Memory — Recall — Emotions: The Brain’s Mysterious Ways
“REMEMBER YOUR FIRST LOVE?” — THE BRAIN MOVES IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS — So it might seem… Actually, by this time scientists have found out much more about the brain than is commonly known.
Ho Do I Know?
Because I do research on a more or less regular basis and have worked for many years around medical scientists. I am an avid reader, who knows how to check her sources for soundness of statements and results.
Learning: One Way Only?
One thing I notice often in every day life, private or business, is the idea that there is only one correct way you learn and remember or recall things, facts, or subjects. These ideas usually are based on common ideas in school learning: They are very thorough as far as they go — and also at the time were state-of-the-art learning-theory-based. But knowledge about the best way to learn has changed since the first public schools and the common obligation to attend them were instated.
Emotions At The ‘Heart’
This could become a long story, no doubt about it — but: The essentials are these:
Things or facts we remember are usually based on what we learned before, on the one hand.
On the other, our EMOTIONS are crucial to the power of our memory, of memorizing, as it were: Emotions, although they are mirrored in our whole body, including a fastening heartbeat… 🙃, actually originate from the brain. It already has become apparent (s.a. Daniel Goleman’s book on EQ, as opposed to IQ) that when during brain surgery the brain’s part for emotions is removed, people become incapable of deciding — anything. Because our emotions make our priorities.
When all is said and done this means also that the brain will help recall facts much more easily that you feel to be important.
What you as an individual and unique human being find important may not conform to the general idea of what you should think important.
(Today’s shopping list… 🤔😊?)
So, next time around someone finds fault with your memory, let’s pause for a moment, and remember… 😉 our brain’s behaviour is after all less mysterious than commonly known.
Book Recommendations:
- Daniel Goleman: Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, New York, 1995
- Jeanne Ellis Ormrod: How We Think and Learn: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Implications, Cambridge University Press, 2017
