Faith Tong (Week 1)- a psychology lesson for you :)
a psychology lesson for you :)
Faith Tong
I would of never imagined myself writing a blog post about psychology! Psychology is a very interesting topic and now I’m gonna be an expert today to explain to you how the different types of memories we have can affect the way we speak or express ourselves.
Did you know that we have various memory parts that help us to remember information? The two main parts of memory that correlate with language are sensory and explicit memory. Sensory memory is actually divided into two smaller sections: echoic and iconic memory. Echoic memory is when you use listening to remember information while iconic memory is using observation to remember information. The way we perceive others expression while speaking can help determine the way we speak, and affect the way we use language.
Similarly, explicit memory is also known as “declarative memory”, where you have to say the information you want to memorize out loud in order to remember it and store it in your long term memory. One of explicit memory’s smaller sections is semantic memory, where one is able to remember words, concepts, or even language through adding meaning to it. For example, if I want to improve at learning a language, whenever I learn new vocabulary or phrases, I can add meaning or emotion to them to help me remember the word meaningfully and for a longer time.
Language can bring out different sides of ourselves when we interact with others. So for those who are bilingual, language can bring out two sides of a person. For me, I can speak both Chinese and English, and unconsciously I incorporate differently styles of expressing myself through the language I use. When I speak Chinese, I remember that my culture values respect, so I will unconsciously pay attention to what I say and make sure I don’t offend anyone. But when I speak English, I know that I can be more casual and free to say what I want. The way we remember different aspects such as culture can influence the way we express language.
Ok sorry for the whole rant about psychology, language, and memory! I hope you at least learned something and my question to you is: Which type of memory do you think you use the most?
Comments
I like how you explained the concept very clearly. I usually use semantic memory for studying; however, I usually forget the concepts really quickly after the test, so I'm not sure if it is the most effective method. Other than that, I usually watch videos and do practice problems, so I think I might use a combination of echoic and iconic memory. I've also heard of declarative memory, but I've never tried it before. I heard that teaching others is a very good way to study, which is declarative memory so I do want to try it in the future.
Interesting topic about memory! About your question, which type of memory do I think I use the most, I think the most obvious answer here is sensory. In fact, I’m using my iconic memory right now to remember what you wrote about in your blog! We are unconsciously prone to many stimuli in a day, but we can barely remember most of them; it’s only the memories that we consciously process in our short-term memory that sticks in our long-term memory.
-Angel Susantin
The meme that you included in your post is so relatable. I feel like I have very selective memory when it comes to topics that I’m interested in versus topics that bore me to death, Particularly, I have phenomenal recall when it comes to video game lore or mechanics; however, when it comes to remembering when World War II first started is something that continuously skips out of my memory. Thank you for detailing about the different variations of memory in your post, it was very informative.
My memory consists of good food, friends, and memories. Books too maybe. Honestly, my brain has not been very cut out for school and I just bank out so much. I also see what you mean when you find yourself unconsciously being more formal when speaking a different language. I find myself speaking cantonese a lot more straight forward and saying quick phrases, but the complete opposite in english.
I really liked how informative your blog is and it fulfills my want to learn something about the brain. I am a bilingual speaker too as I speak both English and Telugu (meh amount of Spanish) and when I go to India, I am accustomed to speaking Telugu. But, I can’t speak fluently in Telugu and so I mix English in there too. Now this is embarrassing because my relatives keep making fun of me 😭. Coming back to the point, I am a visual learner, but I usually learn when I try and connect ideas in the most absurd manner and so it becomes a Thomas train kinda thing yk?
Sincerely,
Mrinmayee Sama
I use Semantic memory mostly for Chinese tests as I have a hard time remembering the words. So I just associate parts of the characters as one word or meaning and it usually works or I just forget to study or make one off the bat. I think echoic memory works well with iconic as it is better to hear and write the information at the same time as sometimes hearing it is not as clear as being able to visual the information provided.