http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/memory/
This is a web site with a test on memory for research at Edinburgh University in the UK. I thought it might show me more clearly what sort of strategies I used for remembering things, because I seem to have such a bad memory, even for important things.
It is online, and looks at spatial manipulation, working memory capacity, delayed recall, visual memory, visual memory capacity, binding and digit span.
I discovered that if I am able to rehearse things verbally I did much better – even with the digit span I added ‘chunking’ as the amount of numbers grew and was much more successful. Visual memory was much more difficult for me, and although I understand some people can picture in their minds a whole image, I don’t seem to be able to do that, and I am not sure if there are strategies available to help me improve that skill.
I would be interested to know how many in our class have the same difficulty with visual memory, because we are all studying art/design type subjects and the other visual imagery examples. I wonder if this ability has any impact on our visual skills
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In Dissociation, Cognitive Failures, and Working Memory, Daniel Wright explores the Working Memory model and its relationship to interferences such as dissociation and personality disorders. Their research suggests that inhibitory processes may be the source of trying to take in too much information to handle. Basically, because we sometimes don't put a filter on what we're experiencing and thinking about, we often have lapses in memory, even when it comes to important things. It's about learning to filter and selectively experience and learn. This is the way to a better memory.
While I used to put great importance on memory (I was really into trying to lucid dream and remember my dreams along with my daily activities), I now think about experience vs memory. I watched a TED talk with Daniel Kahneman about this and other cognitive traps relating to happiness. Daniel Kahneman is a psychologist interested in its relation to economics in which he won a Noble Prize in Economics for his research into behavioral economics. He uses an example of a friend who while at a great concert experienced a screeching noise that made his memory of the event horrible, but the actual experience before this was amazing. This points to the dichotomy of experiencing self and the remembering self (the storyteller). He tells about an old study about two patients experiencing pain (recorded by the patient) and how much pain they think they experience. Although patient B experienced more pain objectively, patient A thought he experienced. They found out that the end of the experience affects how good or bad the memory will be remembered.
When looking at my own practice as a photographer, I find that the experience of making an image whether setting it up or finding it in the world is the most important part. The object (print) is trying to get the photograph to transmute to the viewer what you experienced or felt.
Link to video:
http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory.html
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