All's well that ends well...

Memory is a very interesting thing. Check out my recent blog: Memory is Fiction by Jonah Lehrer.

Add that to a recent TED video I watched on the Experiencing self and the Remembering self and there is lots to think about.

The experiencing self may have had a horrible experience (say, a long painful operation) but if the operation ended with little pain, the remembering self will give the operation much better marks than someone who had a shorter, much less painful operation but one that ended on high pain.
How does that affect the classroom, or the sermon/worship experience or the regular meeting you have to attend? Seems that it is very important to pay attention to how things end.

Brain friendly tips...

Check out my other blog for some short, brain friendly tips...

The eyes have it...

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) has some interesting posts.

This one by tom Wujec is how our eyes help our brain make meaning. 6 minutes short. Current.

What is it about illustrations and graphics that helps creates meaning? Check out what Tom says about that, and how it informs working as a team.

More on Creature, Creator

Recently posted on Creature/Creator - a post from Jonah Lehrer's blog. Posting once again from his blog, this time on "clocks and clouds" - about our ability to really understand the world around us. There are pieces of our world that we are getting to understand fairly well (understandable as clocks - ordered and understandable) but so much more that is beyond our abilities, perception, understanding (things as unordered and unpredictable as clouds). Helpful to keep a good perspective on the two: Here's what we know - for now.

I enjoyed his description of how, in the mid-90's, Marcus Raichle discovered the default network in the brain by following what everybody else thought was a dead end.

Memory is Fiction

So much is happening in brain research these days... some very interesting parts of that are around memory.
Charlie Rose has a fascinating series on the brain. One recently dealt with The Aging Brain. They talked about two memory systems: Declarative memory (memory for people, places and objects) and Non-Declarative memory (memory for things we do automatically like driving a car, brushing our teeth, etc). Turns out the non-declarative memory system ages quite well. But the Declarative system is prone to gradual, age related loss and the more rapid loss of Alzheimer's Disease.

Jonah Lehrer recently posted a blog (if you are interested in the brain, I'd encourage you to follow this young man's blog) on Memory as Fiction. Very interesting. I had seen in other places as well this thinking that memory is not what we thought it was - data stored away in a safe vault for later retrieval - but rather it is restored each time as if it was new, and therefore prone to damage and/or reduction over time. Jonah says it much better than I can. Check it out.

I'd love to hear more about how/if memories like scripture and hymns stick long term. I've heard great first-hand stories about how, in times of crisis, people have been blessed by the scripture and hymns they learned (memorized) early on. It had stayed with them to be a comfort and help. First, you can't recall something that doesn't get in to the memory system. And are there things we can do in the memorizing that help it stick? I think likely music (hymn words) is one key.