Raymond Yu, Q4 Week 2 - Connections
Q4 Week 2 - Connections
By Raymond Yu
(Image depicting multicolored connections between pins)
Memories and language. Both of these would be worthless without connections. Both memory and language rely upon connections to function, without connections, both would be worthless. Memory needs connections for retrieval to function; language needs connections to have meaning. The need for connections, amusingly, connects these two subjects, along with a whole host of others.
Memory relies on connection to function. Retrieval is one of the most basic of memory's basic components, alongside encoding and storing. Retrieval is the process of recalling a memory from the neurons in which it is stored deep within the brain, and retrieval needs connections to properly activate. For information to be retrieved, the brain needs to make the proper connections between the current circumstances and memories related to it. Connection can also occur between two memories, to the point where remembering one memory triggers the retrieval of another. Both of these play a role in the creation of state-dependent memory, which is when information remembered in one context is most easily remembered when in the same context later on, shown by the greater ease of remembering a foreign language in the classroom that you studied it in. This is also displayed when it is easier to remember past periods of sadness when currently sad.
Language relies on connection to function. Language is, at its core, symbols (either verbal, mental, or physical) connected to meanings created by society. Language also has connections between words, connections reinforced by the concept of grammar. An example of the connections between words is the connection of the words jumping and jumped to the base word jump, which takes on different meanings itself (noun or verb) depending upon the context of the sentence to which it is connected. Language relies on the connection of many different words, whose connections influence each other's meanings until the entire sentence compounds into an idea greater than the sum of its individual words. Sentences compound into greater paragraphs, and paragraphs compound into an article which can have an entirely different meaning when taken as a whole. A sarcastic satire could seem innocent at the level of sentences, but those sentences combine to form a clever mockery.
The connection between language and memory also plays an important role in both. A great example would be utilizing mnemonics to assist in the memorizing of new words. To learn a word such as "pother" (meaning an extreme state of agitation), you could separate the word into parts: "pot" and "her." Then, by creating a story of a girl who ends up with a pot on her head after tripping due to agitated pacing, the word can be more easily remembered. Connections in memory and language are essential for each to function.
Article Sources:
https://wwnorton.com/college/psych/cognition5/ch/06/summary.aspx
Image Source:
https://blog.frontiersin.org/2020/02/25/new-specialty-on-social-networks-human-connections-in-the-digital-era/
Hi Raymond,
ReplyDeleteThe "story" technique you described actually helps a lot when figuring out how to solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded. In blind solving, you attribute each face of each piece to a letter, with "A" being the top left square of the top face. Then, you figure out a sequence of positions denoted by a sequence of letters that gives you the solution. Most of the time, the letters can look a little something like this:
FJAIMQLG
This can be kind of hard to remember. To combat this, speedcubers will create a story involving those letters. For example,
Fat Joe Ate IMitation Quail LinGuini
That's much harder to forget. Hopefully I can use this technique to one day do a complete blind solve of my own.
Sincerely,
Sean Wang
I don't think anyone remembers the definitions of words. Instead, we remember the connotation of the word under the emotional circumstances it is used. Sometimes when I write, I find myself pulling out words that I've never seen before. One recent example was my strange use of the word "couplets" when referring to racial oppression in America. Couplets by definition refers to pairs of objects or things, but I assumed that it had a connotation of "lacking," so I used it to say that African American literature scarcely provided an opportunity for its author's to explore the breadth of their imagination. This is also the primary reason why my wording is hit or miss. Sometimes it sounds good, and other times, it sounds like I stitched together thesaurus.com entries.
ReplyDeleteHey Raymond,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the connections you made with memory, function, and language, as this was a good refresher for the AP Psych exam we will be taking in approximately TWENTY days. Yay. On the topic of AP Exams, I am truly worried this year because I'm not sure how my memory will serve me. I would say I can have a decent memory, which taking three years of Mandarin definitely helped with. But also, I tend to focus on memorizing facts instead of understanding content, which has truly affected every one of my AP Bio test scores this year. I hope our memory can pull through for the exams that need it, for me and all of you who might be reading this.
Hi Raymond,
ReplyDeleteWhen you gave your example of using stories to remember new words rang a bell in me and helped me draw a connection. In the Rubik's cube solving community, as also use the same technique of using words to remember how to solve blindfolded. Essentially, how it works is that a letter is assigned to each edge of the cube, and we memorize which piece to swap with the "buffer piece." For example, after a memorization, my edge solving could be something like:
J I S F G D U Q K V N V H R
With a scramble like this, I would memorize a phrase like Jay IS FallinG Down Under QuiKly VayNe Van Has Rum. With two sentences, I can very easily now remember the combination of letters and solve my cube blindfolded (that is, if I don't make any mistakes in my execution). I hope you found this tidbit of knowledge interesting.
Yi-Kuan C.
Hey Raymond, I completely agree; the human experience is very heavily rooted in connections, connections in memory and language probably being the most prominent. I love how you included the example of how you can remember the meaning of "pother;" I know that strategy definitely helps you out on Spanish tests lol. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Raymond,
ReplyDeleteNever have I seen a piece of writing use the word "connection" as much as you have! All jokes aside though, I found your blog post very fascinating. I think that the connection between language and memory goes deeper than just the ability to create mnemonics to remember concepts. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that without language, our memory would be severely hindered. Language provides the human mind with the ability to tangibly understand abstract concepts, such as macroeconomics, which one cannot see or perceive in the natural world. Thus, it can allow memories to not just replay sensory detail, but be analyzed further and described. This opinion isn't mine alone, and if you would like to read further into this field, I would recommend reading this article: https://mcgovern.mit.edu/2019/05/02/ask-the-brain-can-we-think-without-language/
Sincerely,
Krish
Hi Raymond,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you explained the connection between language and memory. When I was reading through your blog post, I almost thought that you were referencing an article online that magically matched perfectly to our theme for this blogging quarter. Anyhow, your blog was very insightful and took the meaning of our theme very literally. I believe language connects to memory because memory is a language of itself. It isn't necessarily a few words or a movie in our head. It is something completely different and entirely new. It resets each time we think of it and changes each time.
Hi Raymond,
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to see how connections like the ones you described can help with memorization. Hopefully this can help me on the day I have 3 AP Exams (which i am really panicking about), as I have a ton of equations to remember for Ap Physics C.
Sincerely,
Vivan Waghela
Hi Ray!
ReplyDeleteI really lied the way you tied memory into language. I think this is the first blog post that has followed the prompt so well and I think that was really cool for you to do. It makes sense that memory plays a huge role in language. If you think about it, language would not exist without memory. There are so many words, sounds, and rules to language for us to remember. But at the same time, memory would not exist without language to some extent, as language shapes the world around us. It's super interesting to consider these connections, thank you for sharing:)