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Úvod
Memory recall or retrieval is remembering the information or events that were previously encoded and stored in the brain. Retrieval is the third step in the processing of memory, with first being the encoding of memory and second, being the storage of the memory. Retrieval of the encoded and stored memory is very important because otherwise there is no point in storing information.
During memory recall, there is a replaying of neural activity that was originally generated in the brain during a specific event. This echoes the brain’s perception of that specific event which is not completely identical to that event. In this way, the brain remembers the information and details of the event. Memory recall is not just pulling things from the storage of memories, rather it is a process of creativity in which the relevant information is gathered from the scattered, jigsaw puzzle-like information in the brain.
Increased activity in Globus pallidus, anterior cingulate gyrus, thalamus, and cerebellum is seen during recall. The same activity is not seen in the recognition process which means that these structures play a more important role in recall than recognition. Some studies have shown that recall only takes place when there is synchronic activation of two brain region i.e. rhinal cortex and hippocampus.
According to another study, which included recalling items from a list, huge differences are seen in hemodynamic activity during subsequent recalled and not recalled items. The effect has now been termed as the subsequent memory effect (SME). These differences in activity determine whether a specific item is recalled or not.
Creation of False Memories During Recall
The retrieval process is some time involved in the creation of false memories or wrong interpretation of memories. These false memories result from persistent beliefs, post-event information, wrongly stated and interpreted statements, and interference of new memories with old memories.
According to Elizabeth Loftus, a scientist who researched heavily in this area, the specific or precise wording of a question dramatically changes the recall and recreation of memories which may also lead to permanent changing of existing memories and the creation of false memories. A person’s information on an event is sometimes greatly influenced by a statement or suggestion of an authority figure, this phenomenon is called the misinformation effect.
Hyperthymesia
Hyperthymesia refers to a superior autobiographical memory or an extraordinary ability to recall specific details of life events from the past. The person with this condition can recall the details without practicing any mnemonics or other retrieval strategies.
This is an extremely rare condition and only a few cases have ever been confirmed. One of these cases was a woman from California who was able to recall all the details of his previous life. There was a young English girl who had an amazing photographic memory and an IQ of 191. Some people having this condition say that it is not a gift but a burden for them.
Involuntary Memory Retrieval
Involuntary memory retrieval has been divided into two types: the involuntary autobiographical memory retrieval, and the involuntary semantic memory retrieval.
Involuntary autobiographical memory retrieval refers to automatic reactivation of unconscious memories as a result of any sensory or internal cue, like a thought. Those autobiographical memories that are seemingly not associated with any kind of cues are lost easily. In this case, there is an error that occurs in the self-regulation of memory. As a result, the unrelated autobiographical memory reaches the conscious mind. The specific goals of a person most frequently result in involuntary retrieval of memories related to the goals.
The process of involuntary semantic memory retrieval is the same as involuntary autobiographical memory retrieval. This type is also known as “semantic popping”. This type refers to involuntary retrieval of a random word, image, or concept. Though the process is similar to IAM retrieval, there is no personal grounding in ISM retrieval.
Tip-of-the-tongue
This phenomenon refers to the failure to recall a word from memory which is combined with the feeling that retrieval is imminent. There may be a partial recall in this case. There is a perception of a wide gap between the knowledge of a specific word or subject and being able to retrieve the names involving said subject or the word. People sometimes recall other features of the target word such as its first letter or the words that have a similar meaning.
Two theories have been given by scientists to explain this phenomenon. The first is the direct-access perspective, according to which the memory is not strong enough to recall but it is strong enough to trigger the partial recall. The second is the inferential perspective which states that the state of partial recall occurs when the subject can infer knowledge of the target word, but not able to join the pieces of information together usually because those pieces do not exist in the memory.
Factors Affecting Retrieval
Kontext
The characteristics of the environment in which a memory is encoded are also encoded along with the memory. This leads to the context-dependency of retrieval which means that the memories are more easily retrieved in the same environmental conditions in which they were encoded.
Rod
Studies have shown that females are better than males at recalling episodic memories, but no differences have been seen in the two during retrieval of semantic memories. The gender differences in memory retrieval are the result of using different strategies for processing information. A study has shown that females remember non-verbal cues while males tend to remember verbal cues.
Pozor
Attention has an effect on memory in its encoding process. If someone does not focus on something in the encoding phase, it is very difficult for that person to retrieve it later.
Rušení
Interference refers to the interaction between previous memories and newly formed memories. Proactive interference is the forgetting of new memories due to their interference with old memories in the brain. Retroactive interference is a failure to recall previously encoded information due to its interaction with new knowledge.
Fyzická aktivita
Physical activity or physical health appears to be an important factor in the retrieval of memories. Children with poor physical health usually have poor mental and cognitive health. Low physical activity and fitness level is directly linked to low academic achievement due to mental and cognitive problems.
Studies have shown that physical activity plays an important role in influencing the hippocampus. The hippocampus is the part of the brain involved in the encoding of information. It may also affect other areas of the brain. In this way, physical activity and exercise help in the proper functioning of the neural networks.
Spotřeba potravin
Some studies have shown that eating breakfast before going to school helps in more retrieval of information. The students who have a habit of eating breakfast generally scored more in their exams.
Retrieval Failure
Retrieval failure refers to the failure to recall information from long-term memory. In this case, memory has been previously encoded in long-term memory, but the person is not able to retrieve it. This does not happen due to the loss of the memory but because there are no cues available to retrieve it. Retrieval cues are of two types. External cues or contextual cues which are in the environment and Internal cues which are inside the human brain.
In these cases, mostly the environment in which memory is being retrieved is different from the environment of its encoding. Hence there are no external cues present which then leads to retrieval failure of the memory. For example, sometimes a person cannot remember the details of an event but returning to the place of that event gives him external cues and he begins to remember the details.
Shrnutí
Memory recall and retrieval involve remembering different types of memories stored in the brain. One can experience the memories by the process of memory retrieval or recall.
The speed of memory retrieval and recall depends on the strength of neural pathways formed in the earlier stages of memory processing.
Memory recall is divided into three types;
- Free recall in which memories are recalled in a list order
- Cued recall where different hints are used for recalling memories
- Serial recall when memories are recalled in a sequence of their occurrence
According to the two-stage theory, memory recall first includes the retrieval of information from the storage site and later involves checking the authenticity of the retrieved information.
Encoding specificity is an advanced theory that explains memory retrieval in accordance with the context and situation in which memory was encoded and is being retrieved.
Different types of memory retrieval include recall, recognition, recollection, and relearning.
Many areas of the brain are involved in memory retrieval such as the prefrontal cortex, areas of the temporal lobe, cerebellum, etc.
Some evidence does exist about the formation of false memories during the recall process.
Hyperthymesia is a phenomenon that refers to an extraordinary ability to remember minor details of events in a man’s life.
Involuntary memory retrieval is also seen in humans that involve both autobiographical and semantic memories.
The memory retrieval process can be affected by several factors such as the context of the event, food consumption, physical activities, etc.
Retrieval failure is also seen in some people due to certain reasons.
Reference
- Botvinick, M.; Wang, J.; Cowan, E.; Roy, S.; Bastianen, C.; Mayo, P.J.; Houk, J.C. (2009). «An analysis of immediate serial recall performance in a macaque». Animal Cognition. 12 (5):-671 678.dvě:10.1007 / s10071-009-0226-z.PMID19462189.
- Watkins, M.; Gardiner, J. M. (1979). «An appreciation of the generate-recognize theory of recall». Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior. 18 (6):-687 704.dvě:10.1016/s0022-5371(79)90397-9.
- Tulving, E.; Thomson, M. (1973).«Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory». Psychological Review. 80 (5):-352 373.dvě:10.1037 / h0020071.
- Tarnow, E. (2015). FIRST DIRECT EVIDENCE OF TWO STAGES IN FREE RECALL. RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics, (4), 15-26.
- Bower, Gordon H. (2000). Stručná historie výzkumu paměti. Oxfordská příručka paměti. (3)
- Ebbinghaus, Hermann. (1885). On Memory (H.A Ruger & C.E Bussenius, Trans.) New York: Dover, 1964.
- Endel Tulving. (1972). «Episodic and Semantic Memory» in Organization of memory, (381-403), Retrieved from http://alicekim.ca/EMSM72.pdf.
- Paivio, Allan. (1969). Mental Imagery in Associative Learning and Memory. Psychologická recenze 76, (241-263), Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/rev/76/3/241/.
- Carrier, Mark; Pashler Harold (Nov 1992).«The Influence of Retrieval on Retention». Memory and Cognition. 20 (6):-633 642.dvě:10.3758 / BF03202713.PMID1435266
Zdroje obrázků:
- https://pixabay.com/illustrations/remembering-recall-remember-memory-3169605/
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_visual_pathway.svg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blausen_0115_BrainStructures.png
How your brain tries to take the load off you. Why it does it. And how to “hack” it to become a better version of you. One of the most important insights into how your brain works is that your brain is constantly trying to make life easier for you through the process of automatic memory recall.
Automatic memory recall is your brain’s way of taking the load off your mind. But it has a dark side – it has no filter for right and wrong, positive and negative. So, it can automate negative thoughts, responses, habits etc.
In this third post in the #HowYourMindWorks series, we ask what is your brain’s automatic memory recall function and why your brain does it. Then we look into the unfortunate side-effects of automatic memory recall and discover how to utilise them to do amazing things in business and life.
WHAT IS YOUR BRAIN’S AUTOMATIC MEMORY RECALL?
Remember how your brain stores information? We said in earlier posts that your brain contains 100 billion amazing brain cells called neurons. And every new piece of information your brain receives gets stored in one of your 25 quadrillion potential connections between neurons, called neural pathways.
When you receive new information, the neural pathway is fresh and new – we call these lesser neural pathways. Like when a baby sees an apple for the first time, a new neural pathway is formed. But when you keep processing that information (the baby sees apples over and over), the neural pathway becomes stronger and better formed. We call these dominant neural pathways. And they’re the “information superhighways” your brain uses for automatic memory recall.
Note: The difference between lesser (new) and dominant neural pathways is important, because your brain sends another type of brain cell, called glial cells, to “deactivate” lesser neural pathways within 48 hours. That deactivation means the information gets harder to remember (recall). So, if you get a new piece of information and you don’t use it, your brain makes you “forget” it.
AUTOMATIC MEMORY RECALL AND UNCONSCIOUS COGNITION
Automatic memory recall is simply your brain organising information into dominant neural pathways, so it can retrieve the information as quickly as possible. And what’s super special about it, is that it makes the whole process automatic – it’s what we call unconscious cognition or unconscious decisions. It’s trying to help you by making things easier for you.
When you hear people talk about “muscle memory” – doing something over and over until it comes naturally – they’re actually talking about automatic memory recall. Only it’s not just for physical actions, your brain tries to do that with everything: your thoughts, actions, responses, behaviour etc. And the 2013 research by David Creswell et al of Carnegie Mellon in the USA showed that these unconscious are incredibly powerful forces in our decision-making.
PS: This is the same process that memory athletes use to memorise huge strings of numbers, code or the order of a deck of cards when they compete in memory sports. And what all those memory training programmes and techniques are trying to teach you to use.
WATCH: WORLD RECORD MEMORY – A DECK OF CARDS IN 13 SECONDS
You have to look in your mirrors, control the handbrake, use different pedals, look this way and that, listen to the instructor, watch out for other cars – and that’s apart from just learning to control the vehicle with the steering and gears etc. Super stressful. It actually filled your body with the stress hormone cortisol and adrenaline, which in the long run are extremely bad for your health.
So, your brain does you a favour. It starts storing all the information (the things you need to do to drive a car) in neural pathways. It builds dominant neural pathways over time, so that it can automatically recall them for you the next time.
And, today, you can drive home with your eyes closed. (That’s a figure of speech, don’t try it.) Driving a car is now practically an unconscious process for you. Automatic memory recall means your brain can let you drive a car without having to think (or stress) about it.
THE SECOND REASON: ENERGY CONSERVATION
The other reason your brain uses automatic memory recall is to conserve energy. Your brain is your “main” organ, and it uses about 20% of all the energy in your body. But, in case you haven’t noticed, basically, every other organ in your body is there simply to serve your brain.
No, seriously, think about it. Your eyes are there to help your brain see, your ears to let it hear. Your legs are there so your brain can move around and your hands so it can manipulate things in the world around it. In a way, your brain is “you”. But it needs all those other organs – your heart to pump the blood it needs, your stomach to break down the nutrients it needs – to stay alive, so your brain can’t be greedy. It needs to share the available energy in your body.
And, remember, our brains haven’t quite adapted to modern life yet. They still depend on a lot of paleomammalian functions, and they’re kind of still stuck in the “survival mode” of humankind’s hunter-gatherer days, when nutrients and energy were much scarcer than today.
So your brain follows one of the simplest rules of science: use the “path of least resistance”. A dominant neural pathway is easier to follow. It offers less resistance because it’s well-formed. So your brain creates dominant neural pathways and does away with lesser ones, so that it can conserve energy by not making you actively think about things. It uses automatic memory recall instead.
THE PROBLEM WITH AUTOMATIC MEMORY RECALL
Like we mentioned in our post on neural pathways, there’s a dark side to all of this amazing brain power: Your brain doesn’t distinguish between the potential positive and negative effects of the information in neural pathways.
Some of the information in your brain can be “negative”. Like when you run a race for the first time and lose. A pathway might form that says “I’m not good at running”. If you lose again or maybe just notice a friend or sibling is faster than you, it will reinforce that pathway and eventually, you’ll believe that you’re no good at running. And, because you want to avoid humiliation in the future, you start avoiding running. It could spiral out to the point where you completely avoid sports or activity. And then one day in the future when you’re a little overweight, you just can’t seem to get into an exercise routine, because automatic memory recall tells you “no, you’re no good at it and you don’t like it and you just can’t and shouldn’t even try”.
That’s dangerous stuff. Now, remember we said your brain does this with every piece of information it receives. So ask yourself, what parts of my daily behaviour are maybe controlled by the automatic memory recall of neural pathways I formed a long time ago.
Can you see how this can affect your entire life? Maybe somewhere along the way you started believing you’re not good with money. Or maybe that person who’s struggling at work is constantly fighting the auto recall in their head that telling them “you’re not good enough and you’ll never amount to anything in life”.
TRY THIS QUICK EXERCISE
Look around you at the office (at work), or at home or in your community. Look at someone who you think might be struggling with something. Maybe they’re struggling to keep up, always underperforming, always late, always under pressure and not really getting unstuck. Maybe it’s an entire team of people (or even everyone in your company).
Now ask yourself, is that really them struggling. Or is it just something in their automatic memory recall that’s holding them back?
At LifeXchange Solutions, we specialise in helping people and entire businesses overcome just that. Got a question? Contact us.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Aha, there’s a hidden superpower in your mind at work here. Did you spot it? If your automatic memory recall works by choosing the dominant neural pathway, can you change that pathway or maybe create a new one in its place? Yes. That’s the magic key. The principle of neuroplasticity says neural pathways can be changed and created. And doing it is called neural reprogramming. It’s how you can rewire your brain (or anyone around you’s) for success. See our proof you can rewire your brain.
And you can see it in action too. Our founder, Dr Cobus Oosthuizen is a master as neural programming (neurolinguistic programming or NLP), and he recently did something that millions of people around the world said was impossible.
WATCH: NEURAL REPROGRAMMING IN ACTION
And, for you personally, take a look at the amazing growth opportunities among the initiatives under our LifeXchange Community.
Save your bottom line: See the REAL reason why some employees are late.
Získejte plnou #HowYourMindWorks picture with the super-simple explanation of complex behaviour that took 10 years to create at our post on How Your Brain Works and your brain’s reticular activating system.
Did you know that “conscious businesses” perform 10x better on financial indexes than their peers? It’s because they focus on building relationships. See how to do it with conscious contracts.
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