Memory – Harmonia Philosophica

Aging…

Zachariah Reagh, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis found that brain activity in older adults isn’t necessarily quieter when it comes to memory. “It’s just different,” he said.

What he found out is that while a 20-year-old notes all details in a movie, an older viewer might be paying more attention to the broader picture – What kind of room are the characters in? Have the characters transitioned from a formal dinner setting to a more relaxed, after-dinner location? Did a loud, tense conversation resolve into a friendly one? “[…] older adults […] may be shifting away from the more detailed contextual information,” Reagh said. “[…] things might become more schematic. More ‘gist-like.'”, he added. (1)

Same picture.

Different perspectives.

So simple.

So hard to understand.

So obvious.

So difficult to accept.

Would you trust your younger self?

Will you trust you when you get old?

Could you both be wrong?

Could one of them be right?

Does it matter?

The movie has started.

And regardless of what you understand or not.

One thing is for sure.

You wanted so bad to go to the movies…

Come, dad.

Give me some pop-corn…

Here, kid.

The movie has not started yet.

And yet I feel like…

I understood it all.

Remembering…

A study published in Science Advances found that certain types of materials have a “memory” of how they were processed, stored, and manipulated. Researchers were then able to use this memory to control how a material ages and to encode specific properties that allow it to perform new functions. This creative approach for designing materials was the result of a collaboration between Penn’s Andrea Liu and Sidney R. Nagel, Nidhi Pashine, and Daniel Hexner from the University of Chicago. (1)

A material which remembers its past.

But can it be another way?

A human who recollects his beginning.

But could he forget it?

A universe which is constantly guided by its first moment.

Could it follow any other path?

The sword is drawn now.

Death is here.

But the sword remembers that it was in the earth once.

And it will go back there.

Seeding life.

Spreading death…

Secret brain waves… Memory…

Photo by **Ludvig Hedenborg** from **Pexels**

Making a specific type of brain pattern last longer improves short-term memory in rats, a new study finds.

Published online by the journal Science on June 14, the study addressed “working memory,” the temporary activation of brain cells that happens as we tour a new neighborhood, for instance, and remember our way around later that day.

Led by researchers at NYU School of Medicine, the new study finds that signals created by brain cells (neurons) — called sharp wave ripples — are longer by tens of milliseconds and capture more information when an animal is learning about a new place than when in a familiar setting.

When the research team artificially doubled the length of the signals involved in memory recall of the best route through a maze, rats with extended ripples were found to be 10-15 percent better at finding a sugary reward than rats without the manipulation. (1)

Waves.

Making memories last.

In a fluid cosmos.

The past is not carved in stone.

But on water.

The sea is calm now.

But watch closely and you will notice…

There is blood in the water.

Tears.

Laughter.

Hope.

Despair.

Throw a stone in. And everything will go away…

Wait. And the cosmos will explode.

Tears. Laughter. Hope. Despair.

Besides a perfectly calm lake, lingering in the air…

Memory. Doing better next time…

Photo by **Francesco Ungaro** from **Pexels**

We may not be able to change recent events in our lives, but how well we remember them plays a key role in how our brains model what’s happening in the present and predict what is likely to occur in the future, finds new research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

“Memory isn’t for trying to remember”, said Jeff Zacks, professor of psychology and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and an author of the study. “It’s for doing better the next time”. (1)

Obsessed with “doing something”.

But we don’t need to.

Stay under the tree.

Smell the forest.

There is nothing to do.

There is nothing to remember.

You are already doing everything.

By doing nothing.

You are already remembering everything.

Because there is nothing to remember.

Existing. Being.

Wise butterfly.

You will be dead soon…

Cutting off from the world.

Photo by **Tobias Bjørkli** from **Pexels**

Everyday experience makes it obvious – sometimes frustratingly so – that our working memory capacity is limited. We can only keep so many things consciously in mind at once. The results of a new study may explain why: They suggest that the “coupling”, or synchrony, of brain waves among three key regions breaks down in specific ways when visual working memory load becomes too much to handle.

“When you reach capacity, there is a loss of feedback coupling”, said senior author Earl Miller, Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. That loss of synchrony means the regions can no longer communicate with each other to sustain working memory.

Maximum working memory capacity – for instance the total number of images a person can hold in working memory at the same time – varies by individual but averages about four, Miller said. Researchers have correlated working memory capacity with intelligence. (1)

The more we listen, the more we get closer to stop hearing.

The more we see, the more we get closer to stop seeing.

The more we know the more we get close to knowing nothing.

The more we understand, the more we see there is nothing to understand.

The more we try to reach God, the further away we are drawn by Him.

The more I write the more…

Well.

I will just stop here.

If you are here, you know why.

And you will never need to come back again…