INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

REMEMBERING ALL THINGS PAST

This article analyses the article, “Remembering all things past” that appeared on the American Scientific American in 2004. The article discusses condition known as highly superior autographical memory (HSAM). The authors of the article discovered the condition when one lady, Jill Price, who reports that she can recall all events that happened she was 11 years old as if they happened yesterday. This came as a surprise to her and they decided to test her by asking her what happened on certain dates. On testing her, she came out as one person who had HSAM. When they aired her on national radio, other people who thought they had the same type of memory came out. In just a few days, they got more and found that some people who thought they had super memory actually performed worse the control population that was planted among them. This, to them, implied that not all those who thought they had HSAM actually had it.

On further analysis of those people who had HSAM outperformed the controls by a big margin of 87% on memory questions. Those who did not have HSAM on the other had only scored 8%. The 11 subjects were conclusively said to have HSAM. Further tests showed that the HSAM group performed well in tests that required them to associate names to faces and dates and another on recall of visual objects. They also showed that the subjects had repulsion to handling objects that contained germs and also had compulsive behaviour of hoarding objects they thought held memorable attachments to them.

Magnetic imaging scans on the brains of the subjects also showed a big difference in size and shapes of certain regions of their brains. They also showed higher efficiency in the transmission of information between regions of the brain.

Research has shown that the regions that are different among subjects of HSAM are involved in recalling life events. One such discovery showed that the uncinate fascicle appeared to be better connected among subjects than among the control group. The study also showed that injury to this fibre tract impaired autobiographical memory. These observations were however not able to determine whether the differences were as a result of using their ability or caused the ability.

Certain things are however certainly clear. First, subjects have a higher ability to retain memories in their minds for extended periods of time. Second, their ability was not a learnt ability and was not in any way similar to that of mnemonic experts who use tricks to memorise a series of digits within a short while. Indeed, the group did not have similar abilities.

The HSAM group showed that they had an ability to remember events that made no impact to their lives including the weather on certain dates. These were not events they could have spent time memorizing. The ability was therefore found to be an ability that was obtained without any exertion or learning. The subjects also had little or no interest in learning what happened before their births.

The memory that is referred to in the article is episodic or the autographical memory. The subjects are able to remember situations that happened in their lives over a long period of time. Exposure to certain information is all that is required to them. The subjects do not require training to have this form of memory. It is however rare and most people do not have this particular ability.

In conclusion, the article studies a group of individuals who have a strong ability to remember events that they came upon in their lives. This ability cannot be learned and is probably related to the way their brains are wired.

References

McCaughey, J. L., & LePort, A. (2014). Remembrance of All Things Past. Scientific American, 310(2), 40-45.

MEMORY PROCESS

The memory process comprises of encoding, storage and retrieval of information. The memory process can fail at any point and result in forgetting certain information. Every piece of information that comes into contact with our lives is received by our minds. The mind chooses to either decode this memory or to let it go. If the memory is not encoded and stored in the working memory it is lost. Once in the working memory, the mind either opts to store it in the long-term memory or it gets lost in a short while, usually about 30 minutes (Beran, 1994). The information can therefore be lost at any point in the system, the sensory memory, the working memory or the long-term memory. The sensory memory fails in the storage of memory in when it does not transfer the information to the working memory immediately. It is the part of memory that receives information from its surrounding through the senses. It may succeed in recording this memory to the next stage. The working memory then allows us to use the information in the short term. This is the memory that stores information that is on the table. It can store, for example, the information contained in a question one is working on. Once we are through with the question, we may choose to get rid of the details in the question. If we need to pass the exam, however, we retain the concept and use it in the future. The concept is then stored in the relatively permanent part of our memories. In this case, it can be referred to at any point in our course (Sternberg, 1969).

Memory loss is a common scenario. It is caused by poor retrieval methods. If one needs to be better at keeping information in their minds, they need to polish their memory retrieval methods.

There are various types of memories which are usually stored in the long-term memory. They differ in the way they are encoded, stored and retrieved. They include semantic memory that stores general knowledge information, episodic memory that is involved in the storage of personal information, the procedural memory which helps us to remember how to do certain things like driving, swimming and cycling, classically conditioned memory which stores information that triggers certain stimuli and priming which sharpens our senses due to prior exposure to certain scenarios.

References

Beran, J. (1994). Statistics for long-memory processes.

Sternberg, S. (1969). Memory scanning: Mental processes revealed by reaction time experiments.

CHANGES IN RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS DURING THE YEARS OF PUBERTY

The ages of puberty are mostly viewed as the teenage years. During these years, the child undergoes both behavioural changes and bodily changes. The relationship between parents and children also undergo immense changes on different levels. This paper seeks to identify and identify different areas in which psychologists have found main shifts in the relationships between parents and their children.

Independence

While parents remain the bread winners of the family, children are able to participate in activities around the home. The child at this point tries to be responsible for their lives. The parent then starts viewing their children as the toddlers they were just recently. Parents and children may disagree at this point depending on how much responsible a child may be. Children may also opt to change their beliefs, values and decisions hence increasing the divide them and their parents (Grieshaber, 2004).

Peer groups

As children reach the age of puberty, they join up with others and only refer to this group for validation and approval. They no longer want to follow the ways trained to them by he parents but to go along with trends in their groups. As parents seek independence from their parents, they become more and more engaged with these groups. This is an important stage in their lives and parents should not try to join the social circles of their parents but alternatively just act their parental roles (Salkind, 2002).

Identity

As teenagers reconcile the relationship with their parents with that of their peers, they build their own identity. At this point, they become their own beings who are capable of making their own decisions. They do not solely depend on the decisions of others but want to be a source of influence for others as well (Grieshaber, 2004).

Conclusion

In conclusion, parents can effectively influence the identity of their children at puberty. However, for them to be able to do this effectively, they should understand some vital concepts. First, parents should avoid taking the apparent rejection by their children. Instead, they should know that children are attempting to tailor their own values. Second, parents should make themselves available for consultation by their children. Finally, parents should introduce reasonable limits with room for negotiation. They should understand that children appreciate rules when they are accompanied by space for them to learn from mistakes.

References

Grieshaber, S. (2004). Rethinking parent and child conflict. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

Salkind, N. J. (2002). Child development. New York: Macmillan Reference USA.

STAGES OF CREATIVE THINKING

Psychologists have for a long time been interested with the creativity process. According to Graham Wallas, creative thinking goes through 5 stages. These are preparation, incubation, illumination, assessment and revision. This paper seeks to analyse each step with special attention to the discovery of the telephone.

Preparation

The telephone was initially discovered by Alexander Graham Bell in the 1870s. The first process of discovering the telephone must have been discovering the problem. The problem in this case was the necessity for a device that would be used to transmit voice over long distances. Bell might then have looked for tools and tried out all the means he would think of for making the device. Upon exhaustion of ideas, he must have quit trying. The process requires the person to be very patient and to overcome the consequences.

Incubation

This stage is a stage in which no activity is done. The inventor’s negativity to the idea after failure tends to fade and he starts to think where he went wrong. In the case of the telephone, he may have thought about areas he could have made mistakes. However, he still does not make any changes to his telephone until he moves to the next stage. Only the unconscious processes seem to be involved in this stage.

Illumination

At this point, the inventor gets a solution for his problem as if from nowhere. He might have discovered a problem with his initial process or a piece that may have been missing all along.

Evaluation

The inventor then goes to the lab and implements the change in his initial device to see if it works. Sometimes, the solution seems unsatisfactory and requires modification of strategy.

Revision

If the solution is unsatisfactory, it requires revision. In this step, the entire device may have been dismantled or something new introduced. After this step, the idea is complete. It is taken to the market and sold as it is. Other revisions may be introduced to make the telephone more effective, cheaper and so on.

Conclusion In conclusion, the process of creative thinking is often difficult. It comprises devotion on the part of the person inventing and a lot of patience. Giving up along the way leads to great ideas failing. It is up to those who are gifted with creativity to nurture their talent and work on it to completio