Internet Use Found To Affect Memory 207
An anonymous reader writes "The rise of Internet search engines has changed the way our brain remembers information, according to a new study out of Columbia University (abstract). 'We are reorganizing the way we remember things,' said the study's lead researcher. Because search engines like Google and Bing are so easily at hand, we feel less need to remember details that can be easily looked up. One possible upside: 'Perhaps those who teach in any context, be they college professors, doctors or business leaders, will become increasingly focused on imparting greater understanding of ideas and ways of thinking, and less focused on memorization. And perhaps those who learn will become less occupied with facts and more engaged in larger questions of understanding.'"
From the department of... (Score:4, Interesting)
explaining the gory details of what we already know? Ok maybe for a general audience this is news, but for any tech minded person, I imagine this was already well understood.
I learnt to program before I had access to the internet, on a Dragon32 (TRS-80 clone), from one source of information: a single book. I remember re-reading a paragraph many many times over to squeeze a little more understanding out of it). I can _still_ remember the specific memory address you had to poke to squeeze a little extra performance out of the processor.
Now days (and I think we all know this or at least relate to it), I have the stuff I use frequently memorized, and anything else I relegate to “stuff I can just look up”.
Would also note that it isn’t just the internet (at least for programming). Auto-complete and intuitive naming also plays a big part in the lack of need to memorize stuff.
A Smart man once said... (Score:5, Interesting)
Never memorize what you can look up in books. --Albert_Einstein
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein [wikiquote.org]
Supplements to improve memory (Score:4, Interesting)
Last summer I found a little herb shop in Phoenix, Arizona. One of their custom loose-leaf tea blends was called An Elephant Never Forgets [chakra4herbs.com]. My memory had been rather fickle [merriam-webster.com], ever since I lost it entirely for a 2-week period after I nearly drowned at the lake, some 12 years before. The lack of consistency was rather annoying, but only when I realized that there was something I couldn't quite remember.
I bought an ounce of said tea, and immediately noticed a dramatic improvement in my ability to remember. I don't take it all the time, or even regularly, but I did happen to see the bag this morning. Funny how that works.
Here are the ingredients from the above link, to save you all a click:
Huperzine-A, from the moss, also has potent memory-improving properties.
There are a lot of other important factors to memory improvement... I should look for a publisher. :)
Used to dislike history class ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Never memorize what you can look up in books. --Albert_Einstein http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein [wikiquote.org]
I disliked history until I had a class in high school where a teacher went off curriculum and taught the class like a college class. No memorizing dates and such, they can be looked up in a reference, what we focused our time on was *why* that historic person made that particular decision at that time and place. What influenced or led to that decision? This is when history became interesting to me.
FWIW this was all pre-internet.
Re:Supplements to improve memory (Score:5, Interesting)
Heh... Actually...
Gotu Kola has been shown to pretty much be one of the highest natural sources of B1, B2, and B6 vitamins- which would be brain/memory boosting.
Ginko's been claimed to be memory loss/dementia preventing. Mixed bag there on the research (some research indicating so, some not...)- but they DO know it has an impact on healthy individuals by boosting attentiveness considerably through it's ability to inhibit norepinephrine uptake. I'd say it'd help in remembering things because of that aspect.
Not sure about the other herbals in the tea, but Firmoss happens to supply a known fairly potent nootropic. Research has shown that it's roughly as effective at dealing with Alzheimers as the current drugs on the market with quite a bit less side effects. Other research on the nootropic aspects are currently ongoing but they're in the process of producing a highly refined and concentrated version of this substance to treat Alzheimers right at the moment.
So...saying that they were just sold snake oil...not as such. Where do you think asprin came from? It was by researching the effect of salicylic acid and trying to find a "better" answer for the stuff that already largely worked- from plant extracts, much like this herbal medicine you're calling "snake oil". Yes, much of this stuff is that- but to dismiss it like you did is to ignore where your medicines at least initially came from.