Dr. Doolittle's Takes Working Memory

Memory just seems like another system of sensation and perception, just that what is perceived is saved forever. We sense everything in our sensory memory, but our sensory memory is fleeting and limited. What we actually perceive, we rehearse and it becomes part of our long term memory that we can retrieve later on. Before it gets to the long term memory, though, it is still in short term memory--or your working memory. The working memory is the more evolved term for the short term memory. The working memory is more dynamic than the static short term memory. Your working memory temporarily stores information and manipulates it. It is active and dynamic. When you see something, it goes into your working memory and you can evoke long term memories that will make you notice some things and not others. It basically ties together all of your memories so you can make connections. So, that's all very nice. Lovely definitions. So I found a Ted video in which Peter Doolittle, an educational psychologist, talks about the importance and limitations of your working memory.

Dr. Dootlittle (lol) talks about a guy who couldn't text and talk at the same time and approaches it from a working memory perspective. He describes the working memory as having four parts. It can store immediate experiences and knowledge, it allows us pull back long term memories, it helps us process our goals, and processes and manipulates our memories. Our working memory capacity can have effects on us. People with a high working memory capacity are known to be good story tellers, do well on standardized tests, have high level writing abilities, and can reason at high levels. Then, Peter asks the audience to perform a few tests to play with their working memories. He tells them to remember 5 words: tree, highway, mirror, saturn, and electrode. He then asks them what 23x8 is. He asks them to count on their left hand and recite the last 5 letters of the english alphabet backward. He then asks the audience how many words they remember. Only about half of the people raised their hands.

Dr. Doolittle says that our working memory allows us to make sense of the world around us, but it has limitations. It has limited capacity and limited duration. We can only remember things for about 4 things for about 10-20 seconds unless we do something with that information. We can apply it to something or even just talk to someone about it.

He says that we need to process what's going on the moment it happens. We need to practice, apply, and talk to others about new information. We need to think elaborately. We need to make connections with information and use imagery when thinking. We need to structure what we're doing in ways it makes sense. We also need to support information over time as it changes. His take home message is that what we process, we learn and if we're not processing life, we're not living it.

Eh. Seems a bit fluffy to me--like obviously if we're not processing life then we're not perceiving and then we're really just not taking in everything around us. That's basically like being in a coma. I think his point was more to just show the people how our memory works and some ways to improve your working memory. It was just a bit short for a crash course on memory.

Anyway, what do you guys think about his message? Did it inspire you? Personally I found it a bit weak for a Ted talk. The the video is posted below--take a look if you want.