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[FINAL ESSAY] Is forgetting a memory problem?

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[FINAL ESSAY] Is forgetting a memory problem?

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My grandmother used to say: “My memory doesn't work... I forget everything!”. She never complained about her attention, motricity or intelligence, storage capacity was always her complain´s target. She did not have a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer (she had a life active and productive with no main problems) but, as most people, she understood the lapses as serious remembrance problems. However, important findings in the field of cognitive neuroscience may contradict my grandmother. Maybe the forgetfulness belong to memory system and has an import role to the short and long term memory, as to autobiographical memory. In this way, forgetting is as important as remembering.

All information present in consciousness is allocated in a temporary repository called short term memory. This storage is very limited. According a classic psychological experiment managed by George Miller (MILLER, 1956), the number of the items an average human can hold in short term memory is seven plus or minus two.  The items can be words, pictures, letters, numbers, it doesn´t matter: this kind of memory can´t save many things. If the temporary storage is full, new information can not be processed and, like the computer RAM memory, the process become slow and fail completely. So, it is impossible keep in mind much information and the repository needs to be emptied to enable another information entry. To sustain the information in the consciousness it is necessary, in this way, dismiss irrelevant informations. In other words, forget secondary details is required to validate main ideias.

Beyond the temporary repository, the information can be consolidated and stored for longs periods of time in a long term memory. Even though in this system the data can be remembered for days, months, years or even decades, not all information is always available. In fact, the biggest part of the memories is easily forgotten over time. Almost all long term memory is erased over and this means that this kind of memory is not permanent. This forgetting process is essential to organize and promote the main memories, like the computer ROM memory. Clinic cases of patients who never forgot nothing (a syndrome called hypermnesia) show this perfectly. Solomon Shereshevsky was the most famous of this cases. Described by A. R. Luria (LURIA, 1986), Shereshevsky never forgot anything and was able to recall a speech word by word twenty years after, for example. But his prodigious ability lead to several problems: he was unable to block unwanted memories, he could not recognizing faces because they looked different from the past and the he could not understand abstracts concepts or generalizations. The inability to forget lead to an inability to remember properly. So, also in a long term ways, forgetting improve memory.

Furthermore, we are what we remember and also what we forget. Personal identity is formed by autobiographical memory. But not all facts and events of live contribute positively to self-esteem and well-being. So, the researchers have found that this kind of memory has a positivity bias: “the tendency (...) to recall more pleasant memories than either neutral or unpleasant other” (ANDERSON, 2009, p. 266). In fact, negative events were not recalled as much as positive events and this effect improve the well-being. Curiously, the positivity effect is increasing over the lifespan. Forget bad and neutral memories makes the good memories strong and stronger good memories help us to cross the course of human life.

As essential as to remember is to forget. Short term memory is limited, so it is necessary forget insignificant data. Long-term memory is not permanent, so only strong information remains. The positivity effect change our memory, so it is good for self-esteem keep the good memories. Thus, if you have lapses and this lapses do not affect deeply your life, do not worry about it as my grandmother worried. Do you want remember? So forget it.

REFERENCES

ANDERSON, M. C. Mottivated Forgetting. In: Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M. W., & Anderson, M. C. (2009). Memory. East Sussex.

LURIA, Aleksandr Romanovich. The mind of a mnemonist: A little book about a vast memory. Harvard University Press, 1968.

Miller, G. A. "The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review. 63 (2): 81–97, 1956

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Important Things (to learn at High School) [Complete]

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Important Things (to learn at High School) [Complete]

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In High School, the schedule covers math, physics, art, language and others school subjects. But what are the most important things that students should learn to prepare them for the future? The psychologist B. F. Skinner, who contributed greatly to Education, has a famous quote: "Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten.” Maybe, most important that the knowledge of subjects is that some skills and abilities need to be developed to prepare to future.

To prepare students in high school for the future, it is necessary to foster the acquisition of skills and abilities with learning how to learn. First of all, learning how to learn is useful for the entire  lifetime. We are learning always , not only on  school time, but also after and out of school time. It´s important to know  how. In addition, to undestand  how to learn by oneself  dismis  the teacher´s presence. After all, the teacher is not  available all the time! And, finally, to learn  to grasp how to learn customize the learnig. People learn better in many wayeswrittins: writing , talking, drawing , acting... Then, the student  can find his  best way for learning. Thus, to think about how to learn transforms the students into  better students.

Besides the self-knowlegde about learning, the development of social skill also prepare to academic and professional settings. After all, learning is generally a social experience.  We are almost always learning with other person or from other person. In addition, social skills is as important as knoledge to academic and professional sucess. It is not enough to be an intelligent person,  it is necessary to know how to deal with the other persons.  Intelligent people can get a job, but people without good social skills can´t keep their jobs. Also, working together is very common at school and at work.  No matter how much we try, nobody can escape the interaction with other people. So, the social interaction is present in entire academic and professional lifetime and so it is important to be prepared for it.

Moreover, cognitive abilities can predicts the future academic and professional performance. Not only learning how to learn and social skills are important, specific cognitive abilities need to be developed.  To study and to work demands attention, for example. The lack of attention may cause learning desability or work accidents in may areas. Likewise, the base for discipline (needed to hard study and work) are the executive funtions. Planning, Inhibitory control and Flexibility are executive functions and all these abilities are requested by discipline. Develop memory also is important because a good memory is equivalent to a good learning. Some authors, by the way, deem memory means synonymous to learning. Thus, attention, executive functions and memory (as well other cognitive abilities) can explain the performance at school and at work.

No doubt, learn the subjects of High School is very important, but as important is to develop skills and abilities that can prepare the adolescents to the future. Improve cognitive abilities, social skill and learning how to learn provide the students to discipline, working together, learn by oneself and similar behaviors that will afect the entire life. Even if all the subjects of High School have been forgotten, the skills and abilities learned will survives. And these things is the Education.

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Important Things (to learn at High School) [Outline]

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Important Things (to learn at High School) [Outline]

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What are the three most important subjects that students should study in high school to prepare them for the future? Why?

I. Topic Setence: To prepare for the future, it is necessary to foster que acquisition of skills and abilities associeated with learng how to learn
A) Suporting point
Learning how to learn by oneslef is useful for entire lifetime
Suporting detail:
Always we are learning; it is important know how.

B) Supporting Point:
Learn how to learn dissmiss the teacher´s presence
Supponting detail:
The teacher is not avaliable all the time.

C) Supporting Point:
Learn how to learn customize the learning
Supporting detail:
The student can find his/her best way for learning.

Concluding setence:
Learn to learn become the students in best students.

II. Topic Setence: The development of social skilll prepare to academic and professional settings.
A) Suporting point
Learning is a social experience.
Supporting detail:  We are almost always kearning with other person or to other person

B) Supporting Point:
Social skills is as important as knoledge to acadamic and professional sucess.
orting detail: People without good social skills can´t keep their jobs.

C) Supporting Point:
Working together is very common at school and at work
Supporting detail: Nobody can escape the interaction with other people

Concluding setence:
The social interaction is present in entire academic and professional lifetime and so it is important to be prepared for it.

III. Topic Setence:
Cognitive abilities predicts the future academic and professional performance.

A) Suporting point
To study and to work demands attention in many areas.
Supporting detail: The lack of attention may cause learning desability or work accidents.

B) Supporting Point:
Executive functions are the base for discipline.
Supporting detail: Planning, Inhibitory control anda flexibility (requested by discipline) are executive functions.

C) Supporting Point:
A good memory is equivalent to a good learning.
Supporting detail: Some authors deem memory means synonymous to learning.

Concluding sentence: Attention, executive functions and memory (as well other cognitive abilities) can explain the performance at school and at work)

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Learning How to Learn (First paragraph second draft)

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Learning How to Learn (First paragraph second draft)

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To prepare students in high school for the future, it is necessary to foster the acquisition of skills and abilities with learning how to learn. First of all, learning how to learn is useful for the entire  lifetime. We are learning always , not only on  school time, but also after and out of school time. It´s important to know  how. In addition, to undestand  how to learn by oneself  dismis  the teacher´s presence. After all, the teacher is not  available all the time! And, finally, to learn  to grasp how to learn customize the learnig. People learn better in many wayeswrittins: writing , talking, drawing , acting... Then, the student  can find his  best way for learning. Thus, to think aboout how to learn transforms the students into  better students.

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Open in Word to read my comments =)

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Learning How to Learn (First paragraph, first draft)

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Learning How to Learn (First paragraph, first draft)

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To prepare students in high school for the future, it is necessary to foster the acquisition of skills and abilities associate with learning how to learn. First of all, learning how to learn is useful for entire lifetime. Always we are learning, not only in school time, but also after and out of school time. It´s important know how. In addition, learn how to learn by oneself dissmis the teacher´s presence. After all, the teacher isn´t avaliable all the time! And, lastely, learn how to learn customize the learnig. People learn better in many ways: writting, talking, drawning, acting... Then, the studend can find your best way for learning. Thus, learn how to learn become the students a better students.

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Open in Word to read my comments =)

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Open in Word to read my comments =)

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1 - There are many kinds of memories
Memory can be classified by duration (long-term, short-term) or by matter (episodic, semantic, procedural). These memories have different behaviors.

2 - The short-term memory is limited
The span of the short-term memory is, on average, seven items (plus or minus two). The items can be words, pictures, letters, numbers, it doesn´t matter: the short-term memory can´t save many things.

3 - The long-term memory is not dependent of the short-term memory
In contrast to the conventional thinking, you can perfectly store temporarily information and some time later don´t recall it. Or else, you can´t store the information at a time, but later it may come. In other words, there are two independent memory systems which operate in parallel, not in sequence.

4 - We have most of our memory erased
Not all short-term memory are stored and almost all long-term memory is erased over. And it´s fine.

5- We have false memories (a lot of them!)
Many episodes of our lives didn´t happen as we remember. Memory is influenced by actual sensations and emotions, by other memories and by the interaction with other people. Memory is constantly changing and there is no way of separating the wheat from the chaff.

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Hello there!
My name is Leandro Kruszielski. I was born in Curitiba and have lived in this city ever since. I graduated in Psychology at UFPR and earned my Master Degree and PhD at Education in UFPR too. Nowadays I am Psychology of Education professor at UFPR.

I´m married and have two daughters, they are six years old.  Yes, they are twins. I love my job and my family.

I like outdoors activities as cycling and running. This has made me happy lately.

Except for school time, I had never studied English formally. I´m excitted about the opportunity!

Regards,