The Mystery of Memory

Summary

The sciences of memory are not very old, they appeared about a century ago. There are two types of memory: short-term and long-term. Short-term memory lasts just for few seconds and most of it is lost. However, the bits of short-term memory that we remember gets transferred into long-term memory. Moreover, there is another type of memory called "working memory". It appears in remembering processes and it consists of declarative memory and procedural memory (or just remembering "how"). The latter one is more stable than the declarative memory. In fact, even people who have Alzheimer's disease can use the procedural memory properly. They remember how to ride a bike even if they cannot remember what the bike is. 

Recognition and recall are other memory distinctions. It is always easier to recognize people when you see them, than trying to recall someone's face from your memory. For example, if somebody shows someone a bunch of objects at the same time, it is difficult for him or her to remember what they have seen. In fact, it is complicated for an average person to recall more than 15 objects. However, if somebody shows the same person objects or pictures one after another, weeks later there is a possibility that he or she will recognize 10 000 or even more pictures or objects correctly. Finally, everyone of us has photographic memory. This memory is snapshot - like fragments, usually from our childhood, that are associated with tastes, smells or colors. Children below the age of 8 usually use photographic memory and as we get older, most of us lose the ability to use it. 

A human brain contains approximately 100 billion nerve cells and each of these nerve cells is capable of making up to 100 000 connections with the neighbors. It is though that a new memory is made when a new pattern of connections is created. This is where the memory is stored. When a person tries to remember the name of someone, he or she usually tries to think of the place where they have met, the clothes that the person was wearing or other features. These features that we try to remember are access points to different regions of the brain, where the memory of the missing name is stored. 

Overall, is it still uncertain for neuroscientists how different regions of the brain and the processes of it are bonded together that gives us comprehensible experiences. 

References:

http://s1.favim.com/orig/19/anatomy-brain-fernndo-vicente-luxury-neck-Favim.com-200280.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

http://s1.favim.com/orig/20/camera-drawing-memory-Favim.com-203842.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

http://s3.favim.com/orig/40/bike-cute-girl-lights-pretty-Favim.com-336298.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

Psychology of luck

In our daily living we can see psychology almost everywhere. Psychology is very important part of everyone's life. And today I would like to talk about psychology of luck. Lucky people meet their perfect matches, find great, well paid job, achieve their lifelong plans and ambitions, they just live happy and meaningful lives. But why some people are so lucky while others complain and blame bad luck for their failure?

I found an answer to this question in one of professor Richard Wiseman research. His work reveal that people are not born lucky, they become lucky by using four basic principles to create good fortune in their lives. This means that everyone is responsible for his or her own luck. And now about those four principles.

Principle One: Maximise Chance Opportunities.
Lucky people are very creative, they notice and take every chance and opportunity that appears. They are relaxed and open to new experiences. They are not afraid of changes, because they are prepare for them.
Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches.
Lucky people make decisions by listening to their intuition and good feelings. The important part is that they make effective decisions this way. Also lucky people are trying to do something, as example meditate, to make their intuitive abilities better.
Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune.
Lucky people are ensured that in the future they are gonna succeed and these expectations help lucky people even then when they are failed. Because in that case they will not give up, they will try again, and again, and again, because they know they are gonna succeed in the future in any case. This also leads to a positive interactions with others.
Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good.

Lucky people use various psychological techniques when they fail. For example, they imagine how things could have been much worse. Also lucky people always take control of the situation.

To sum up as I have mentioned before everyone is responsible for his or her own luck. And these four principles of life and way of thinking could help to achieve your luck. Success is not due to working especially hard or being very talented and intelligent instead it is just capability to appear in the right place at the right time and with the right thoughts. Everything begins in human minds, then minds lead to actions, actions lead to habits, habits shape our character and finally, our character determines our destiny. So it is up to us if we will be lucky or not.

References:

http://www.richardwiseman.com/research/moreluck.html (looked at 2012.03.08)

http://s2.favim.com/orig/37/car-city-hipster-indie-luck-Favim.com-302443.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

http://favim.com/orig/201105/25/bokeh-clover-cute-four-good-good-luck-Favim.com-54750.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)