This video presented several stories about the brain and
memory function. The most compelling of
these stories was the one of John. John
suffered brain damage and was not able to remember anything new. Based
on some readings about human memories, one may be convinced that neural
pathways were present but he could not access them. He was forced to make external associations
to navigate daily life. In one aspect, he
was the embodiment of James’ thoughts on the power of associations and their
role in learning and retaining what we learn.
John was able to function through his “wits” and visual cues that helped
him recall some memories.
Thoughts sparked by John include the possibility that there
are two types of memories. One is a
basic memory allowing for simple life functions. All humans may possess this type and can
access it until death. It is what makes
us baseline human. The other is a higher
more cognitively based memory that informs the learned mind. All humans may possess the ability to access
this type also. However this memory is what
makes us individuals. Its access to all
of our associations allows for association, assimilation, and learning.
I, Seth, am watching this video and will comment on it.
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DeleteHey Shawn,
ReplyDeleteI was surprised John was able to function as well as he did. Of course, if we were to look closer, like the neurologist did with a picture recall test, I think we would see that he is not necessarily "whole" when it comes to his ability to make decisions.
You connected this to Piaget's assimilation and to James' associations, but I am curious as to which one you feel could tell us more about John? My gut reaction says that Piaget's theory of cognitive development might be more insightful here since it seems like John was stuck in the pre-operational stage and never fully developed his memory. John's story seems eerily similar to the young kids in this same video who were not able to remember where the lion was in the drawer thus showing a clear lack of autobiographical memory functions. Perhaps this is what was happening with John.