Memory in cognitive psychology

[Teacher]

Analogies, associations, metaphors
Human memory and computer memory ... Why are we trying to draw some kind of analogy between such seemingly incompatible things? Let's try to remember our childhood, or the childhood of our child, when the cubes appeared in front of him. You will say that this is a completely inappropriate comparison: a child with his blocks and psychological problems, but let's not rush ...

Very small, the baby sits, examines objects new to him, goes over, turning in all directions. He likes their bright color, shape, he feels them, rejoices, but still does nothing with them.

Now he has matured a little and takes the cube he likes most, carries it, while making sounds similar to the roar of a car, the kid associates his cube with a real vehicle.

Even later, the cubes “become” a moving long composition, or they turn into a house, a palace. In fact, the child is playing with blocks, but imagines, associates them with something real.

A child, and indeed a person in general, is characterized by associations, analogies, metaphors - thanks to this, it is easier for him to explain or remember something. Who among us has not used associations when memorizing?

A brief excursion into the history of psychology
And now let's go a little deeper into the history of the development of psychology. And here we will see that earlier analogies were drawn between the processes occurring in the human brain and various devices, and, naturally, in the age of computerization, a computer was taken as an analogue.

And earlier, for example, Z. Freud had before him an analogue - electrical processes, IP Pavlov represented the work of the brain as a switchboard in a telephone exchange, in AA Ukhtomsky, the analogue of the brain was a radio wave receiver, and PI Zinchenko has already determined the dependence of the amount of memory on the amount of information per character.

What does this mean? That in each historical period, psychology was looking for the most modern ways to study the processes occurring in the human brain. The development of engineering sciences, as it were, "pushed" psychologists towards modern comparisons and analogies. It is clear that such a comparison is used no more than a metaphor, and in no case as an identification.

Computer metaphor in cognitive psychology
Why is cognitive psychology, which has adopted the analogy of how the brain works with the design and operation of a computer, so different from other technical analogies?

There was, in a way, mutual penetration: specialists engaged in the development of computer technology, artificial intelligence created such a computer metaphor that brought them to the ideas of modern psychology about the system of human subjective experience, about the ways of representing and storing knowledge in this system.

This metaphor, as it were, served as the source of the emergence of the computer metaphor in cognitive psychology. Where did this definition of "computer metaphor" come from? Most likely, the “computer metaphor” appeared at a time when a new science was created - cybernetics, whose “father” was Norbert Wiener and, perhaps, he can be credited with the authorship of this definition.

The cognitive metaphor does not deny psychological theory, but facilitates its explanation in constructive terms. A huge number of different sciences can be entered into this metaphor. Within such a metaphor, apart from psychology, many technical problems can be solved.

Thanks to the development of cognitive psychology and the implementation of the ideas of a computer metaphor in life, it was possible to study human memory quite well. Research into memory is a big victory for cognitive psychology, because it is thanks to it that we have been able to learn much more about memory over the past few years than in all previous history.

Cognitive psychology is the psychology of cognition, and it studies such processes as: receiving information by a person, understanding a person about this information, storing it in memory and transforming it into knowledge, the influence of this knowledge on human behavior.

Clarification of terminology
Comparing human memory with computer memory, we consider a certain part of the memory subsystem, together with its controllers, allocation and distribution mechanisms, which in modern computer systems are distributed between various components - hardware and software. Those. they include not only silicon chips with storage cells directly, but also the operating system, and even part of the code that runs on the side of running applications.

Since we are adopting a computer metaphor, then, obviously, we must accept the appropriate terminology for describing memory processes. At the same time, we clearly understand that computer metaphor is not a substitute for psychological theory. It just gives us the opportunity to operate with constructive concepts.

In cognitive psychology, memory is considered as one of the aspects of the general process of information processing in humans. The most important problem facing psychologists is to find out how the information received by a person from episodic memory is converted into basic knowledge.

A fundamental problem in cognitive psychology
In 1973, Anderson and Bauer formulated the most fundamental problem facing cognitive psychology:

• how to theoretically represent the knowledge that a person has,
• what are elementary symbols or concepts, and how they are connected, docked with each other, how larger structures of knowledge are built from them,
• how such an extensive “card index” is accessed, how it is searched, and how it is used to address common issues of daily life.

Cognitive psychology, solving the problems facing it, increasingly strengthens its position, and makes it possible to remove many of the problems of the psychology of memory.

Studies of the structural organization of memory
There are a great many models of information processing, perhaps, as many scientists have dealt with this problem, as many models have been proposed by them. But one thing they have in common is block diagrams, and each of their blocks performs strictly defined functions. (We act with blocks like a grown-up toddler with blocks, who gives each block its own functional purpose).

From input to output, information in these models passes through various functional blocks, the connections between these blocks indicate the path of this information.

Obviously, at present, a computer metaphor for studying the structural organization of memory is the most appropriate. Various scholars imagined memory in their own way, it could be either a library, or a workshop or storage.

Blocks of RAM and external memory of a computing device always remain the main ones. For example, according to U. Nyser, sensory information is processed in peripheral types of memory, then it enters verbal short-term memory, where preliminary processing and storage of information about current events occurs, then after detailed and sequential processing of information, long -term memorization occurs, relatively large amounts of information for a sufficient long time.

Integration of cognitive, emotional and regulation-volitional processes
If we consider the mental structure of a person more scrupulously, then perhaps we should talk about the mutual integration of cognitive, emotional and regulatory-volitional processes.

The inclusion of memory in the internal composition of cognitive, emotional and regulatory-volitional processes can be considered traditionally, when memory is presented as an integral link of cognitive processes, and some questions can be asked why memory is attributed only to cognitive processes that are part of the integral structure of intelligence.

The generally accepted classification of memory suggests that these processes go beyond the structure and patterns of only cognitive processes. Memory is divided into figurative, verbal-logical, emotional and motor.

Figurative and verbal-logical types of memory belong to the sphere of cognitive processes at different levels of their organization, from sensory to conceptual-thinking, and here we can safely speak of cognitive processes.

And emotional and motor memory can be attributed to emotional and regulatory-volitional processes. Those. here we can talk about the inclusion of mnemonic processes in the general set of cognitive, emotional and regulatory-volitional processes.

In all definitions, memory is the preservation and subsequent reproduction by a person of his experience, which is undoubtedly fundamental, not excluding the processes of memorization, preservation, reproduction and forgetting. The concept of experience includes not only cognitive experience, but also emotional-volitional experience.

Memory as an information process
It is not necessary to specifically substantiate the fact that memory is a property not only of biological systems, because there is such an undoubted reality as machine memory. Note that the modern theory of machine memory has advanced in some respects much further than modern neurophysiological and psychological theories of memory.

And it is the modern concept of memory as an information process, as a result of which information is transmitted through a time channel, that makes it possible to apply the main provisions of modern information theory to the analysis of human memory processes.

It is important to note that not only the part of information theory that dealt with quantitative measures of information, but also the structure of information itself, for example, its encoding and decoding, has made invaluable use in the study of memory processes.

Now we can say that the extension of the basic principles of information theory to all levels and types of memory processes, including their psychological level, is not only possible, but also justified, perhaps much more than the need to extend the general principles of the information approach to other mental processes.

When receiving sensory information (stimuli), we focus our attention on that (stimulus) that is most important to us, and transfer it to memory. In this case, a kind of coding of the information received occurs, since the seen stimulus is not stored in the form of an exact copy, but is converted into a certain sequence of some signs. The more complex the stimulus, the more complex and varied the possibilities of its coding, the need to focus on all the characteristics and properties associated with it.

Since, in our opinion, memory is a mental process of transmitting information through a time channel, then the application and further use of the general principles of information theory requires further development of the theory of all forms of memory, including psychological.

Is it enough to use only the general principles of organizing information processes to reveal the specifics of memory as a mental phenomenon? But the definition of memory as the imprinting, storage and reproduction of past experience with some insignificant changes is applicable to any form of memory, including machine memory.

It is especially important that the general principles of the organization of machine memory and human memory make it possible to reveal the specific differences between them. And at the same time, it seems to equalize different levels of memory with each other, as if, excluding the specificity of memory as a mental process.

For example, the reproduction of secondary images from memory is not just a process, but the dynamics of transferring them from the general code level of storage to real psychological existence. And the reproduced secondary images, like the primary images, contain the original spatio-temporal components, including the function of working memory, without which the mental image is completely impossible.

It seems that such representations as secondary images should be considered within the framework of not only cognitive processes, but also emotional and regulatory-volitional ones. In the structure of cognitive processes they occupy an intermediate position between the neck and the thinking levels cognitive processes.

What is the place of memory in the integral system of cognitive processes that form the intelligence system, in particular, the connection between memory and thinking as the highest level of intelligence?

The modern psychological level of memory processes
The total function of memory, which we are considering, refers to the interaction of various components of experience, which is carried out at the modern psychological level of memory processes, and not at the level of long-term storage of its static codes.

First of all, we mean short-term and operational mental memory, or the inclusion of memory processes in the very dynamics of thought processes, and its function as an integrator of individual components of the thought process into its integral structures and their totality and as an integrator of various cognitive processes into an integral system of intelligence.

 

[Father]

? 6 methods to train your mind, memory and observation

You don't have to take questionable self-help courses to develop your memory. There are simple and effective mnemonic techniques for developing memory, observation, logic and imagination that can be performed in between.

1. Robert Houdin's method

A place for training: street showcases, supermarket shelves.

Robert Houdin is the famous French magician and idol of Harry Houdini. In his youth, he trained his observation daily. Passing the store, Robert cast a hasty glance at the window, turned away and after a few steps tried to remember exactly each product: color, size, shape. With each passing day, this exercise succeeded more and more quickly. He soon became so proficient that he could describe the contents of the counters on the run.

2. The method of London pickpockets

A place to train: Anywhere, the classic is Portobello Road.

In London and Parisian street gangs of the 19th century, there were entire schools where experienced robbers passed the secrets of their craft to the young. An old thief like Fagin from Oliver Twist was holding some petty trick in his palm — two buttons, fivepence, a wedding ring. The professor showed this to the boys for a few seconds, asked them to quickly describe each item, then discreetly removed one of the things - and it was necessary to immediately name what was missing.

3. Gianni Rodari's method

A place to train: imagination.

In The Grammar of Fantasy, Gianni Rodari explains how to develop your imagination and learn how to make up stories. One exercise is to come up with hilarious hypotheses. “What would happen if the buttons of Sicily were torn off and lost? What would happen if a crocodile knocked on your door and asked to lend him some rosemary? " Another task is to add unexpected prefixes to words, to create and imagine vice dogs, locks and micro-hippos. And also: play burime, compose limericks, compose stories from newspaper clippings.

4. Aivazovsky's method

A place for training: a view from the window, from the balcony or from the roof.

Many artists have excellent visual memory. It can be developed by considering the view outside the window or passengers in the subway. Fix your gaze on a person or thing for a few seconds. Try to remember the object in detail, then close your eyes and imagine it. Look at the subject again, refresh the image, and continue with the exercise. You can make sketches of the faces and figures of passers-by, memorize pictures in the museum. Or practice with matches: throw 4-6 matches on the table and remember how they were laid down. The number of matches must be increased over and over again.

5. Method of Italian boys

Place for training: queues.

William Atkinson writes that he saw this picture in Chicago: Italian newspapermen, standing at the door of the printing house, waiting for a fresh issue, playing Morra. One shows the other his fist and shouts "Morra!" unclenches a few fingers. The second player quickly names the number of outstretched fingers, and if he hesitates or makes a mistake, he gets hit on the head with a bundle of newspapers. Morra is like Rock-Paper-Scissors. This simple game must still be played by the boys in the Neapolitan courtyards.

6. Cicero's method

Place for training: own room.

Walk around the room, examine and memorize every corner, starting with the door. Of course, this space is already familiar to you. Now mentally place what you need to remember in different parts of the room. These can be German verbs, talk pillars, or friends' birthdays. If it is difficult, write down what you need on pieces of paper, hang it on the walls and again carefully inspect the room. It should work! The method of spatial associations is attributed to either Cicero or Simonides. The first used it in preparation for speeches, the second applied the same line of thought under very sad circumstances. Simonides was a guest at a symposium. Suddenly, the roof collapsed on the feasting. Only Simonides got out alive from the rubble. Then he helped relatives identify the deceased, remembering who was sitting where.