The Paula Gordon Show |
Memories | |||
Memory is vast, resists
aging and gets better with experience, says Dr. Barry Gordon, who studies
memory and brain disorders including autism. So why can’t you remember
where you put your car keys? |
Conversation 1 Dr. Barry Gordon tells Paula Gordon and Bill Russell that the parts of the human brain that control thinking, reasoning and perception, throughout life are profoundly modifiable --“plastic.” He explains how behavior shapes brains. |
Conversation 2 Humans and other primates seem designed to learn, says Dr. Gordon, who describes at least two different ways we do so. He distinguishes “procedural” memory from memory based on “associations.” He describes how both work and how they differ, then relates today’s exciting developments in brain studies to humanity’s apparent course over eons. He gives examples of good science challenging its fondest beliefs and demonstrates the importance of everyone having similarly productive errors in everyday life. |
Conversation 3 Science is formalized common sense and truth is provisional, says Dr. Gordon, relating a general need for appropriate skepticism to his scientific work on human memory. He distinguishes the inconvenience of forgetting where the car keys are to the generally far more important associational memory. Associational memory -- “intelligent memory” -- he reports, resists aging, gets better through experience, and can be “tuned up.” How? Add any kind of new experience and this memory begins to built and be enhanced. “Invest in your mind” turns out, he says, to in fact be an excellent strategy for expanding “intelligent” memory. He celebrates the great differences between individuals. |
Conversation 4 Recalling that our ancestors’ lives were also challenging, Dr. Gordon speaks to what is optimal for us right now. Sleep matters, he says, then connects rest, attention and learning. “Multi-tasking,” Dr. Gordon explains, has very high costs. He expands with examples, including the dangers of drivers with cellphones: It’s not the phones, he reports, it’s the TALKING that makes it dangerous -- attention itself is the critical factor. We are all of everything we experience, Dr. Gordon says and amplifies. |
Conversation 5 Dr. Gordon compares our ancestors’ need to remember approximately and associationally to today’s need for accuracy. Our memory is constantly being remodeled, he says, and explains the limitations of memory. An important lesson, he urges, is that even though you are confident of something, it may not be true! He urges people to “edit” out bad connections in memories and wrong modes of thinking. He gives examples of how advertising and others can secretly establish connections, urges caution, and encourages people to experience a wide range of ideas, experiences and perspectives. |
Conversation 6 Distinguishing between immediate working memory and longer term permanent memory, Dr. Gordon notes that we build up the two simultaneously and use them in combination. He describes how useful the working memory “bottleneck” is between our senses and permanent memory, both of which have enormous capacity. He describes how propaganda works in the brain and adds a cautionary tale about the dangers of multi-tasking. |
Acknowledgements Our thanks to Dr. Gordon for his spirited response to the needs of those with autism in the face of its realities. We are delighted by his enthusiasm for his work which offers the rest of us a chance to remember what is important. We also thank Dr. Thomas Insel. |
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