Spontaneous and sudden recollection is called. Why do long-forgotten images pop up in my head suddenly and for no reason?

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Introduction
1.General concepts and its features

1.1 The essence of the concept of “memory”
1.2 Types of memory
1.3 Memory processes

2. Laws of memory

2.1 Zeigarnik effect
2.2 Edge effect and reminiscence effect
2.3 Ways to develop memory

Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction

Memory is the ability to reproduce past experiences, one of the main properties of the nervous system, expressed in the ability to store information for a long time and repeatedly enter it into the sphere of consciousness and behavior. The processes of memorization, preservation and reproduction are distinguished, including recognition, recollection, and recollection itself. There are voluntary and involuntary memory, direct and indirect, short-term and long-term. Special types of memory: motor (memory-habit), emotional or affective (memory of “feelings”), figurative and verbal-logical. The impressions that a person receives about the world around him leave a certain trace, are stored, consolidated, and, if necessary and possible, reproduced. These processes are called memory.

Memory can be defined as the ability to receive, store and reproduce life experiences. Various instincts, congenital and acquired mechanisms of behavior are nothing more than imprinted, inherited or acquired experience in the process of individual life. Thanks to his memory and its improvement, man stood out from the animal kingdom and reached the heights at which he is now. And further progress of humanity without constant improvement of this function is unthinkable.

The purpose of the work is to consider the laws of memory and methods of its development. Work objectives to consider:

1. General concepts and its features;

2. The essence of the concept of “memory”, types and processes of memory;

3. Laws of memory;

4. Ways to develop memory.

1. General concepts and its features

1.1 The essence of the concept of “memory”

Memory is a form of mental reflection that consists in consolidating, preserving and subsequently reproducing past experience, making it possible to reuse it in activity or return to the sphere of consciousness. Memory connects a subject’s past with his present and future and is the most important cognitive function underlying development and learning.

Memory is the basis of mental activity. Without it, it is impossible to understand the basics of the formation of behavior, thinking, consciousness, and subconsciousness. Therefore, to better understand a person, it is necessary to know as much as possible about our memory.

Images of objects or processes of real reality that we previously perceived and now mentally reproduce are called representations. Memory representations are divided into single and general. Memory representations are a reproduction, more or less accurate, of objects or phenomena that once affected our senses. The idea of imagination is the idea of objects and phenomena that we have never perceived in such combinations or in this form. Such ideas are a product of our imagination. Representations of the imagination are also based on past perceptions, but these latter serve only as material from which we create new ideas and images with the help of the imagination.

Memory is based on associations or connections. Objects or phenomena that are connected in reality are also connected in human memory. Having encountered one of these objects, we can, by association, remember another one associated with it. To remember something means to connect the memorization with what is already known, to form an association. From a physiological point of view, an association is a temporary neural connection. There are two types of associations: simple and complex. Three types of associations are considered simple: by contiguity, by similarity and by contrast.

Associations by contiguity combine two phenomena related in time or space. Associations by similarity connect two phenomena that have similar features: when one is mentioned, the other is remembered. Associations rely on the similarity of neural connections that are evoked in our brain by two objects. Associations by contrast connect two opposite phenomena. This is facilitated by the fact that in practical activity these opposite objects (organization and laxity, responsibility and irresponsibility, health and illness, sociability and isolation, etc.) are usually juxtaposed and compared, which leads to the formation of corresponding neural connections. In addition to these types, there are complex associations - semantic ones. They connect two phenomena that in reality are constantly connected: part and whole, genus and species, cause and effect. These associations are the basis of our knowledge.

It is generally accepted that the formation of connections between different ideas is determined not by what the memorized material itself is, but primarily by what the subject does with it. That is, the activity of the individual is the main factor determining (determining) the formation of all mental processes, including memory processes.

1.2 Types of memory

I want to memorize a poem and read it out loud verse by verse, and then repeat it several times. It is imprinted in my memory. Now I try to give myself an account of how the verse was learned, and call up in my mind those phrases that I read, one after another. Each of the successive readings appears before my mental gaze in its own individual peculiarity; I see it again along with all the circumstances that accompanied it and within the framework of which it still remains included; it differs from all previous and all subsequent readings by the very place it occupies in time; in a word, each of these readings again passes before me as a definite event in my history. And here again they say that these images are my memories, that they are imprinted in my memory. In both of these cases the same words are used. Do they, however, designate the same thing? The knowledge of the poem, which I have memorized by heart, has all the signs of habit. Like habit, it is acquired through repetition of the same effort. Like a habit, it required first dismemberment, then restoration of integral action. Finally, like any habitual exercise of my body, it is included in a mechanism that is completely set in motion under the influence of the initial push, in a closed system of automatic movements that always follow each other in the same order and always take the same time.

On the contrary, the recall of any particular reading, for example, the second or third, does not have any of the signs of habit. His image, obviously, was imprinted in memory immediately, because other readings, by their very definition, are memories different from him. This is like an event in my life; For him, a certain date is essential, and therefore the impossibility of repetition. Everything that later readings added to it could only be a change in its original nature; and if my effort to recall this image becomes easier the more often I repeat it, then the image itself, considered in itself, is, of course, from the very beginning such as it will remain forever.

Perhaps it will be said that these two types of memory - recall of a separate reading and knowledge of a lesson - differ from each other only quantitatively, that successive images that arise during each reading are superimposed on each other, and that a learned lesson is simply a composite image that is the result of such an imposition. It is indisputable that each of the successive readings differs from the previous one, among other things, in that the lesson turns out to be better learned. There is no doubt, however, that each of them, considered precisely as a new reading, and not as a lesson learned better and better, is absolutely self-sufficient, remains in the form in which it was once realized, and forms, together with all the accompanying circumstances, an irreducible moment in my history. One can even go further and say that consciousness reveals a deep difference, a difference in essence, between these two types of memory. The recollection of such and such reading is a representation and only a representation; it is given by the intuition of my spirit, which I can lengthen or shorten at will; I arbitrarily assign one duration or another to it; nothing prevents me from grasping it immediately, as one takes in a picture with one glance. On the contrary, remembering a learned lesson, even when I limit myself to repeating it to myself, requires a very specific amount of time, namely exactly as much time as is needed to perform, at least mentally, one after another, all those movements that are necessary for pronouncing corresponding words; therefore, it is no longer a representation, it is an action. And in fact, a lesson, after you have once learned it, no longer bears any mark on it that betrays its origin and allows you to attribute it to the past; it belongs to my present in the same sense as, for example, the habitual ability to walk or write; it is rather lived out, “done,” rather than represented; - I could have taken it for an innate ability if, along with it, a number of those successive representations-readings through which I assimilated it had not arisen in my memory. But these ideas are independent of the lesson, and since they preceded its assimilation and reproduction, the lesson, once learned, could also do without them.

Of these two memories, one of which imagines and the other repeats, the latter can replace the former and often even create an illusion of it. When a dog greets its owner with a joyful bark and caresses him, he, without a doubt, recognizes him; but such recognition hardly presupposes the emergence of a past image and the rapprochement of this image with current perception. Does it not, rather, simply consist in the fact that the animal is aware of a number of those special positions that its body occupies, and the habit of which it has developed under the influence of close relations with the owner, so that at the moment they are purely mechanically caused in it by itself? the owner's perception? Let's be careful not to go too far down this path! Even in an animal, vague images of the past perhaps emerge from current perception; it is even conceivable that an animal’s entire past is potentially imprinted on its consciousness; but this past cannot interest the animal so much as to separate itself from the present, which chains it to itself, and therefore acts of recognition must rather be experienced by it than thought. To evoke the past in the form of an image, one must have the ability to be distracted from the present action, one must be able to attach value to the useless, one must have the will to dream. It is possible that only one person is capable of this kind of effort. But we, people, ascending in this way to the past, find it always eluding, as if fleeing from our gaze, as if this regressive memory meets resistance in another memory, more natural, which, moving forward, draws us to action and to life.

When psychologists talk about memories as an established habit, as an impression that is embedded deeper and deeper in us through repetition, they forget that the vast majority of our memories relate to such events and details of our life, the essence of which includes the possession of a certain date, and, hence the inability to ever reproduce. Memories acquired deliberately through repetition are rare, exceptional. On the contrary, our memory registers facts and images that are unique in their kind, continuously, at all moments of our life. But we rather notice those memories that we consciously assimilate, because they are the ones that are most useful to us. And since the assimilation of these memories by repetition of the same effort is similar to the process of acquiring a habit already known to us, we naturally discover a tendency to bring memories of this kind to the fore, to consider them as a model of all memories, i.e. to see in spontaneous recollection the same phenomenon in its infancy, as if beginning a lesson that has to be learned by heart. But how can one fail to notice that there is a fundamental difference between that which must be created through repetition and that which by its very essence cannot be repeated? Spontaneous recollection is immediately completely complete; time cannot add anything to this image without distorting its very nature; he remembers his place and his date. On the contrary, the memory we have learned goes beyond the power of time as the lesson is learned better and better; it becomes more and more impersonal, more and more alien to our past life. So, repetition cannot at all result in the transformation of the first memory into a second; its role is simply to use more and more fully those movements in which the memory of the first kind continues, to organize them into one whole and thus build a mechanism, to create a new bodily habit. But such a habit is a memory only insofar as I remember how I acquired it; and I remember this only insofar as I turn to my spontaneous memory, which dates events and enters each of them into its list only once. Thus, of the two types of memory that we have just distinguished, the first is, so to speak, memory par excellence. Memory of the second kind - the one that psychologists usually study - is rather a habit consecrated by memory than memory itself.

Let us show how, when learning something, both memories go hand in hand, providing each other with mutual support. Everyday experience shows that lessons memorized using motor memory are repeated automatically; but from the observation of pathological cases it is clear that automatism extends here much further than we usually think. It has been noticed that mentally ill people sometimes give reasonable answers to a number of questions, the meaning of which they do not understand; Their tongue functions like a reflex. People with aphasia, who are unable to voluntarily pronounce a single word, accurately remember the words of a melody when they sing it. They are also able to fluently say a prayer, a series of numbers, list the days of the week or the names of the months.

Thus, mechanisms that are extremely complex and subtle enough to produce the illusion of intelligence can, once they are built, function by themselves, and, therefore, usually obey only an initial impulse from our will.

In the words of one of them, the basis of this state was the representation of the whole, a kind of all-encompassing complex idea, between the individual parts of which there was a sense of unity inexpressible in words." This spontaneous memory, which undoubtedly hides behind the acquired memory, can be revealed if it is suddenly a ray of light falls; but it escapes at the slightest attempt to grasp it through deliberate recollection. The disappearance of a series of letters, the image of which the observer seemed to retain in memory, occurs when the observer begins to repeat the letters: “this effort, as it were, pushes out the rest of the image. beyond the limits of consciousness."

Now analyze the techniques that mnemonics recommends to the imagination, and you will find that the task of this art is precisely to highlight fading spontaneous memory and place it, like active memory, at our disposal; to achieve this, it is necessary first of all to suppress all powerless attempts at working or motor memory. The faculty of mental photography, says one writer, belongs rather to the subconscious than to the conscious; she hardly obeys the calls of the will. To exercise it, we must develop habits such as, for example, the ability to immediately retain various combinations of points in memory, without even thinking about reading them: it is necessary to a certain extent to imitate the instantaneousness of this memory if we want to subjugate it to ourselves. And yet she remains capricious in her manifestations; and since the memories that it brings with it bear the stamp of dreams, any systematic intervention by it in our spiritual life rarely occurs without a deep disturbance of mental balance.

Summarizing the previous, we will say that the past, as we foresaw, can apparently accumulate in two extreme forms: on the one hand, in the form of motor mechanisms that utilize it, on the other hand, in the form of individual images-memories that sketch all events, preserving their own outlines, their own colors, their place in time. The first of these two memories is actually oriented in accordance with the requirements of our nature; the second, left to its own devices, would rather choose the opposite direction. The first, acquired through conscious effort, remains dependent on our will; the second, completely spontaneous, reveals the same capriciousness in reproduction as fidelity in preserving images.

The only true and reliable service which the second memory renders to the first is that the first can better make its choice in the light of the images supplied by the second - images which preceded or followed a state of affairs similar to the present: in This is the association of ideas. This is the only case when retrospective memory is correctly subordinated to repeating memory. In all other cases, we prefer to build a mechanism that allows us to re-draw the image as necessary, because we feel very well that we cannot count on its spontaneous appearance. These are the two extreme forms of memory, if we consider each of them in its pure form.

Let us note right away: the true nature of memory has not yet been recognized only because researchers usually take its intermediate and to a certain extent impure forms. Instead of first separating these two elements - image-memory and movement - and then looking for that series of operations by means of which they manage, having lost something of their original purity, to merge with each other - instead of all this they consider only a mixed phenomenon arising as a result of their accretion. Being mixed, this phenomenon on one side represents a motor habit, on the other side an image more or less consciously localized...

Let's look at the main types of memory. Involuntary memory (information is remembered by itself without special memorization, but in the course of performing an activity, in the course of working on information). Strongly developed in childhood, weakens in adults. Voluntary memory (information is remembered purposefully, using special techniques). The efficiency of random memory depends on:

From the purposes of memorization (how firmly, for how long a person wants to remember). If the goal is to learn in order to pass an exam, then soon after the exam a lot will be forgotten; if the goal is to learn for a long time, for future professional activity, then little information is forgotten.

From learning techniques. Learning techniques:

· mechanical verbatim repetition - mechanical memory works, a lot of effort and time are spent, and the results are low. Rote memory is memory based on repeating material without understanding it;

· logical retelling, which includes: logical comprehension of the material, systematization, highlighting the main logical components of information, retelling in your own words - logical memory (semantic) works - a type of memory based on the establishment of semantic connections in the memorized material. The efficiency of logical memory is 20 times higher than that of mechanical memory;

· figurative memorization techniques (translation of information into images, graphs, diagrams, pictures) - figurative memory works. Figurative memory is of different types: visual, auditory, motor-motor, gustatory, tactile, olfactory, emotional;

· mnemonic memorization techniques (special techniques to facilitate memorization).

There are also short-term memory, long-term memory, operational memory, and intermediate memory. Any information first enters short-term memory, which ensures that information presented once is remembered for a short time (5-7 minutes), after which the information can be completely forgotten or transferred to long-term memory, but subject to repetition of information 1-2 times. Short-term memory (SM) is limited in volume; with a single presentation, an average of 7 + 2 fits into the SM. This is the magic formula for human memory, i.e. on average, a person can remember from 5 to 9 words, numbers, figures, figures, pictures, pieces of information from one time.

Long-term memory ensures long-term storage of information: there are two types: 1) DP with conscious access (i.e. a person can voluntarily retrieve and remember the necessary information); 2) DP is closed (a person in natural conditions does not have access to it, but only through hypnosis, when irritating parts of the brain, can he gain access to it and update in all details images, experiences, pictures of a person’s entire life).

Working memory is a type of memory that manifests itself during the performance of a certain activity, serving this activity by storing information coming from both the CP and the DP necessary to perform the current activity.

Intermediate memory - ensures the retention of information for several hours, accumulates information during the day, and the time of night sleep is allocated by the body to clear intermediate memory and categorize information accumulated over the past day, transferring it to long-term memory. At the end of sleep, intermediate memory is again ready to receive new information. In a person who sleeps less than three hours a day, intermediate memory does not have time to be cleared, as a result, the performance of mental and computational operations is disrupted, attention and short-term memory decrease, and errors appear in speech and actions.

Involuntary and voluntary memory, however, represent two successive stages of memory development.

Long-term memory- a memory subsystem that provides long-term (hours, years, sometimes decades) retention of knowledge, as well as the preservation of skills and abilities and is characterized by a huge object of stored information. The main mechanism of information. The main mechanism for entering data into long-term memory and fixing it is usually considered repetition, which is carried out at the level of short-term memory. However, purely mechanical repetition does not lead to stable long-term memorization. In addition, repetition serves as a necessary condition for fixing data in long-term memory only in the case of verbal or easily verbalized information. Of decisive importance is the meaningful interpretation of new material, the establishment of connections between it and what is already known to the subject.

Unlike long-term memory, which is characterized by long-term retention of material after repeated repetition and reproduction, short term memory characterized by very brief storage after a single very short perception and immediate reproduction.

The central role in short-term retention of data is played by the processes of internal naming and active repetition of material, usually occurring in the form of hidden pronunciation. There are two types of repetition. In the first case, it is relatively mechanical in nature and does not lead to any noticeable transformations of the material. This type of repetition allows you to retain information at the level of short-term memory, although it is not sufficient to transfer it to long-term memory. Long-term memorization becomes possible only with the second type of repetition, accompanied by the inclusion of retained material in a system of associative connections. Unlike long-term memory, short-term memory can store only a very limited amount of information - no more than 7+2 units of material.

RAM they call memorizing some information given for the time necessary to perform an operation, a separate act of activity. For example, in the process of obtaining a result, it is necessary to retain actions in memory until an intermediate operation, which may later be forgotten. The last circumstance is very important - it is irrational to remember used information that has lost its meaning - after all, the operational memory must be filled with new information necessary for current activities.

1.3 Memory processes

Memorization. The activity of memory begins with memorization, i.e. from the consolidation of those images and impressions that arise in consciousness under the influence of objects and phenomena of reality in the process of sensation and perception. Thus, memorization can be defined as a memory process, as a result of which new things are consolidated by associating them with previously acquired ones. The success of memorization is determined primarily by the possibility of incorporating new material into a system of meaningful connections. Depending on the place of memorization processes in the structure of activity, a distinction is made between voluntary and involuntary memorization. In the case of involuntary memorization, a person does not set himself the task of remembering this or that material. Memory-bound processes perform operations here that serve other activities. As a result, memorization is relatively spontaneous in nature and is carried out without special volitional efforts, preliminary selection of material and the conscious use of any mnemonic techniques. At the same time, the dependence of memorization on the goals and motives of activity remains in this case. Voluntary memorization is a special action, the specific task of which - to remember accurately, for the longest possible period of time, for the purpose of subsequent reproduction or simply recognition - determines the choice of methods and means of memorization, and thereby affects its results.

Preservation- this is the retention of what has been learned in memory, i.e. maintaining traces and connections in the brain. There are active and passive conservation. In the first case, the retained material undergoes internal transformations, from simple cyclic repetition to the inclusion of new semantic connections in systems, which sharply increases the likelihood of its subsequent reproduction; in the second case, such active transformations cannot be detected.

Forgetting- disappearance, loss of memory, i.e. the process of extinction, elimination, “erasing” of traces, inhibition of connections. Forgetting was first studied by G. Ebbinghaus (1885), who experimentally established the time dependence of the retention of meaningless verbal material in memory. Subsequent studies showed that the rate of forgetting depends on: the volume of memorized material, on awareness, on the similarity of the memorized and interfering material, on the degree of significance of the memorized material and its involvement in the subject’s activities, etc. The inability to remember any material does not mean that it is completely forgotten: the specific form of the material is forgotten, but its meaningful content for the subject undergoes qualitative changes and is included in the subject’s experience. The forms of manifestation of memory are extremely diverse. This is explained by the fact that memory serves all types of diverse human activities.

The type classification of memory is based on three main criteria: 1) the object of memorization, i.e. what is remembered are objects and phenomena, thoughts, movements, feelings. Accordingly, there are such types of memory as figurative, verbal-logical, motor and emotional; 2) the degree of volitional regulation of memory. From this point of view, a distinction is made between voluntary and involuntary memory; 3) duration of storage in memory. In this case, we mean short-term, long-term and operational memory.

Figurative memory- this is a memory for ideas, for pictures of nature and life, as well as for sounds, smells, tastes. It can be visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory. If visual and auditory memory are usually well developed and play a leading role in the life orientation of all normal people, then tactile, olfactory and gustatory memory in a certain sense can be called professional types: like the corresponding sensations, these types of memory develop especially intensively in connection with specific conditions activities

Contents verbal-logical memory are our thoughts. Thoughts do not exist without language, which is why memory for them is called not just logical, but verbally - logical. In verbal-logical memory, the main role belongs to the second signaling system. This type of memory is a specifically human type, in contrast to motor, emotional and figurative, which in their simplest forms are also characteristic of animals. Based on the development of other types of memory, verbal-logical memory becomes leading in relation to them, and the development of all other types of memory depends on its development. It plays a leading role in the assimilation of knowledge during the learning process.

Motor memory this is the memorization, preservation and reproduction of various movements and their systems. The great importance of this type of memory is that it serves as the basis for the formation of various practical and work skills, just like the skills of walking, writing, etc. Without memory for movements, we would have to learn each time to first carry out certain actions. Depending on the purpose of the activity, memory is divided into involuntary and voluntary.

Memorization and reproduction, in which there is no special goal to remember or remember something, is called involuntary memory. In cases where we set such a goal, we talk about voluntary memory. In the latter case, the processes of memorization and reproduction act as special, mnemonic actions

2. Laws of memory

2.1 Zeigarnik effect

It is as follows. If people are given a series of tasks and allowed to complete some of them, while others are interrupted unfinished, then it turns out that subsequently the subjects are almost twice as likely to remember unfinished tasks than those completed at the time of interruption. This is explained by the fact that when receiving a task, the subject has a need to complete it, which intensifies in the process of completing the task. This need is fully realized when the task is completed, and remains unsatisfied if it is not completed. Due to the connection between motivation and memory, the former influences the selectivity of memory, retaining traces of unfinished tasks in it. We can conclude: a person involuntarily retains in his memory and first of all (also involuntarily) reproduces what meets his most pressing, but not yet fully satisfied needs.

In his research, A.A. Smirnov (a supporter of activity theory) found that actions are remembered better than thoughts, and among actions, in turn, those associated with overcoming obstacles, including these obstacles themselves, are more firmly remembered.

Ebbinghaus wanted to reveal the laws of memory in their pure form (without thinking). It was difficult to do this, since we always comprehend everything that we remember. Then he came up with the famous nonsense syllables.

So his contribution:

1) Developed methods for experimental memory research;

2) He proposed specific quantitative indicators for assessing memory.

He assessed memory efficiency by the number of repetitions required to learn his nonsense syllables (for example, a series of 15 nonsense syllables).

He conducted similar experiments on himself for several years. The results were presented in the work “On Memory”.

3) Discovered the basic laws of memory, including:

- the law of forgetting. (memory capacity is limited (7±2). Ebbinghaus curve.

- discovered that semantic memorization is more effective than mechanical memorization.

- what is best remembered is what is divided in time;

- law of edge - extreme elements are best remembered.

The significance of G. Ebbinghaus in general:

Ebbinghaus was able to prove that even the most complex phenomena are accessible to experimental study. From Wundt's point of view, this is a riot! The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve was successfully used by behevts in their learning curve. The bottom line: material is forgotten most quickly in the first eight hours after memorization.

2.2 Edge effect and reminiscence effect

When memorizing a series of homogeneous information, it is best to reproduce its beginning and end from memory.

The reminiscence effect is an improvement over time in the reproduction of memorized material without additional repetitions. Most often, this phenomenon is observed when distributing repetitions of material in the process of memorizing it, and not when memorizing it immediately by heart. Reproduction delayed for several days (2 - 3 days) often gives better results than reproducing the material immediately after memorizing it. Reminiscence is probably explained by the fact that over time, the logical, semantic connections formed within the material being memorized become stronger, become clearer, and more obvious.

The well-known researcher of memory disorders T. Ribot, analyzing cases of amnesia - temporary memory loss that are important for understanding the psychology of memory, notes two patterns: a person’s memory is connected with personality, and in such a way that pathological changes in personality are almost always accompanied by memory disorders; A person’s memory is lost and restored according to the same law: with memory loss, the most complex and recently acquired impressions suffer first; when restoring memory, the situation is the other way around, i.e. the simplest and oldest memories are restored first, and then the most complex and recent ones.

The dynamics of forgetting are not straightforward. Having remembered something, a person forgets as much in the first eight hours as in the next thirty days.

Freud's law of motivated forgetting states that a person has a tendency to forget psychologically unpleasant things. Especially often, such motivated forgetting of unpleasant intentions and promises manifests itself in cases where they are associated with memories that give rise to negative emotional experiences.

There is not always a clear connection between the accuracy of reproducing events and confidence in this accuracy. A person can objectively correctly reproduce events, but not be aware of it, and, conversely, make mistakes, but be sure that he reproduces them correctly.

A person's poor memory may be due to difficulties in recollection rather than remembering per se. The most illustrative examples of successful recall are provided by hypnosis. Under its influence, a person can suddenly remember long-forgotten events of distant childhood, impressions of which were seemingly lost forever.

The processes of memorizing and reproducing information are incompatible and in opposite directions. It can be argued that an extensive flow of new information impedes recall, while the reproduction of even a large amount of information has a much smaller effect on the process of perception. Thus, in a state of information vacuum, a person feels some clarification of memory, and the mind in general.

When identifying memory processes, the various functions performed by memory in life and activity are considered as a basis. Memory processes include memorization, reproduction, as well as storage and forgetting of material. In these processes, the connection between acts of special independent (mnemonic) actions is especially clearly revealed. Although, when comparing memory processes, their seemingly opposite functional orientation is striking, these processes must be considered in unity. All memory is a complex, but unified and continuous process. It is impossible to imagine such a state of consciousness that it can do without memory. The course of memory processes is determined by the activity of the individual, his focus on achieving future goals.

2.3 Ways to develop memory

The development of memory in general depends on the person, on the sphere of his activity.

And it directly depends on the normal functioning and development of other “cognitive” processes. Working on a particular process, a person without thinking, develops and trains his memory.

A person's memory depends on his attentiveness. The organization of a person’s consciousness is expressed in his attentiveness, in the degree of clarity of awareness of the objects of reality.

It is necessary to consider the information base for behavior regulation. The collection and processing of information about reality is carried out by a system of cognitive processes: sensation, perception, thinking, memory and imagination. Mental activity is associated with the assessment of reflected objects, with emotions and volitional regulation.

A sequential consideration of these processes to which we are moving should not create the impression of some kind of sequence in the very structure of the psyche. All mental processes are interconnected in a single stream of human consciousness, in his activity.

Centralization in consciousness of what is of greatest significance for human activity is the organization of consciousness, manifested in its direction and concentration on significant objects.

The direction of consciousness is the selection of influences that are significant at the moment, and concentration is a distraction from side stimuli.

Recalling any particular reading, for example, the second or third, does not have any of the signs of habit. His image, obviously, was imprinted in memory immediately, because other readings, by their very definition, are memories different from him. This is like an event in my life; For him, a certain date is essential, and therefore the impossibility of repetition. Everything that later readings added to it could only be a change in its original nature; and if my effort to recall this image becomes easier the more often I repeat it, then the image itself, considered in itself, is, of course, from the very beginning such as it will remain forever.

Perhaps it will be said that these two types of memory - recall of a separate reading and knowledge of a lesson - differ from each other only quantitatively, that successive images that arise during each reading are superimposed on each other, and that a learned lesson is simply a composite image that is the result of such an imposition. It is indisputable that each of the successive readings differs from the previous one, among other things, in that the lesson turns out to be better learned. There is no doubt, however, that each of them, considered precisely as a new reading, and not as a lesson learned better and better, is absolutely self-sufficient, remains in the form in which it was once realized, and forms, together with all the accompanying circumstances, an irreducible moment in my history. One can even go further and say that consciousness reveals a deep difference, a difference in essence, between these two types of memory. The recollection of such and such reading is a representation and only a representation; it is given by the intuition of my spirit, which I can lengthen or shorten at will; I arbitrarily assign one duration or another to it; nothing prevents me from grasping it immediately, as one takes in a picture with one glance. On the contrary, remembering a learned lesson, even when I limit myself to repeating it to myself, requires a very specific amount of time, namely exactly as much time as is needed to perform, at least mentally, one after another, all those movements that are necessary for pronouncing corresponding words; therefore, it is no longer a representation, it is an action. And in fact, a lesson, after you have once learned it, no longer bears any mark on it that betrays its origin and allows you to attribute it to the past; it belongs to my present in the same sense as, for example, the habitual ability to walk or write; it is rather lived out, “done,” rather than represented; -I could have taken it for an innate ability if, along with it, a number of those successive ideas-readings through which I had assimilated it had not arisen in my memory. But these ideas are independent of the lesson, and since they preceded its assimilation and reproduction, the lesson, once learned, could also do without them.

Taking this basic distinction to its conclusion, we can imagine two theoretically separate and independent memories. The first registers in the form of image-memories all the events of our daily life as they unfold in time; she neglects no detail; it leaves to every fact, to every movement its place and its date. Without any ulterior thought about benefit or practical application, but simply by virtue of natural necessity, it becomes a storage place for the past.

Thanks to it, our mind, or, better to say, understanding, gets the opportunity to recognize some perception that has already been experienced before; We resort to it whenever, in search of a well-known image, we climb the slope of our past life. But all perception continues into rudimentary action; and as the images once perceived by us are fixed, lining up one after another along this memory, their continuing movements modify the body, creating new predispositions to action in our body. This is how an experience of a completely new kind is formed, which deposits in the body a number of fully developed mechanisms that carry out more and more numerous and varied reactions to external stimuli, giving completely ready-made answers to an ever-growing number of possible requests. We are aware of these mechanisms at the moment when they come into action, and this consciousness of all past efforts accumulated in the present is still a memory, but a memory deeply different from that described above, always directed towards action, abiding in the present and not seeing nothing but the future. From the past she retained only intelligently coordinated movements, representing accumulated efforts; it finds these past efforts not in the images-memories reflecting them, but in that strict order and systematic character that characterizes the movements we perform at the present time. In truth, she no longer gives us an idea of our past, she plays it out; and if it still deserves the name memory, it is no longer because it preserves images of the past, but because it continues their beneficial effect right up to the present moment.

To evoke the past in the form of an image, one must have the ability to be distracted from the present action, one must be able to attach value to the useless, one must have the will to dream. It is possible that only one person is capable of this kind of effort. But we, people, ascending in this way to the past, find it always eluding, as if fleeing from our gaze, as if this regressive memory meets resistance in another memory, more natural, which, moving forward, draws us to action and to life. When psychologists talk about memories as an established habit, as an impression that takes root deeper and deeper in us through repetition, they forget that the vast majority of our memories relate to such events and details of our life, the essence of which includes the possession of a certain date, and, hence the inability to ever reproduce. Memories acquired deliberately through repetition are rare, exceptional. On the contrary, our memory registers facts and images that are unique in their kind, continuously, at all moments of our life. But we rather notice those memories that we consciously assimilate, because they are the ones that are most useful to us. And since the assimilation of these memories by repetition of the same effort is similar to the process of acquiring a habit already known to us, we naturally discover a tendency to bring memories of this kind to the fore, to consider them as a model of all memories, i.e. to see in spontaneous recollection the same phenomenon in its infancy, as if beginning a lesson that has to be learned by heart. But how can one fail to notice that there is a fundamental difference between that which must be created through repetition and that which by its very essence cannot be repeated? Spontaneous recollection is immediately completely complete; time cannot add anything to this image without distorting its very nature; he remembers his place and his date. On the contrary, the memory we have learned goes beyond the power of time as the lesson is learned better and better; it becomes more and more impersonal, more and more alien to our past life. So, repetition cannot at all result in the transformation of the first memory into a second; its role is simply to use more and more fully those movements in which the memory of the first kind continues, to organize them into one whole and thus build a mechanism, to create a new bodily habit. But such a habit is a memory only insofar as I remember how I acquired it; and I remember this only insofar as I turn to my spontaneous memory, which dates events and enters each of them into its list only once. Thus, of the two types of memory that we have just distinguished, the first is, so to speak, memory par excellence. Memory of the second kind - the one that psychologists usually study - is rather a habit consecrated by memory than memory itself.

Everyday experience shows that lessons memorized using motor memory are repeated automatically; but from the observation of pathological cases it is clear that automatism extends here much further than we usually think. It has been noticed that mentally ill people sometimes give reasonable answers to a number of questions, the meaning of which they do not understand; Their tongue functions like a reflex. People with aphasia, who are unable to voluntarily pronounce a single word, accurately remember the words of a melody when they sing it. They are also able to fluently say a prayer, a series of numbers, list the days of the week or the names of the months. Thus, mechanisms that are extremely complex and subtle enough to produce the illusion of intelligence can, once they are built, function by themselves, and, therefore, usually obey only an initial impulse from our will. But what happens while we repeat them? When we exercise, trying, for example, to learn a lesson, is not the image that we want to recreate with the help of movements invisibly present in our soul from the very beginning? Already during the first repetition of a lesson by heart, a vague feeling of some kind of anxiety gives us the opportunity to find out that we have just made a mistake, as if a warning voice is heard to us in such cases from the dark depths of our consciousness. Focus your attention on what you are experiencing, and you will feel that the complete image is here, in front of you, but elusive, like a real ghost that disappears at the very moment when your motor activity tries to fix its outlines. During a number of recent experiments, undertaken, however, for a completely different purpose, patients declared that they experienced an impression of precisely this kind. A series of letters was held before their eyes for several seconds, inviting them to retain the latter in memory. But, in order to prevent them from emphasizing the observed letters with movements corresponding to their pronunciation, the subjects were required to continuously repeat the same syllable during the time they were contemplating the image. The result was a peculiar psychological state in which it seemed to people that they were in complete possession of the visual image, “without, however, being able to reproduce even the slightest part of it: at the moment when they could do this, the line to their disappeared to the greatest amazement. In the words of one of them, the basis of this state was the representation of the whole, a kind of all-encompassing complex idea, between the individual parts of which an inexpressible unity was felt.” This spontaneous recollection, which is undoubtedly hidden behind the acquired recollection, can be revealed if a ray of light suddenly falls on it; but it escapes at the slightest attempt to grasp it through deliberate recollection. The disappearance of a series of letters, the image of which, as it seemed to the observer, he retains in memory, occurs when the observer begins to repeat the letters: “this effort, as it were, pushes the rest of the image beyond the limits of consciousness.”

What is reminiscence?

Reminiscence is a phenomenon that appears after memorizing information without directly reproducing it immediately after, but after a certain period of time without the action of a stimulus series on a person.

The term reminiscence was proposed in psychology by the Serbian scientist V. Urbancic in 1907. The scientist studied the phenomenon that he observed in subjects when memorizing material (verbal, non-verbal, and sensorimotor movements).

The reminiscence effect is most pronounced in preschool age and in younger schoolchildren. In the field of psychology, scientists have identified higher quality indicators of delayed reproduction of memorized material than reproduction of information immediately after it has been memorized.

The sudden reproduction of material after memorization was studied by P. Ballard. His experimental studies involved individuals who memorized stimulus material, but there was not enough time for sufficient mastery. After a time interval of 24 hours to 7 days, the subjects reproduced the material. The best results were shown by reproduction after a 2-3 day interval. The results obtained were distinguished by quantitatively high indicators, which became entrenched in the psychological science of memory as the Ballard phenomenon.

Also in psychology, scientist Pierre Janet studied reminiscence. In his writings, he described the phenomenon as an automatic repetition of actions independent of external factors.

Reminiscence is a phenomenon that is quite widespread, and the frequency of its occurrence depends largely on the nature of the material that needs to be remembered.

In the studies of scientist D.I. Krasilshchikova, the reproduction of semantic material was revealed to a much greater extent than the incoherent reproduction of material. Experimental studies have established that interest in the material significantly influences the manifestation of reminiscence.

The occurrence of the phenomenon of sudden memory is influenced by the degree of mastery of the content of the material by the learner. Provided that you have not sufficiently mastered the content of the information material, a sudden memory will not take place. If the learner tries to reproduce the material immediately after memorization itself, then he relies on associations that appear between images and concepts, and if the reproduction is more delayed, then the subject relies on a logical connection.

An example of reminiscence is taking a test by a student who memorizes the necessary information without understanding or comprehending it. Before taking the test, an individual may have a “mess in his head,” but at the right moment the information is remembered. And after passing the test, the student forgets everything, without understanding the meaning of what he memorized. Or, for example, a schoolchild’s poem, wording, concept. In many learning models, the main thing is the unconscious memorization of actions, phrases or words, which is achieved by frequent repetition of stimulus material.

Almost every person can observe reminiscence. It happens that an individual unexpectedly remembers a particular song, poem or minor events. The peculiarity of this effect is that this reproduction of the material occurs without targeted efforts. A person does not pull from memory, does not try to remember lines from a song, they themselves emerge from the depths of memory.

Reminiscence in psychology

Scientists have not sufficiently studied the causal sequence of the occurrence of sudden memories, the factors causing sudden recall, but the mechanism of the reminiscence effect itself has been studied, relying on the works of domestic and foreign researchers.

The mechanism of sudden occurrence is due to the action of affective inhibition, due to expressed emotional experience, impressions of the perceived information material. Emotional inhibition affects the nature of the reproduced material. When reproducing memorized information, the story begins with the part that made the most vivid impression, while the logical connection between the reproduced information is lost. In the case of delayed reproduction, the information does not lose its logical sequence.

From a psychological point of view, reminiscence is the process of normalizing the state of fatigue after intense physical, intellectual or emotional stress. Information material, after it is perceived by an individual, is organized in the head, after which it becomes easier for a person to voice it.

Also, sudden recollection occurs in the absence of layering of many details of one logical phenomenon, in which confusion arises. Conditioned forgetting may occur, but after an interval during which the individual is not exposed to stimulus material and there is no additional load on memory, sudden recollection may appear.

Reminiscence depends on an allusion, which is only a hint, a hint that pushes to the desired thought. As a result of an allusion, an individual experiences a sudden memory. is an external phenomenon, a stimulus factor that provokes the appearance of the internal phenomenon of reminiscence.

The phenomenon of reminiscence is also considered from the point of view of pathology in psychology, when a traumatic event takes place and memories take on the character of intrusive and negative ones. When faced with external circumstances similar to those of a traumatic event, a person may experience emotional discomfort associated with the effect of obsessive reminiscence. This state directly depends on the initial emotional state of the individual.

The phenomenon of sudden recollection in an obsessive form can be observed in individuals with. Reminiscence in these cases manifests itself in dreams with memories of the acquired traumatic experience.

Sudden recall of previously perceived information is often a natural feature of human memory.

If we consider reminiscence from the perspective of psychiatry, it can be a symptom of diseases such as traumatic brain injury, alcohol or infectious intoxication, brain pathologies and others.

Reminiscence in psychiatry is considered as a form, as a manifestation, as a symptom of depressive states, manifested by uncontrolled chaotic thoughts. Sudden memories can appear with phobias.

The manifestation of reminiscence, as a pathological symptom, is characterized by the obsession of thoughts and images, and also causes a fairly expressive emotional reaction in the individual (anxiety, fears).

Reminiscence can become an object of attention in the practical activities of a psychologist, correctional activities with the aim of replacing negative experiences with positive ones, in the treatment of conditions associated with traumatic situations. Specialist interventions require both obsessive reminiscences with negative emotional symptoms and the complete absence of this memory effect, which may signal disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system or incipient memory.

If a sudden memory occurs in a pathological manifestation, then the intervention of a specialist is necessary, who will determine the medicinal principles of treatment of the disease, the manifestations of which are reminiscence. Also, a qualified specialist must select effective and appropriate psychotherapeutic tactics for the disease.

You are walking down the street along your usual path, when suddenly, out of the blue, an image from the distant past pops up in your head.

Translation for mixstuff – Sveta Gogol

Grater. Why do strange images appear in my head from time to time for no reason?

You are walking down the street along your usual path, when suddenly, out of the blue, an image from the distant past pops up in your head. Let’s say, connected with a person you haven’t thought about for several years or with an insignificant event that would seem to have been forgotten a long time ago.

A minute later this memory is carried away with the general flow of thoughts and disappears as suddenly as it appeared. Such memories pop up in the minds of most of us from time to time, and for no apparent reason.

There is an even stranger type of such “influxes”. This is when a word or visual image appears in memory that has nothing to do with anything at all. It's like suddenly feeling that the word "orange" is somehow connected with a cheese grater. Such “influxes” seem even more strange because you cannot find any connection with your previous experience: neither with events, nor with places, nor with people. A thought devoid of any autobiographical context.

This does not happen to everyone, but to many. When psychologists became interested in these involuntary memories, they discovered that, on average, a person experiences them once a day.

Most often this happens during routine activities: when a person walks along a familiar street, brushes his teeth or gets dressed. That is, when concentration is not required and thoughts can wander freely.

In some cases, a person can find the reasons for the occurrence of such “influxes”.

A psychologist who studied this issue described this mental investigation of experiment participant L.K. Thus:

“...when L.K. was throwing the used bag in the trash, the word “Acapulco” appeared in her mind, and since she had no idea where it came from or why, she turned to her family for help. Much to the surprise of L.K. It turned out that Acapulco was mentioned in a TV program 45 minutes ago.”

Cases where it was possible to trace the cause of the “influx” are not uncommon. Researchers Kvavilashvili and Mandler conducted a survey and found that words and images that seem to come from the ceiling actually appear for a reason.

Sometimes this is due to associations: for example, the mention of the New Year can lead to the fact that later the song “A Christmas tree was born in the forest” suddenly begins to sound in your head.

Or it may be due to the consonance of words: for example, the image of a sandy beach that pops up from the sight of bananas in a store (bananas and the Bahamas are consonant).

The fact that in many cases the cause of the sudden "surge" can be traced speaks to how much information our brains process outside of our awareness.

It is surprising that many unexpected memories arise weeks and months after the “mechanism” for them has been started. This means that all these words, images and ideas can be stored in the head for quite a long time. Sometimes such “influxes” are even considered a feature of creative thinking, since “random” associations often help to cope with creative tasks.

“Surges” are further evidence that our brain registers much more information than we are able to comprehend. Fortunately, most unexpected thoughts and images are successfully suppressed - otherwise we would be unable to concentrate at all.

So the next time a memory from the distant past pops into your head, know that it was most likely triggered by something you saw, heard, or thought about recently, even if you can't make the connection.

But... why exactly these memories arise, and not some others, still remains a mystery.

MEMORY

For rationalism, the problem of P. acted as a secondary one. Descartes considered P. as a result of changes in the pores of the brain, through which “vital spirits” pass. Under the influence of rationalism, the problem of philosophy in the subsequent history of philosophy is reduced only to the question of the prerequisites for distortions and the limitations of individual experience.

As a reaction to associationism, P.’s concepts should be considered in a number of different idealistic theories. directions that denied the material foundations of P., trying to explain it completely as a spirit, in accordance with the concepts of Plato and Augustine. W. Wundt and representatives of the Würzburg school of psychology of thinking also opposed the associationist concept of psychology. Wundt subordinated the laws of associations to more general laws of apperception - volitional acts that put associations in their definition. relationships with each other; in the same way, for the Würzburgers, memories (as well as thinking) are dominated by “determining tendencies” that determine the direction of P. processes, the stability of their results, and the ease of their appearance (O. Külpe). P. is also directed against associationism in Bergson's intuitionism (see Matter and P., Russian translation, St. Petersburg, 1911), according to the cut there are two different types of P., not reducible to each other - motor ("P.- habit"), common in nature with other, basically physiological, functions of the body, and “true” or “imaginative” P., for which the brain is only a manifestation, in itself incapable of either generating images of memories or change their nature. Bergson's concept formed the basis of some modern ones. theories of P., incl. in phenomenology and existentialism.

At the end of the 19th century. P.'s problems began to be considered in connection with personality theory. Historically, this was realized in the way of criticism of the intellectualism and elementarism of Wundtian psychology in Freudianism and a reaction to the limitations of Ebbinghaus’ associationism. For psychoanalysis, P. is that part of the psyche. life, edges are pushed to the surface of consciousness, the result of the game of the subconscious. According to Freud, the material that P. has at his disposal under the influence of personal factors is subject to two types of influence - condensation and distortion. Freudianism focuses only on emotions. aspects of P. However, psychoanalysis, his one-sided selection of facts and their arbitrary interpretation led to a sharp decline in the influence of his theory of P. at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. The most obvious interpretation of personality as a subject of personality theory appears in the works of F. Bartlett, who believed that personality is not a private ability, which should be sought only within itself. On the contrary, it is “the result of an endless struggle to master the surrounding world and understand it” (see “Remembering”, Camb., 1950, p. 314). Experimentally, Bartlett showed that when memorizing, a certain basis of what is perceived and the emotion associated with it is retained. tone; the rest undergoes some processing towards simplification and schematization. Each memory is included in a more general scheme, due to which it necessarily contains an element of generalization based on past experience, i.e. ultimately determined by the individual. Thus, memory, according to Bartlett, is not, but a reconstruction of elements of past experience; P.'s psychological processes turn out to be closest to creativity. imagination.

Social-psychological P.'s concepts originate from Durkheim's student M. Halbwachs, who put forward the idea that we cannot think about cl.-l. associated with us in the past otherwise than related to k.-l. social – ethnic. or religious group, and, therefore, the past is restored only through correlation with the facts of social life (see M. Halbwachs, Les cadres sociaux de la mémoire, P., 1925). The most famous and original general concept of P. in foreign psychology and philosophy belongs to P. Janet. In an effort to overcome introspectionism and antecedents. theories, Janet points out that an isolated person does not possess P., because he does not need it (see Janet, L'évolution de la mémoire et de la notion du temps, v. 1, P., 1928, p. 219). P., according to Janet, is nothing more than social in absence and at the same time an attempt to adapt to the difficulties that time presents to us, it should be noted, however, that the very concept of social in Janet is limited, meaning essentially collective-psychological.

For owls psychology, the most characteristic is the desire to reveal specific. human features P. in its ontogenesis. Basic theoretical provisions on P. in the Soviet Union. psychological literature were put forward by A. N. Leontyev, P. I. Zinchenko and A. A. Smirnov. P. is understood to be inextricably linked with a person’s labor activity. One of the chapters The thesis is that the use of P.'s means to regulate behavior is in the spiritual sphere of those processes that have already been realized in the material sphere. The difference between a tool of labor and “...that means - an instrument that primitive man makes for his memory, lies only in the fact that while the first is always aimed at external nature, with the help of the second he masters his behavior” (Leontyev A. N., Problems of mental development, M., 1959, p. 321). Original the role of a means of memorization was performed by k.-l. random stimuli. Then this function is taken over by signs and sign systems created in the process of communication (primarily). The latter determines the advantages. human character. P. as P. logical. Finally, from this point of view. the meaning of the plural is revealed. cultural factors (mythology, customs, etc.) as a mnemonic. funds.

Lit.: Leontyev A. N., Development P. Experiment. research of higher psychological functions, M.–L., 1931; Blonsky P.P., P. and thinking, M., 1935; Zankov L.V., P. schoolchildren, her psychology and, M., 1944; his, Memory, M., 1949; Zinchenko P.I., Questions of psychology P., in: Psychological. science in the USSR, vol. 1, M., 1959; his, Involuntary memorization, M., 1961; Smirnov A. A., Psychology of Memorization, M., 1948; Shemyakin Φ. N., “Automatisms” of P. and thinking, “Izv. APN RSFSR”, 1956, vol. 81; Problems of engineering psychology, vol. 3 – Psychology P., L., 1965; Wooldridge D., Mechanisms of the Brain, trans. from English, M., 1965.

M. Rogovin. Moscow.

Machine P. By machine P we mean computing devices. machines designed to store information for various purposes: input data, calculation results, and also (for computers with program control) encoded sections. orders of programs (commands) and the programs themselves. Calculate machines of the simplest type - adding machines, desktop keyboards - will calculate. devices - usually have P. for short-term use. storing numerical information entered into them and calculation results (so-called registers). Digital electronic computers have the most complex structure of P. machines - digital computers, devices which are usually called. storage devices (storage devices).

Most memories are designed to store information written in natural binary code (see Coding), which is the main one. computer language. The designs of machine P. devices are very diverse. To enter data, a memory is usually used, in which the information carrier is paper cards and tapes with a system of holes printed on them (so-called punched cards and punched tape). The entered information, as a rule, is printed on paper and is less often issued to special display registers. Machine data devices, designed for storing information circulating during its processing inside a digital computer, vary significantly in type. Here we distinguish between operational memory (RAM) and long-term memory. information storage (DZU). The former are used to store information directly involved in processing, as well as to store the processing programs themselves, the latter - for longer ones. storing programs and information that will be used in the future.

One of the most important qualities. The differences between human P. and existing machine P. devices is that the process of sampling information from human P. is associative in nature, while in technical ones. This kind of memory is called so-called. and address character, based on the fact that each of the words recorded in the memory is determined using its address, i.e.; number of the memory cell in which it is placed (each is placed in the memory in the smallest discrete unit of the memory - a cell). The principle of addressing leads to a contradiction between the large capacity and speed of the memory, because With a large memory capacity, it is necessary to complicate their address part, which leads to an increase in the time of accessing the memory, i.e. to reduce its performance. Currently Currently, work is underway to create a machine Π. associative type. In such storage systems, the search for information is carried out not by a given address of its location, but by certain characteristics of the information itself. The association sampling mechanism will significantly facilitate and speed up the process of searching for information, bringing the work of machine scanning closer to the work of human scanning.

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