in order to achieve the goal. If the gold diggers did not believe in success, the American West would hardly have been subdued. Being a pioneer in something is too difficult for many people. True, most gold seekers never found it, but many of them discovered other riches and new territories where a new world could be built. Their greatest hope was thus justified, because these pioneers had the faith to act. Competence, talents, knowledge and suitable occasions, of course, also play a role, but they primarily depend on the positive attitude of our mind. You will never learn mnemonic tricks or methods if you doubt their usefulness. In general, you should always believe in yourself and not focus on the average, typical level of achievement. For example, few women are successful after 35; but if you do not try to achieve it, your chances will be equal to zero. Belief in your ability to accomplish something will remove the brake on your actions, dooming you to failure. In other words, believing in success will put you in a situation where it is possible. By imagining yourself a winner, you have a chance to become one. Success in sports is a perfect illustration. Competitions are won by teams and athletes who picture themselves as winners in their minds. At one time, the training system for athletes from the GDR, who received so many gold medals at the Olympic Games, included the development of a positive psychological attitude. This setup gives amazing results.

Since you are reading this book, you are probably not completely satisfied with your memory. You must now realize that if you do not believe in the possibility of improving it, then you will not make the efforts that are really necessary for this. Without a doubt, everyone can develop their memory by heeding a few tips and developing the right attitude. But we must be realistic: we have the right to expect an improvement in memory, even a very noticeable one, but not its perfection. The explanatory dictionary "Small Larousse" defines the general attitude of the individual (etat d "esprit) as a stable way of thinking that reflects our beliefs, faith, hopes and prejudices. This attitude is so fused with our lives that we no longer question it: in what in a sense, this is our personality, and that is why it is difficult to identify and change it. The settings of our consciousness in the aggregate form our appearance, as we ourselves recognize it, considering these settings - both the best and the worst - as part of our person. They make up our "way of existence". But we also have unconscious installations that operate somewhere in the darkness, without our knowledge. Under their influence, we do different things that are often incomprehensible to us ourselves, even if someone draws our attention to them According to psychiatrists, we suppress these attitudes in ourselves, because deep down we are ashamed of them.For example, you can decide once and for all that you have a bad memory ... as an apology for not remembering a lot of things out of a reluctance to put in the effort or out of fear of failure. A protest against any system (for example, political or established in the family) strengthens subconscious attitudes. Prejudices are also a kind of subconscious attitudes. You have no doubt met people who exhibit essentially racist inclinations, while they themselves are sincerely convinced in their hearts and words that they are by no means racists. They cannot admit it to themselves.

There are also a number of attitudes that interfere with the work of our memory, and we must identify these negative attitudes, analyze them and replace them with positive ones. Such attitudes are manifested in our thoughts, words and deeds. It is difficult to calculate how many times we ourselves resist our efforts to remember something. It's easy to get discouraged when learning something new if you consider yourself too old. How many times do we hear that it's impossible to master foreign language after 30 years, take up a new sport at retirement age, etc. The facts prove otherwise, but if you think that your age no longer allows you to learn something, you will not even try and really never learn it, although in fact You actually have the skills you need. (This accounts for other "witchcraft" luck or placebo effects in medicine: if you believe a treatment will produce a certain result, your belief can cause that result to manifest.)

It is very important to know if you are doing something unconsciously against your desire to improve your memory. Then you could correct the negative attitude and change it to a positive one that will help you achieve the desired success. One can have a depressive attitude without suffering from true depression in the medical sense of the word. Such attitudes can affect memory and thinking in two ways. First, they can cause thoughts to slow down and feel confused due to lack of attention. When we are depressed or worried, our mind is completely dominated by feelings of sadness or concerns. This is a kind of obsession that cuts us off from the outside world, which is no longer perceived by us: we stop listening, looking and shutting ourselves off from all impressions that are not related to our worries. We become self-centered and forget a lot. Secondly, a depressive attitude, like other negative attitudes, can slow down and even completely suppress all attempts to remember something, strengthening the motives that inhibit action. Thoughts like “my brain is like a sieve,” “this is too old for me,” or “I’m going to make fun of myself” interfere with the effort needed to improve memory. They also undermine any self-respect. Unfortunately, this negative emotional tendency is common to many people who are more affected by aging. In his book The Goddesses of the Female Soul, Jin Shinoda Bolen writes that women with an independent character endure widowhood more easily than others. But she emphasizes that any woman can develop the qualities that she lacks in herself at different periods of her life. When few people depend on you, a sense of independence seems to play a positive role. The age of forty is a very favorable period for the development of this property, which is so useful in old age.

The exercises in this chapter will help you identify the negative attitudes you need to avoid and replace them with positive ones. The most important negative attitudes are despair("nothing more can be done") feeling of helplessness(“I can’t help myself here” or “I don’t know what to do”) and underestimation of their capabilities ("I I'm no longer good for anything." Here are a few internal monologues that could be yours. Do you recognize yourself in them?

1. “It is clear that I don’t remember anything else: I am old.” The root of this attitude is the lack of hope. Unfortunately, this is not only someone's idiosyncrasy but a prejudice shared by many in our modern society. Meanwhile, as scientific studies have shown, the weakening of intelligence and memory that accompanies aging is not at all a fatal inevitability. It is the depressive attitude that sometimes turns prejudice into reality. Instead, say to yourself, "My memory may be a little off, but I can work and make the best use of what I have."

2. “Now I don’t really need memory anymore,” and another option: “In any case, in a nursing home, my memory will not require any effort.” This set to devalue oneself also reflects both a person's personal orientation and a popular notion in society. Retirement with the loss of intellectual and social incentives associated with work, sudden isolation and a change in social status lead older people to think of self-devaluation. In fact, only less than 15% of people over 65 end up in nursing homes. But instead of surrendering, you say to yourself: “It is true that I am already old, but I manage to keep my mind alive, and this I owe to my own efforts.”

3. "I unable to improve his memory - it's all over, nothing more of it remains. This negative mental attitude is based on despair, or at least the lack of hope. In fact, the memory impairment that accompanies aging can turn into its opposite. As most psychological research shows, there is no longer any need for new evidence that memory can be improved; it is only a question of how to evaluate the degree of its improvement when using different strategies. Say better: “My memory may not be quite the same as I wanted would have, but with a little outside help And proper methods, I can improve it!”

4. “My memory is terrible! I can't even remember the price of all the groceries I just bought or the details of a newspaper article I read." This is a psychological attitude, the essence of which is an excessive striving for perfection; as happens with depression, it seems to a person that everything that is not quite perfect is worth nothing at all. I suggest following a more realistic setup: "I am unable to remember so many details as before, but I remember what is important to me.

5. "When I read this book, I will be able to memorize any text from beginning to end." Like excessive striving for perfection, excessive ambition and idealism are, in fact, special forms of despair, because they stem from unrealistic claims. The other side of the coin is: "If the method doesn't work magically, it's a failure, it's a defeat for me, and I'm a failure." Better say to yourself: “I strive to remember only what this is interesting".

6. "I should have been more successful”; "It's taking too long"; "I didn't realize I had to do the exercises." By resorting to such tricks, you risk interrupting the training before it has an effect. Only fairies in fairy tales grant wishes instantly. In fact, success takes time. Patience is not in vain considered a virtue. Intellectual perfection requires exercise and good will, but the effort can be enjoyable and even fun. Treat these exercises as a game and you will have fun. A realistic setting would be: “Memory is a talent that I can develop through practice.”

IN Conclusion It is important to understand well that all the changes in settings suggested above will affect memory. Armed with this truth, you will be able to realize your aspirations. Recognizing the situation and making some changes in it are the first steps towards improving your memory. First of all, the situation itself must improve. You will become more sensitive to the outside world and learn to control your attention. You will be able to focus and learn how to remember more firmly and more easily remember everything you need. Learning memory techniques compensates for the inevitable age-related changes.

As we age, our body undergoes a series of changes that affect memory.

A. Physiological changes in normal aging

1. Slowdown of reactions with greater and faster fatigue.

2. Deterioration of the ability to perceive.

3. Narrowing the field of attention.

4. Increased sensitivity to extraneous interference.

5. Some decrease in memory capacity.

6. Weakening of the tendency to "automatic" organization of the memorized.

7. It becomes more difficult to do several things at the same time.

There may be other changes caused by diseases or drugs. If you have any doubts about this, you should consult your doctor.

B. Emotional and psychosocial changes in normal aging

1. Changing the environment due to age.

2. Retirement.

3. Loneliness.

4. Losses.

5. Depression.

6. General mood of the individual.

Related to these factors are the directions in which you need to act in order to improve memory during aging. The weakening of attention, combined with a lesser ability to organize what is remembered, impairs memory, but both of these functions can be stimulated, thereby increasing the chances of information retrieval.

I. NEGATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL SETTINGS ASSOCIATED WITH MEMORY DESTRUCTION

Modify the phrases below to express positive mental attitudes.

1. "To analyze things and look for associations to them is too difficult, I prefer to stay with my holes in my memory."

2. “It's stronger than me and I can't relax. My thoughts haunt me and I find it hard to focus. I'm too worried and preoccupied."

3. “I can't bring myself to pause and make sure I've finished what I started before moving on to something else. My case is hopeless."

4. "I did not understand what was said, but I do not dare to ask you to repeat it again."

6. “I used to love going to the movies. Now I don’t go there anymore, because I often start to doze off and lose the thread of the plot.”

II. SELF-ANALYSIS

First, try to identify recent changes in your life. We can talk about both minor and important events. Say, have you discovered an interesting new magazine? Have you made a new acquaintance? Have you changed your habits in any way? Describe the changes that have taken place and try to verbalize your opinion about them. Go further in this direction and analyze whether these changes themselves did not lead to some other changes. Ask yourself how this has affected you.

You will learn to identify and distinguish between changes in your lifestyle that sometimes lead to new desirable or undesirable habits. For example, you noticed signs of cellulite appearing on your thighs. Instead of shrugging it off - this is due to age, try to find out if anything in your diet has changed. And you will discover a remarkable fact: a month ago you discovered delicious rye bread. You must confess that you have never eaten so many butter sandwiches before. In addition, due to poor winter weather you have reduced your physical activity by taking the bus rather than walking. This introspection will help you understand the cause of the changes and remind you to watch your diet and exercise.

Second, try to find out if anything in your memory has changed. For example, not so long ago you were preoccupied with your health or professional or family affairs, and your attention to everything else has become significantly dulled. Look for holes in your memory (for example, you forgot to buy bread, meet a friend along the way, or call someone). Ask yourself how you can help your memory during this troubled time. (You could, say, stick up sticky notes in "strategic" places where you often go, for example, to remember to wash your laundry or go to the dentist.)

If we do not find peace within ourselves, it is useless to look for it anywhere else.

(La Rochefoucauld)

Poor memory performance is often the result of a lack of attention. Without some minimum of attention, nothing can be recorded in our brain, and therefore there is simply nothing to remember. Lack of attention can be due to various reasons, but it is most often caused by preoccupation. When something bothers us, we are absorbed in our care and all our thoughts converge on the fear that we will forget about something. As a result, instead of focusing on the right subject, we waste time and energy worrying.

Fear of forgetting is one of the main causes of memory failures. Our mind is in the grip of this persistent feeling, especially if there have been failures before; he dramatizes the consequences of "holes" in memory, suppresses even attempts to remember something, and as a result, gloomy fears are confirmed by new failures. To make it easier to overcome anxiety, you need to strive to reduce failures to a minimum. As B. F. Skinner notes: “By avoiding undesirable consequences in such situations, we thereby receive additional help. You can find elegant explanations for your forgetfulness. It is enough just to refer to the age. Treat occasional errors in your memory as normal. Calmly put up with their inevitability, and they will happen less often.

To be attentive means to perceive well what is happening both in ourselves and around us. When we feel inner turmoil, it naturally diverts our attention. Memory has a paradoxical feature: the more we try to remember something, the more it eludes us. The obvious reason for this is interference with attention. If suddenly you are asked the name of a flower in your garden, you will be embarrassed not to remember it right away. And if it does not immediately pop up in your memory, tension and anxiety will arise in the brain, and this painful state will prevent you from giving the right answer. It is very important to get rid of this anxiety - with its disappearance, the memory will be unlocked and you will be able to remember what you need.

We must learn to calmly respond to the facts of obvious forgetfulness. If you could not remember something at will, do not reproach yourself. Do not scour yourself morally and do not exaggerate the importance of what happened. This small event does not at all prove that you are losing your memory and are already on the verge of pathology. Relate the incident to its context and admit that this has happened to you before (as it happens to everyone), but then you were simply too busy to attach importance to it. Say to yourself, "It's only natural to have gaps in memory sometimes. This will happen to me again and again!” The sooner your anxiety subsides, the sooner the memory will surface. When you trust yourself, you are more calm, more relaxed. You can also help your memory by taking the thought away from the subject of concern: the very thinking of ways to accomplish the task before you will occupy your mind with practical considerations and thereby relieve mental tension. For example, instead of beating yourself up about forgetting how to change a tire, carefully inspect the different parts individually and think about how to put them together. Soon your mind will be free from anxiety and you yourself will remember how all this is done.

Here is what Professor Etken, whose phenomenal memory has been the subject of study for many years, says about relaxation: “I discovered that the more I try to remember something, the more I need relaxation, and not at all concentration of attention, as is usually thought. In the beginning, of course, you need to focus, but as soon as this becomes possible, you need to relax. Very few people do this. Unfortunately, this is not taught in schools, where knowledge is acquired only through repetition. In this chapter, you will learn how to relax so that your focus increases. Concentration is often confused with tension: if you want to concentrate on something, you must relax and become receptive to observation. The methods described below will help you learn to relax. You will discover how easy it is to reminisce once you have freed yourself from inner hindrances.

You must master the classic techniques of "progressive muscle relaxation." We rarely have the opportunity to learn how to relax, although doing so is easy and rewarding. The recommended technique is absolutely reliable, does not cause stress and does not require much effort, like, say, some types of yoga. You should only tense and relax the muscles of the hands, forearms, legs and face. We will leave the back and torso alone. The following is a general outline of the relevant exercises. When you have mastered the relaxation technique, we will move on to methods for eliminating anxiety.

Do this exercise at home or somewhere in a closed room: when you want to relax, you need to find yourself a secluded corner where you can be alone so that you are not interrupted or disturbed. The purpose of this exercise is to make sure that by consistently removing the tone of individual muscle groups, complete relaxation can be achieved. When muscle tension disappears, you will feel free from all inner tension. Relaxing muscle tone is the easiest way to relax, which is why you feel relaxed after a sports workout.

1. Sit in a comfortable chair without crossing your legs, feet on the floor. Loosen clothes that are too tight and do not strain your legs.

2. Stretch the tips of the legs with the toes forward, tensing the muscles of the feet and calves. Hold this position for 10 seconds, then relieve tension from the muscles. When I talk about stress relief, I mean instant relaxation. Only a sudden passive movement of the released leg (or other part of the body) allows you to feel the release of tension. During muscle tension, it is important not to weaken efforts; then, relieving tension, you should feel a rush of blood to the muscles and warmth. Enjoy this sensation and breathe normally for about 10 seconds before contracting the new muscle group.

3. Leaning your heels on the floor, bend your toes up. Tighten the muscles in your feet and lower legs again. Hold for 10 seconds and then relax for 10 seconds. When performing these actions, you should feel how your muscles first tense up and then warm up. Experience a pleasant feeling of relaxation after stress relief.

4. bending the toes towards you (as you already did with the heels on the floor). Now a new group of muscles will be included - the muscles of the thighs. Stay in this position for 10 seconds and then relax, letting your legs drop suddenly. Your feet, shins and thighs should be warm and you will feel good.

5. Raise your legs parallel to the floor bending your fingers towards you (as in the previous case). Tighten your legs for 10 seconds, then relax. At this stage, we force the muscles of the lower body to work. This is followed by exercises for its upper part.

6. Raise your hands horizontally parallel to the floor. Clench your fists and forcefully strain your entire arm. Do this for 10 seconds, then relax your hands. Repeat this exercise with open palms and spread fingers; after 10 seconds, relax your hands.

7. Pull your lips forward in an O shape and widen your eyes, like a caricature of surprise in pantomime. Don't furrow your brows. Hold for 10 seconds, then relax. The muscles of your face and neck will thank you for it. Try this little exercise while you're driving and waiting at a red light.

8. Smile as wide as you can and stay like this for 10 seconds, then relax. See, you come to the end of this exercise with a smile.

This exercise is borrowed from yogis - as soon as the muscles relax, they resorted to it for the simultaneous complete relaxation of the body and soul. Therefore, it will be useful to master this technique. In addition, it will help you check the degree of relaxation you have achieved.

1. Lie on your back on a rug or bed for your comfort, or sit in an armchair or sofa.

2. close your eyes And imagine a picture that brings you peace and tranquility: the shore of the sea or river, calm waves run into each other, you hear their quiet splash; or imagine that you are floating on an air mattress in a calm pool or taking a nap in a boat gently rocking on the waves of a calm lake, or sunbathing on a sandy beach. Choose one of these pictures and draw it clearly and clearly in your imagination. )

3. Now, starting from the toes and working towards the head, command your muscles to relax. This exercise will help you relieve the rest of the tension in the muscles. Relax all parts of your body in the order indicated, monotonously and rhythmically pronouncing these words in your mind:

Relax feet... Relax toes... Relax shins... Relax knees... Relax hips... Relax stomach... Relax chest... Relax arms... Relax hands... Relax fingers... Relax neck... Relax face... Relax jaws... Relax mouth... Relax tongue... Relax eyes... I relax my eyelids... I relax my eyebrows... I relax my cheeks. Relax completely...

Let the tension melt. Listen to your breathing: it should be shallow and regular. At this moment you are in harmony with yourself. The state of bliss you are experiencing is amazing and you should savor this moment of total relaxation.

Note that you can do this exercise anywhere and anytime, as soon as you feel inner tension. Doesn't it comfort you to think that with the help of visualization and self-hypnosis, you can also relieve physical discomfort? Some people “wear” their tension on their shoulders, others on their faces - they frown and squint their eyes without even noticing it. The proposed method helps to detect stress and get rid of it.

You can relax even more by concentrating on your breathing. Breathe deeply, focusing your mind on the inhaled and exhaled air. Stick to a slow and even rhythm.

1. Sit comfortably without tensing the muscles. Not cross your arms, legs, or hands. Rest, let your body relax.

2. Take a deep breath, drawing in the air gradually, through the nose until the lungs are full.

3. Breathe out smoothly also through the nose until the lungs are completely empty. Try to do it rhythmically. Do not contract and do not exhale all at once.

4. Start a new cycle listening to your breathing, to how your lungs expand and then smoothly release the air. Doesn't it look like the movement of waves gently rolling on the shore (exhale) and then roll back again (inhale) on the coastal sand or pebbles? Visually imagine in your mind the waves, their splashing, the smell and taste of sea water, the light breath of the morning breeze and enjoy these moments. It is on this peaceful picture that you should fix your attention during the exercise. You will feel so good that it may be difficult for you to break this state.

Note.

There are many other exercises for relaxing the body, but the one we have described makes it easy to achieve an internal peaceful rhythm by gradually establishing it. That is why such breathing exercises should be performed with the mouth closed. As one yogi used to say, "the mouth is made to kiss and eat." This remark may seem somewhat dogmatic, but remember that yogis do not run and do not do aerobics. Obviously, when moving, you make great physical efforts, so you have to breathe through your mouth. But when resting or relaxing, there is no such need. If you have a cold and a stuffy nose, save this exercise for later.

Do the described exercise as often as possible, especially if you are tired, aggressive, feel inner tension or anxiety, and, of course, when you cannot remember something. Set yourself up for a pleasant rhythm of the waves. It is not at all necessary to greatly inflate the lungs or exhale all the air without a trace. Do it gently! This method is recognized as the most effective for quickly relieving internal stress and promotes concentration.

This exercise is a variation of the previous one, where you imagined waves. With a change in the imaginary picture, you move, as it were, into a different register - from a soft rhythm to a feeling of light soaring in the air, when you hold the inhaled air a little longer.

1. Sit back and relax your muscles.

2. close your eyes for more focus.

3. Inhale slowly through the nose very deeply, counting up to 4.

4. Hold your breath again counting to 4, without straining the abdominal muscles. Do not block the opening of the larynx - this can cause you tension. Since holding your breath is often accompanied by tension, mentally tell yourself: "I'm gliding gently, in free flight." These words will help you feel lightness in yourself, detachment from the earthly, as if you are in weightlessness. If you still have to strain to hold your breath, omit this item and move on to the next one.

5. Exhale slowly through your nose counting up to 8.

6. Inhale calmly one more time, starting a new cycle of relaxation through deep breathing.

Note.

This exercise allows you to visibly imagine your lungs as an inflatable ball floating calmly in the air. Then the gas is gradually released. Imagine a beautiful balloon in the color you liked as a child.

Before starting a new cycle, wait until your breathing returns to normal. Most importantly, don't rush. Consistently inhaling, then calmly floating in space and slowly exhaling, adhere to a leisurely and harmonious rhythm.

Try doing this exercise five times in a row in one session three times a day. Do it before any work that requires attention. Relaxation through deep breathing can be done anywhere and anytime. Whenever you notice tension in yourself, breathe deeply and rhythmically, and you will feel calm. Take your time, do not strain, do not arrange for yourself hyperventilation, i.e., a rapid increased change of air in the lungs, leading to a suspension of breathing. If you already have a tendency to hyperventilate, skip this exercise and focus on the "waves".

Consider these exercises as an element of "mental hygiene." Do consistent muscle relaxation regularly every day, morning and evening, and whenever you feel tense or nervous. Get in the habit of doing deep breathing exercises before any activity that requires sustained attention. This will help you to relax and relieve excess stress that prevents you from concentrating well on business. Better control over attention will allow you to more firmly record the necessary information in memory. Thus, relaxation is the key to self-management.

Since anxiety weakens attention and interferes with memory, it is very important not to allow such internal interference. The actor who forgets the text, the speaker who forgets the thread of the argument, the student who forgets the subject of the exam - they can all be victims of anxiety. Each of them knows his subject, but the mechanisms of memory are blocked by disturbing thoughts. Some external or internal reason causes a feeling of panic: “What if I can’t continue? What if I forget the proof? If I lose the thread of the story and make myself laugh? What if I can't convince them? If they don't sign a contract with me?

The expression on the man's face seems so skeptical to me that I am sure I have not been able to convince him. All such questions must and can be foreseen, and you must answer them in advance, and not when you are already sitting on the coals, having no time to think.

Imagine the worst

Anticipation of possible failure breeds anxiety, but you can use it to your advantage to better prepare for the task. As the French proverb says, "the wise is worth two." Imagine yourself in a situation that you fear. Imagine possible obstacles and, anticipating your fears, get used to them in advance, even increase them, but stop before you really become unbearable. Then focus on your fears. Try to analyze, clarify and experience them. Imagine your physical reactions: perspiration rising, flushing to the face, raising or, conversely, lowering the voice. So that, in comparison with the imaginary, the real event seems much less frightening. Then find the true, underlying cause that gave rise to your insecurity. Okay, do you really know the subject? Are you ready to answer any questions? Analyze the reasons for your concerns. Replay the events in your head again and ask yourself if there is really any reason to be worried. If yes, then now is just the right moment to better prepare and thus be calmer in public later. If, despite everything, you do not find the true reasons for concern, this "rehearsal" will add to your self-confidence.

Note.

Imagine the worst long before the event that disturbs you, but by no means at the moment immediately preceding it. At this moment, think positively. Direct your thoughts to a specific task.

Think Positive

Next, anticipate events by imagining the whole situation. Visibly picture in your mind the scene, the faces, the context, and how you will be dressed. Tell yourself: “I am ready to answer any questions and to any reaction of the public or interlocutors, because I have prepared for this in advance. Imagine yourself calm and in complete control of yourself, answering all questions with ease or confidently defending your point of view. Seeing yourself the way you want to be will help you when it's time to take action. Turning your thoughts into a positive direction will multiply your abilities and lead to success. Winners in competitions and in life constantly resort to this technique.

Direct your mind to a specific task

In Chapter 5, you'll learn special techniques to help you remember, and then the words "orient your mind to the task ahead" will seem more specific to you. Naturally, instead of reflecting on your concerns, you will actually begin to think about the merits of the case. You will ask yourself questions, analyze the problem and refine its formulation. First you ask yourself: "How can I achieve this?" By taking up this issue, you will forget your fears.

Reduce anxiety with music

Listening to slow music, such as some baroque pieces, soothes the soul and thus makes it easier to record information in memory. The Lozanov method of learning is based on reading the studied text to music at a tempo of about 60 quarter beats per minute (largo). You should only rhythmically alternate the pronunciation of words with silence against the background of music. For example, let's say you want to memorize some English word. During the first four-beat measure, listen to the music, and during the next measure, say out loud "station - railroad station":

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

(listen to music) (station - railroad station)

In this method, an attempt is made to harmoniously combine the participation of consciousness and subconscious processes, which, according to the assumption, should facilitate memorization. The effectiveness of the method remains controversial, although it appears to have given good results in Bulgaria's primary schools. It is applicable especially in the study of foreign languages. You can easily see its usefulness when memorizing a list of words needed to pass the exam; however, analytical methods provide deeper knowledge, and complete immersion in the language environment without translation makes it easier to master active speech. It may be ideal to combine different methods, rather than using only one of them (see chapter 13)

Listen to the slow melody of a baroque piece while repeating the phrase you want to learn. Feel calm, receptive and in tune with the music. You can choose to memorize verses, catchphrase, advertising message, slogan, words of a friend, proverb, etc. Here are some interesting phrases:

A man lives in forgetfulness, and a woman lives in memories.

(T. S. Eliot)

We forget by necessity, not by choice.

(Matthew Arnold)

Memory is wrong, like a woman.

Spanish proverb

Woman's age – this is the age of her feelings, while a man of age is a man who no longer has feelings.

(Mae West)

A life – these are just our memories, except for the current moment, and it flies by so quickly that we barely catch it in passing.

(Tennessee Williams)

I don't have the word "impossible" in my dictionary.

(Napoleon)

I discovered that all human unhappiness stems from one cause - because people do not know how to stay alone and idle in a room.

(Blaise Pascal)

We hardly think about the present, and if we do, it is only in preparation for the future.

(Blaise Pascal)

1. Relaxation reduces inner anxiety- one of the main causes of poor memory performance.

2. Relaxation improves attention. It allows you to assess the situation and focus.

3. Consistent muscle relaxation along with visualization soothe the body and soul.

4. Deep rhythmic breathing relieves excess tension and promotes better concentration.

5. Exercises that reduce anxiety, thereby making it easier to concentrate.

6. Relaxation helps to suppress anxiety and thus creates favorable conditions for the memory to work.

7. A good knowledge of the functions of memory, their conscious consideration and a positive psychological attitude also make it possible to better overcome anxiety and make it possible to concentrate.

8. Thinking about how to accomplish a task frees the brain from anxiety, displacing negative attitudes, instead of endlessly imagining possible failures, you need to think about specific ways to achieve the goal.

extraction

The efficiency of information retrieval is closely related to how well the material is organized in memory. Indeed, information is always reproduced on the basis of the structure in which it was remembered. Whether we are talking about naming the fifth month of the year, remembering who Freud is or what the theory of relativity is, in each of these cases one has to refer to the context in which the element retrieved from memory is “embedded”. So, in the first case, obviously, it will be necessary to recalculate all months, starting from January (or, conversely, in reverse order - from June, if we know that this is the sixth month); in the second case, it will be necessary to recall the era and homeland of the scientist and the area in which he worked, and in the third case, to recall the features of exactly one of the many theories that you want to talk about.

All this, of course, is overlaid with the content of episodic memory, which stores the events that occurred at the time of encoding the desired elements, or those memories of the past that arose at that time.

Precisely because context plays such an important role in retrieving information from memory, it is always easier for us to recognize some element among others presented with it than to remember something without any reference points or objects for comparison. This applies to people of all ages, but to the greatest extent - the elderly. The apparent weakening of memory (especially short-term) in the elderly, who often see this as the beginning of "sclerosis", is often associated not with a violation of the memory itself, but with a decrease in the ability to extract information from it. An obvious confirmation of this is the fact that the ability to recognize practically does not change.

All these considerations are one of the reasons why it is recognition rather than recall that is considered a more sensitive indicator of the actual amount of learned material. Therefore, from a pedagogical point of view, tests for choosing the right answers more accurately reflect the level of knowledge than direct questions, in which sometimes you can get away with simply repeating memorized words from a lecture or textbook. Psychology: Textbook for students. cf. uch. manager / Ed. I.V. Dubrovina. - 2nd ed., stereotype. - M.: Academy, 2002. - 464 p.

Forgetting and factors affecting it

memory information coding forgetting

As already noted, one cannot talk about memory without touching upon forgetting and its causes. Forgetting can be due to various factors. These include, for example, the age at which one or another event is remembered, the non-use of learned material, or, finally, the nature of this material. An important role is also played by interference, when previous or subsequent events interfere with the storage of some information in memory. Forgetting may also be associated with some unconscious motivations. Finally, entire "memory blocks" are sometimes erased as a result of degenerative processes in the nervous system or brain injuries, leading to the loss of function of some tissues.

As we already know, older people seem to tend to forget recent events or what they have to do. This is mainly due to the fact that it is difficult for them to organize the information that they will need to remember. This becomes especially obvious when they first encounter some new skills, new circumstances or unusual actions. Therefore, they need time to learn new things, and it is very important that this time is provided to them. They can be of great help to memos or mnemonic techniques that allow them to rationally organize their lives.

Forgetting also happens in early years. Indeed, few of us can remember events before the age of three. Apparently, this is not simply due to the prescription of such events. A two- or three-year-old child does not have memories. He does not remember his dreams and attaches little or no significance to such words as "yesterday" or "tomorrow." This may be due, in particular, to the fact that at this age the child's vocabulary is very limited, and experience is small; however, the main reason is that the child does not yet distinguish himself as a person, and he does not have a sufficiently clearly defined "I" that would allow him to perceive his own actions in relation to other people.

At the same time, such a point of view can be controversial: apparently, in special states of consciousness (under the influence of certain drugs or under hypnosis), a person can also remember such early events that he never remembers in a normal state.

Be that as it may, studies have shown that between the ages of 5 and 11 years, short-term memory improves significantly. Then it remains at a stable level up to 30 years, and later - from 30 to 70 years? may either improve or slowly deteriorate.

It seems natural to associate forgetting with the fact that certain information or learned actions are not repeated. This is undeniably true of much of the knowledge acquired in school, if later the understanding of its importance (true or relative) was lost by the student, who is forced by traditional pedagogical methods to become passive. In accordance with the well-known saying that culture is “what remains when everything is already forgotten”, the best guarantee for the preservation in memory and the development of certain knowledge is not just “naked” repetition, but interest or even passion for the subject.

However, we must not forget that motor skills apparently do not obey this regularity. We can quite successfully sit on a bicycle or at the piano after a 20- or 30-year hiatus. The same applies to most of the knowledge that we received in early childhood, i. when the brain is most plastic. So, for example, the earlier a child has learned a foreign language, the more difficult it will be to forget it. The list of such examples can be continued, including, say, playing a musical instrument, chess, and so on.

However, even more important than non-use, the forgetting factor may be interference from other earlier or later acquired knowledge or skills; in these cases, negative carryover may occur.

This phenomenon may be due, in particular, to the negative transfer during learning, which we have already discussed in the seventh chapter. Interference may be associated with events that occurred before the memorization of a particular material. In this case, one speaks of proactive interference. For example, if a student receives bad news before a student begins to study for exams, learning will naturally suffer. Interference is also possible when, immediately after one material, we take on another, similar to the first. For example, after learning Italian, there are difficulties in mastering Spanish.

However, retroactive interference plays an even greater role in forgetting. If, for example, immediately after learning a skill, we start a new activity, this skill may deteriorate. At the same time, it was noted that if the old and new skills are very similar or, conversely, very different, then retroactive interference is weakly expressed. It will strongly affect the first skill only when the second one is relatively similar to it. In our case, with the assimilation of two languages, it can be said with greater certainty that if the Spanish language is still learned, and Italian does not have to be used during this time, then it will be more difficult to remember it if necessary.

Similar phenomena are also observed when a student has to study two subjects, examinations in which he will take on the same day. The study of general psychology will only deepen the knowledge of developmental psychology, especially if both courses were taught by the same teacher. Psychology will not interfere with chemistry as well; but if one has to deal simultaneously with psychology with philosophy or sociology, while touching on similar topics, then interference may well arise.

It is also known that interference is always more pronounced during recall than during recognition.

Another type of forgetting discovered by Freud is repression. For example, we may “forget” to sign a check we send on a due date, “forget” to study an exam subject, or to show up for an important but fraught date. Rozin V.M. Psychology: Science and practice: Proc. allowance. - M.: RGGU, Omega-L, 2005. - 544 p.

In such cases, Freud spoke of active forgetting. He explained this phenomenon not by chance, but by the actual inhibition of traces in memory at the level of consciousness and their displacement into the subconscious, where they are held at the cost of a significant expenditure of energy.

Modern psychologists prefer to talk about motivated forgetting, thereby emphasizing that with the help of such a mechanism, the subject tries to "get away" from the unpleasant aspects of a particular situation. Somewhat later, considering the mechanisms of mental defense (Chapter 12), we will return to this sometimes pathological phenomenon.

1. Sensory memory

a) acts at the level of receptors;

b) lasts less than one second;

c) lies, in particular, at the basis of successive images.

d) All answers are correct.

2. Short-term memory

a) lasts up to two minutes;

b) has a capacity not exceeding 11 elements;

c) allows you to remember a phone number for a long time.

d) All answers are wrong.

3. Long-term memory

a) has a limited capacity;

b) has a practically unlimited duration;

c) more developed in the elderly.

d) All answers are correct.

4. The principle of encoding specificity concerns

a) the context in which the encoding takes place;

b) motivation of the subject;

c) the number of repetitions of the same material;

d) the time required to integrate the material.

5. As Zeigarnik showed, we remember a job better if it

a) completed;

b) remained unfinished;

c) was deliberately terminated;

d) led to a reward.

6. Semantic memory is such a memory,

a) in which the information is processed at the time of encoding;

b) which consists of structures that allow organizing the knowledge of the world;

c) in which information relating to life events is stored.

d) All answers are wrong.

7. We navigate the days of the week or the arrangement of words in the dictionary thanks to

a) spatial organization;

b) consistent organization;

c) an association organization;

d) hierarchical organization.

8. Hierarchical organization

a) allows orderly work of semantic memory;

b) is based on the fact that each element is assigned to one category or another;

c) requires familiarity with certain terms.

d) All answers are correct.

9. Retrieving information from memory is always easier

a) recall some single element;

b) recognize an element of information among others presented;

c) answer direct questions;

d) ignore the context.

10. Elderly people

a) have a better memory than young people for old events;

b) retain the ability to organize memorized material very easily;

c) it is easier to remember something than to recognize it.

d) All answers are wrong.

11. Retroactive interference

a) is associated with events that occurred before the memorization of this material;

b) underlies positive transfer in learning;

c) increases if the materials are very different.

d) All answers are wrong.

12. When we forget to come to an important date, it is due to

a) braking;

b) active forgetting;

c) motivated forgetting.

d) All answers are correct.

13. Memory

a) always plays a positive role in the processes of thinking;

b) may cause some functional rigidity;

c) always facilitates the solution of the problem.

d) All answers are correct.

14. If the concept is defined by two attributes, then this

a) disjunctive concept;

b) a simple concept;

c) an emerging concept.

d) All answers are wrong.

15. When solving a problem, the preparation stage

a) it is the first step in the decision process;

b) may take several days;

c) allows you to collect all the information related to the problem.

d) All answers are correct.

16. When we find a solution to a problem "at random", then this

a) the result of a random enumeration;

b) trial and error strategy;

c) often leads to unpleasant consequences.

d) All answers are correct.

17. Of all the thinking strategies, a systematic enumeration

a) the most tiring;

b) is the most stringent method;

c) is the least used.

d) All answers are correct.

18. According to behavioral concepts of the development of cognitive functions

a) thought is an internal dialogue;

b) speech is a thought expressed aloud;

c) thoughts are always accompanied by implicit movements.

d) All answers are correct.

19. In the development of thinking, Bruner's cognitivist concept emphasizes

a) motor activity;

b) mental images;

d) All answers are correct.

20. According to Piaget, the development of thinking is mainly connected

a) with the development of speech;

b) with the interaction of the organism and the environment;

c) with the extinction of the process of assimilation.

d) All answers are wrong.

21. Stage of formal operations

a) is achieved by everyone between the ages of 14 and 15;

b) characterized by the formulation of hypotheses and conclusions;

c) is characterized by the development of subjective thinking.

d) All answers are correct.

22. Human language is characterized

a) the presence of signals that trigger certain behavioral reactions;

b) the ability to convey information about past and future events;

c) limited linguistic competence.

d) All answers are correct.

23. According to learning theory, speech develops as a result of

a) internalization of the acquired language;

b) successive approximations;

c) imitation of the "parental model".

d) All answers are correct.

24. The preformist theory of the development of speech emphasizes mainly the fact that speech is formed as a result of

a) conditions;

b) the interaction of the child with the environment;

c) the pressure exerted by a given culture on its representatives.

d) All answers are wrong.

25. In accordance with relativistic theories, any language is "relative" and depends

a) from our perception of the world;

b) from a particular culture;

c) from experience gained through conditioning.

d) All answers are wrong.

Answers on questions

Fill in the gaps

1 - immediate, short-term, long-term; 2-touch, quarters; 3-capacity, seven; 4-storage, limitless; 5-familiar; b-coding, context; 7-incomplete; 8-binds, contexts; 9 - encoding, storage, extraction; 10-coding, short-term memory, long-term memory; 11-episodic, semantic; 12-autobiographical; 13-semantic; 14-Spatial, consistent; 15-associative, general, hierarchical, categories; 16-extract, learn, remember; 17-age, disuse; 18-interference, proactive interference, retroactive interference; 19-motivated, unpleasant; 20-thinking, strategies, processing; 21-rigidity, negative, solution; 22-formation, problems; 23 - formation; 24-Assimilate, disjunctive; 25-preparation, incubation, insight, evaluation; 26-strategy, hypotheses; 27-systematic, rational; 28-dialogue, expressed aloud; 29-activity, images, symbolic; 30-scheme, others, adapt; 31-assimilation, include, mutate, new; 32-sensomotor, specific, formal; 33-signals, momentary; 34-past, future; 35 competencies; 36-psycholinguistics, linguistic psychology; 37-learning, preformist, relativistic, constructivist; 38-learning, imitation; 39-congenital, linguistic, "matrix"; 40-thought, intellect, display.

True or False

1-H; 2-H; 3-B; 4-B; 5-B; 6-H; 7-H; 8-H; 9-B; 10-H; 11-B; 12-H; 13-B;

14-B; 15-B; 16-H; 17-B; 18-H; 19-B; 20-B; 21-H; 22-B; 23-B; 24-H; 25-B.

The efficiency of information retrieval is closely related to how well the material is organized in memory. Indeed, information is always reproduced on the basis of the structure in which it was remembered. Whether we are talking about naming the fifth month of the year, remembering who Freud is or what the theory of relativity is, in each of these cases one has to refer to the context in which the element retrieved from memory is “embedded”. So, in the first case, obviously, it will be necessary to recalculate all months, starting from January (or, conversely, in reverse order - from June, if we know that this is the sixth month); in the second case, it will be necessary to recall the era and homeland of the scientist and the area in which he worked, and in the third case, to recall the features of exactly one of the many theories that you want to talk about.

All this, of course, is overlaid with the content of episodic memory, which stores the events that occurred at the time of encoding the desired elements, or those memories of the past that arose at that time.

356 Chapter 8

It is precisely because context plays such an important role in retrieving information from memory that it is always easier for us to discover some element among others presented with it than recall something without any reference points or objects to compare. This applies to people of all ages, but to the greatest extent - the elderly. The apparent weakening of memory (especially short-term) in the elderly, who often see this as the beginning of "sclerosis", is often associated not with a violation of the memory itself, but with a decrease in the ability to extract information from it (Hultsch, 1971). An obvious confirmation of this is the fact that the ability to recognize practically does not change.

All these considerations are one of the reasons why it is recognition rather than recall that is considered a more sensitive indicator of the actual amount of learned material. Therefore, from a pedagogical point of view, tests for choosing the right answers more accurately reflect the level of knowledge than direct questions, in which sometimes you can get away with simply repeating memorized words from a lecture or textbook.

Forgetting

As already noted, one cannot talk about memory without touching upon forgetting and its causes. Forgetting can be due to various factors. These include, for example, the age at which one or another event is remembered, the non-use of learned material, or, finally, the nature of this material. Also plays an important role interference, when the storage of some information in memory is prevented by previous or subsequent events. Forgetting may also be associated with some unconscious motivations. Finally, whole "memory blocks" are sometimes erased as a result of degenerative processes in the nervous system or brain injuries, leading to the loss of function of some tissues (see document 8.4).

Factors Influencing Forgetting

Age. As we already know, older people seem to tend to forget recent events or what they have to do. This is mainly due to the fact that it is difficult for them to organize the information that they will need to remember. This becomes especially obvious when they first encounter some new skills, new circumstances or unusual actions. Therefore, they need time to learn new things, and it is very important that this time is provided to them. They can be greatly helped by memos or mnemonic techniques that allow them to rationally organize their lives.

Memory, thinking and communication 357

Forgetting also occurs in the early years. Indeed, few of us can remember events before the age of three. Apparently, this is not simply due to the prescription of such events. A two- or three-year-old child does not have memories. He does not remember his dreams and attaches little or no significance to such words as "yesterday" or "tomorrow." This may be due, in particular, to the fact that at this age the child's vocabulary is very limited, and experience is small; however, the main reason is that the child does not yet distinguish himself as a person and he does not have a sufficiently clearly defined "I" that would allow him to perceive his own actions in relation to other people.

At the same time, such a point of view can be controversial: apparently, in special states of consciousness (under the influence of certain drugs or under hypnosis), a person can also remember such early events that he never remembers in a normal state.

Be that as it may, studies have shown that between the ages of 5 and 11 years, short-term memory improves significantly. Then it remains at a stable level up to 30 years, and later - from 30 to 70 years - it can either improve or slowly worsen (Inglis et al., 1968).

Non-use of information and its nature. It seems natural to associate forgetting with the fact that certain information or learned actions are not repeated. This is undeniably true of much of the knowledge acquired in school, if later the understanding of its importance (true or relative) was lost by the student, who is forced by traditional pedagogical methods to become passive. In accordance with the well-known saying that culture is “what remains when everything is already forgotten”, the best guarantee for the preservation in memory and the development of certain knowledge is not just “naked” repetition, but interest or even passion for the subject.

However, we must not forget that motor skills apparently do not obey this regularity. We can quite successfully sit on a bicycle or at the piano after a 20- or 30-year hiatus. The same applies to most of the knowledge that we received in early childhood, i. when the brain is most plastic. So, for example, the earlier a child has learned a foreign language, the more difficult it will be to forget it. The list of such examples can be continued, including, say, playing a musical instrument, chess, etc.

However, even more important than non-use, forgetting may be interference from others, acquired earlier or later, knowledge or skills; in these cases, negative carryover may occur.

Interference. This phenomenon may be due, in particular, to the negative transfer during learning, which we have already discussed in the seventh chapter. Interference can be associated with events that have occurred before memorization of certain material. In this case, one speaks of proactive interference. For example, if a student receives bad news before a student begins to study for exams, learning will naturally suffer. Interference is also possible when, immediately after one material, we take on another, similar to the first. For example, after learning Italian, there are difficulties in mastering Spanish.

358 Chapter 8

However, an even greater role in forgetting is played by retroactive interference. If, for example, immediately after learning a skill, we start a new activity, this skill may deteriorate. At the same time, it was noted that if the old and new skills are very similar or, conversely, very different, then retroactive interference is weakly expressed. It will strongly affect the first skill only when the second one is with him. relatively similar. In our case, with the assimilation of two languages, it can be said with greater certainty that if the Spanish language is still learned, and Italian does not have to be used during this time, then it will be more difficult to remember it if necessary.

Similar phenomena are also observed when a student has to study two subjects, examinations in which he will take on the same day. The study of general psychology will only deepen the knowledge of developmental psychology, especially if both courses were taught by the same teacher. Psychology will not interfere with chemistry as well; but if one has to deal simultaneously with psychology with philosophy or sociology, while touching on similar topics, then interference may well arise.

It is also known that interference is always more pronounced during recall than during recognition.

Suppression. Another type of forgetting discovered by Freud is repression. For example, we may “forget” to sign a check we send on a due date, “forget” to study an exam subject, or to show up for an important but fraught date.

In such cases, Freud spoke of active forgetting. He explained this phenomenon not by chance, but by the actual inhibition of traces in memory at the level of consciousness and their displacement into the subconscious, where they are held at the cost of a significant expenditure of energy.

Modern psychologists prefer to talk about motivated forgetting, thereby emphasizing that with the help of such a mechanism, the subject tries to "get away" from the unpleasant sides of a particular situation. Somewhat later, considering the mechanisms of mental defense (Chapter 12), we will return to this sometimes pathological phenomenon.

Memory and thinking

Without memory, no learning would be possible. It can also be added that thinking could not exist without memory. Indeed, in order to think, you need to imagine something, imagine, combine images or concepts related to events, people or objects that are not physically in front of us at the moment. Of course, this means that they must be present in memory.

Memory, thinking and communication 359

Memory is also involved in simple memories and in other thought processes, such as daydreams or daydreams, and, on a more structured level, in planning, problem solving, and decision making.

When we indulge in fantasies (in memories or in dreams, and also in some dreams), we have mainly mental images. In this case, associations arise that are not controlled by any rigid organization of thought. Sometimes, when confronted with harsh reality, we begin to build some wishes or daydream, for example, we recall some events (most often not happened to us) that could be a solution to the problem. This may form the unrealistic idea that we will definitely win a big prize by buying a lottery ticket, or that the upcoming exam tomorrow will be postponed for some reason that exists only in our imagination.

However, in most cases, we have to process and organize information in a way that most logically cope with the challenges of everyday life. At the same time, the role of thinking is to develop mental strategies based on symbolic procedures. This is exactly what happens when we form new concepts, plan our activities, judge objects, people or events, search for answers to various questions or make necessary decisions.

The positive role of memory. All of these activities require reasoning, by means of which we can in some new way connect information about current circumstances with information accumulated in memory.

Imagine that you are in love, but the object of your feelings does not know about it. You can, of course, indulge in daydreaming, as if fulfilling your desires in daydreams, for example, meeting your loved one in some idyllic setting. But in reality it's just a fantasy.

Surely it would be more realistic to consider the possibility of a date in some public place. Let's say, do not invite your loved one to the cinema? This is just the first solution, which will give rise to a lot of tasks that require planning and evaluation; here and then specific information called from memory will be required. What movie might interest the object of your adoration? What films were recommended to you? How much money can you spend? Which cinemas are the easiest to get into? Are they far from your home or from the city center? How to get there? On foot or by bus? Where is the meeting place? How to dress? Etc.

360 Chapter 8

Rice. 8.4. Functional rigidity often makes it difficult to find an unconventional solution to any mundane task.

Of course, this is only the beginning of your romance, and you are given the opportunity to imagine further developments and find mental (and other) strategies that can be implemented in order to lead you to success.

This very simple example makes it clear how necessary long-term memory is for further attempts at thinking. It is quite clear that in most cases it plays an extremely important role in the search for new solutions to various problems.

The negative role of memory. There are, however, cases when long-term memory does not help find a solution to a problem, but, on the contrary, makes it difficult to find it. This happens, in particular, when some preconceived ideas about the purpose of objects, the course of action of this or that person, or about how some event can happen, prevent us from seeing all this differently than in the light of the previous one. us so far information.

Such functional rigidity manifests itself, for example, when we need to tighten the screw, but there is no screwdriver, and it does not even occur to us to use the knife lying on the table (Fig. 8.4). The same mechanism is at work when dealing with changes in terminology, units of measure, or the monetary system. The difficulties that many North Americans have when changing from English to metric measures, or the French when they calculate the purchase price in "new francs" (whereas the old francs have not existed, at least officially, for more than 30 years) - here are two obvious examples of functional rigidity.

Memory, thinking and communication 361

Saving Information

Saving information is perhaps one of the most important moments in the life of any person. Psychologists have always faced the task of studying the processes of imprinting and preserving memory traces with their subsequent recognition and reproduction.

How long can these traces be stored, what are the mechanisms for preserving these traces for short and long periods - all these questions have been and remain relevant to this day.

Cognitive psychology, with the help of computer metaphor, contributes to the elucidation of these issues. For a computer, memory is also the meaning of its existence.

It is difficult to imagine what will happen to a person who fails to save the information coming to him, and maybe not so difficult if you pay attention to people suffering from sclerosis.

It is bad for a person if he cannot remember some information or extract it, they say that this is not memory, but a sieve, but it is a hundred times worse if nothing is remembered at all and nothing is also extracted. It turns out a solid hole. And who needs a "sclerotic" computer? Dump it! And who needs such a vegetable base, in which there are empty storage facilities? This means that it needs to be converted into some kind of warehouse or market.

We already know that information entering the memory leaves a trace, and we know that there are memory stores such as sensory, intermediate, and permanent.

Distribution and coding of information

I imagine it like this: intermediate storage or short-term, short-term storage of information, which at the moment is like a working or working memory, controlled by the central processor, which distributes this information to encoders that must be activated at the right time. This activation depends on a long-term representation (representation), i.e., in order to store some information in memory, we must already have some knowledge about the world around us. This corresponds to the ways of coding the material: a) visual, b) acoustic, c) semantic.

Visual and acoustic coding is quite clear and, in principle, we have already touched on them and determined that visual coding is ahead of acoustic or auditory.

Semantic coding is such coding when information is given meaning. For coding in this case, a connection with already stored concepts is necessary.

Repetition is the mother of learning

The best way to remember at all times was the way of repetition. As it turned out, repetition is pronunciation. Indeed, remember the classic "cramming", he always mumbles something, trying to remember better. Yes, obviously, and any of you can catch yourself saying mentally or out loud what needs to be remembered. Often this process can be unconscious.

Repetition contributes to the retention of information in the intermediate storage, but, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, cannot increase the volume of this storage. There is, as it were, a nourishment of that information, a melting trace of memory that is in storage due to repetition. There is something like a circuit, but until when and how does memorization take place, after all, does not all this rotate endlessly in the intermediate storage?

Most cognitive psychologists agree that repetition makes it possible to:

• Transfer information from perceptual to short-term memory.
• Reduce the load on short-term memory.
• Translate information into long-term memory.
• Group material for later playback.

Obviously, in order for the coding of the memorized material to take place, there must be a connection with the stored concepts, and all memory storages are interconnected.

What is best remembered is what constitutes the purpose of our action, most systematic knowledge appears as a result of special activities, the purpose of which is to memorize and preserve the memorized material in memory. Meaningful memorization is much more productive than mechanical memorization, which requires many repetitions and time.

memorization

For better memorization, repetition alone is not enough; information must be grouped in a special way, correlated, which will serve to strengthen the connections.

Memorization is, as it were, two sequential processes, one of them is the processing of information or its encoding and consolidation of the trace. For long-term memorization of information, semantic processing is necessary, which is impossible without recourse to semantic memory.

At first, this information is recognized, and then it receives spatio-temporal coordinates, in order to remember this information as an event, a reminder is placed, as it were, for further finding this information.

To increase the productivity of memorization and store information in memory, there are different ways - this is recoding and enlarging information, figurative coding, translating words and numbers into visual images, memorizing landmark words so as not to get lost in the flow of incoming information (remember how those who go ahead in a hike leave directional arrows for those following them).

The human memory stores the memorized more or less for a long time. Dynamic storage is characteristic of working memory, static storage is characteristic of long-term memory. Information enters the long-term memory continuously, being transformed and reconstructed. What is it? Some details of the information are replaced by others, the information is changed and generalized. How can this be determined? This can be judged in the process of extracting information (recognition and reproduction).

Information Extraction

Retrieving information from intermediate storage

It would seem that it is easier to extract information from the intermediate storage, because it is "fresh", accessible and not yet lost. This repository is our present, one might even say momentary. Despite this, the information in it is already encoded and systematized, so not every information can be easily extracted and depends on the speed of access to it. The sooner we need the stored information, the sooner we can retrieve it.

For example, we make some calculations and we need the resulting result in order to enter it into some documents. We quickly retrieve it from memory and write it down. If we do not need it further, then we safely forget it, and if this result is of some value to us, then it is stored in memory. To get the necessary information, you need to look for it, and this turns out to be connected with long-term memory, it has already got into long-term storage.

The information that needs to be remembered for a long time has already been coded auditory, visual or semantic, which makes it possible to extract it.

A lot of work is going on in the intermediate storage, where information is processed, encoded, transferred to long-term storage, but it can also be retrieved at any stage.

Extracting information from permanent storage (long-term memory)

There is a division of long-term memory into episodic and semantic. Episodic memory includes a person's personal experience, subjectively conscious, so it can be actively reproduced. And semantic memory is knowledge about the world, general patterns, knowledge of speech categories. It is in the presence of a trace in the semantic memory that a feeling of "familiarity" arises upon re-encountering a phenomenon, which facilitates the extraction of the necessary information.

Extracting information from long-term memory is, first of all, its recognition, reproduction, recall.

Recognition

Recognition occurs at the moment of perception, with a comparison with a previously formed impression based on either personal impressions (representation of memory) or on the basis of verbal descriptions (representation of imagination).

If we recognize an object, then we immediately attribute it to a certain category. For example, a silhouette appeared on a deserted road, we still do not know who it is a man or a woman, but we can already attribute it to a certain category - a person. Recognition can vary in degree of accuracy.

Sometimes, when we see a familiar artist in a film, we immediately recognize him immediately, we say his name and surname, when and in what films he played and what roles. And sometimes we see something like a familiar artist, but we don’t remember who he is, where he played, but there is something familiar in him. At the same time, a feeling of uncertainty contributes to a more careful search in memory.

Most likely, recognition occurs depending on familiarity with the object and then searching for a match in long-term memory. Thus, recognition is a comparison of incoming information with material already encoded and stored in memory.

Recognition fluency measures how familiar we are with an object. For example, if we can identify a work from the first words of a reader, or identify a piece of music from the first notes heard, this indicates a really fluent perception, as well as a good encoding of information in our memory.

J. Bransford put forward the idea of ​​matching the stimulus to the transmission - the signal must correspond to the context of the encoded information.

Information playback

Reproduction of information is an active cognitive process consisting of several stages. First, the search for the desired trace is carried out. When new information appears, similar in its characteristics to the existing one, it makes finding the right material much more difficult. When, nevertheless, a trace is found, it must be decoded (decoded), and the information received should be verified with the requirements of the task.

Reproduction of information can be active or take the form of recognition of the presented stimulus, and then there is no active search for a trace and decoding of information.

Remembrance

Recall can also occur if we could not recognize the object. It is due to the generation of signals that are not in the outside world, but it is necessary to extract information from long-term memory and place it in working memory.

So, for example, in television games, shows sometimes use leading questions and suddenly the player, as it were, overshadows, like an information lightning flashes, and he remembers the right answer. And if you remember searching for the necessary information on a computer or the Internet, sometimes you have to set a few additional conditions, and now the information you need is in front of you.

We can distinguish two types of recollection - this is when we know the information well (the date of our birth) and when we make a choice from several options (the date of birth of a friend). Free recall occurs when easily accessible information is retrieved, and prepared recall (also called recall) occurs when the preparing stimulus matches the stored information.

Recall is strongly influenced by the emotional state at the time of storing information, if there was an emotional outburst at that moment, then the recall occurs in great detail.

Recall is more difficult than recognition because it requires volitional participation, it is necessary to carry out certain work, sorting through the facts. But still, in this sense, it is easier for a person, because. associations and intuition come to his aid, and a "poor" computer, he is forced to go through all the information until he "comes across" the necessary fact.

Sort information by category

The higher the organization of memory, the easier it is to retrieve information. Experimentally, it was found that information is extracted mainly by categories. There is a clustering model, according to which information in persistent storage is contained in clusters.

Those people who use more categories when storing information, sorting words (concepts) into a larger number of categories, remember them more and better.

Playback process

Replay is probably a better concept for retrieving information than just remembering. After all, inadvertently or specifically remembering, you can again "drive" information into the far corner of long-term storage. And reproduction, as it were, means extracting the necessary information from long-term memory, placing it in working memory and working with it.

If we analyze the process of reproduction, we can see that during reproduction there is a generalization, or concretization and detailing of the material, sometimes the content is replaced by equivalent in meaning, in some cases there is a reduction, or a combination of different parts.

There are cases when information is supplemented by other information received earlier. There are, of course, distortions of semantic information, and, apparently, not only semantic information. In the human-computer system, failures are also possible.

What do all these facts indicate? Yes, that, most likely, in the human brain, in his memory, there is constant work, the stored information is processed and redistributed to the necessary clusters, or shelves, it doesn’t matter what you call it. The information is somehow supplemented, and all this is stored in order to appear during playback in the required form.

Depending on the properties of the memory of a particular person, the readiness for reproduction may be different. The reproduction of information may be accurate, or incomplete, or revised, but equivalent in meaning to the original information.