Is memory like a recording or a video?

We tend to think of memory as a kind of library that holds a record of events and facts the can be retrieved as needed.  But this is not an accurate description of memory at all. Memory reinvents itself all the time. Every time you remember something, you change it a little bit. The reason for this is that your memory is always a mixture of many factors influencing the past event - images, words, feelings, facts, fiction – and so the way you feel today as you recall that past event may be different than the way you felt yesterday about it. Those different feelings or images will change the way you encode the memory. Memory really is a re-collection, not an exact replica of an event.

www.Scientific American.com . Speaking of Memory: Q & A with Neuroscientist Eric Kandel. Retrieved 04/17/2013.

Information Overload: Do You Wonder Why Your Brain Feels Like it’s About to Burst?

Consciousness can be seen as sort of a sensory organ that takes the brunt of the collection of smells, tastes, lights, colors, noises, and other information that enters the brain through our senses. We register about 13 million bits of information every second.  Or stated another way, which is 34 gigabytes of information or the equivalent of 100,000 words daily (which is about ¼ of Tolstoy’s War and Peace). Your short term or working memory can handle no more than seven items at a time.

So memory becomes a process of filtering as well as remembering. If we don’t do a good job of filtering, we run into trouble. You need to know what to pay attention to and cue your brain to do just that. Reduce the amount of information you are taking in by focusing on the task at hand, not several things.

TMI can be disastrous to learning academic information. Think about it – but not while you have your ear buds in your ears, your eyes glued to the latest game on the screen, and your text material up on your computer.

Adapted from:  http://psychologytoday.com/blog/shut-and-listen/201301. Information Overload.

How does stress affect learning?

A little stress heightens your alertness and improves performance on complex tasks. However, as your stress exceeds a certain level, it starts to erode performance. This applies to both students and athletes and explains why it is important to learn to deal with high levels of stress.

How does stress do this?

Stress hormones influence your neural connections in the front of your brain, just behind your forehead, where your ability to reason, plan, problem-solve, regulate emotions and pay attention are located. These functions are important for academic success. How much stress is present will determine how well you function as a thinker.

Blair, C. (September/October 2012). Treating a toxin to learning. Scientific American Mind, 64-67.

The Student Success Centre is open during Spring/Summer 2013, and ready to help students reach their academic goals! A range of workshops and individual appointments are available for graduate and undergraduate students. Visit us at 2-300 SUB or check out our website at www.ualberta.ca/studentsuccess to find out what we're offering.