“The true art of memory is the art of attention.”

1. “The true art of memory is the art of attention.” - Samuel Johnson

2. Can you remember something you probably see every day? Describe the front of a penny…

3. Lincoln • facing to the right • “Liberty” • “In God We Trust” • the year it was minted

4. Memory factoids • The hippocampus (“seahorse”-shaped) brain area is probably the brain’s “switchboard” – injuries to it cause you to lose your ability to acquire new memories • Hand gestures can help us retrieve elusive words from their memories • There is a biological intersection of music and memory in your brain that links music – not other sound – to short and long-term memory • Humans seem to remember even from in utero – especially their mother’s voice • Females generally have better memories for all kinds of details

5. WHY DO WE FORGET???

6. People remember:20% 0f what they hear75% of what they see90% of what they do

7. “I hear and I forget,I see and I remember,I do and I understand.”old Chinese proverb

8. Memory “fades”:the DECAY THEORTY

9. Use it or lose it

11. All forest animals, to this very day, remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard Bambi’s mother had been shot.

12. “Flashbulb” Memories • The intensity freezes the memory • They are not always solid – President Bush said he’d seen the 1st plane hit the World Trade Center on 9-11, but actually nobody saw that on live TV; he was speaking from shock • Personal life experiences that seem to transform our brains into virtual cameras: • Defensive arousal (car crash, armed robbery) • Threat to self-esteem or social position (pants fell down, fired from a job) • Related to sex and reproduction (your first kiss)

13. Memory is “lost” or “misplaced”:the RETRIEVAL THEORY

14. When you can’t remember where (or if!!) you “filed” the information

15. The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon • What do you call trees that shed leaves? • What makes blood red? h-------- • What’s the 2nd stomach in a bird? g------- • A stone with crystals inside? g---- • Best actor this year? D--------

16. Memory gets “changed”:the RECONSTRUCTIONTHEORY

17. Information is made more symmetrical or is coached • Smythe  Smith •  Y • Did your Mommy lose you at the mall? • Eyewitness testimony

18. Read: read, pages, letters, school, study, reading, stories, sheets, cover, pen, pencil, magazine, paper, words

19. Read this one: house, pencil, apple, shoe, book, flag, rock, train, ocean, hill, music, water, glass, school Which of these words were on the 1st slide?

20. read, pages, letters, school, study, reading, stories, sheets, cover, pen, pencil, magazine, paper, words house, pencil, apple, shoe, book, flag, rock, train, ocean, hill, music, water, glass, school

21. Memory is “hidden”:the PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY

22. Information can be repressed and unavailable

23. Parapaxis – noun. “beyond” + “act”slip of the tongueA Freudian slip is like saying one thing, but meaning your mother (oops)

24. Memory is shoved out:the INTERFERENCE THEORY

25. Old information interferes with getting the new; new interferes with holding onto the old old facts  NEW facts 

26. Information gets crowded ou

27. 15 items

28. KQZ NLR XOJ BTK YSW

29. Got it?

30. KQZ

31. KQZ YSW

32. KQZ NLR XOJ BTK YSW

33. Try these 15…

34. BLTCBS SOS FYI NFL

35. Got it?

36. BLTCBS SOS FYI NFL

37. It’s going to get easier…

38. WIN SIT LIESAW NOT

39. Were there only15?!

40. WIN SIT LIESAW NOT

41. Try these 15…

42. WAS THE CARRUN OFF

43. Were there only15?!

44. WAS THE CARRUN OFF?

45. 15 letters making one sentence!

46. Memorize these 15 digits! In order!!149162536496481

47. A hint:149162536496481

48. Find the pattern & you can add 9 more to make 24 digits:149162536496481100121144

49. A big color hint:149162536496481100121144

50. A gigantic visual hint: 1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 81 100 121 144