<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jan 25, 2014 at 8:51 AM, William Flynn Wallace <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:foozler83@gmail.com" target="_blank">foozler83@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div><div><br></div>OK Spike, Bill will comment:<br><br></div>I recently was asked by a neighbor who knew of my academic background (Ph. D. exp. psych) and a hobby, gardening, and brought a bug over for me to identify. When I went to get my bug book he said that he was devastated that I did not know right away. After all I was so smart, right?<br>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Having already read the rest of this post, and numerous others, I'd have to agree that you're plenty smart. I also agree that if something doesn't naturally stick, you do have to put effort into learning it enough to pull it out at a moment's notice. As I interview for various computer jobs, I notice that they want someone who has all the relevant skillset memorized, which is different for every job. It's frustrating because there are so many different skillsets in computer science. My skillset is to know how to solve problems, I don't need to memorize every keyword in PHP to do that. I can learn PHP in a few days enough to solve any problem I need to. But people don't trust that. It's silly, but I digress.</div>
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<div><div><div>Point: why memorize something, spending all that time and energy when all you need is to know is where that information is and how to interpret it when you find it. On a visit to a physician he got out a big book and looked up something in it. <br>
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Rather than being insulted that he was some kind of incompetent, I was favorably impressed. No one can put all of that in his head.<br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>
I will be even more impressed when a physician asks Watson something in front of me. There is a certain kind of intellectual humility in doing something like that.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>And if he did, could he get it out? Superficial evidence of memory decline is often the result of conflicting memories, and the more you have in memory the more you have the possibility for conflict - meaning that you just cannot get it out at least temporarily.<br>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>There is also a shortage of people who TRAIN their memory these days. This TED talk does a far better job than I could at explaining what that means.</div>
<div><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_foer_feats_of_memory_anyone_can_do.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_foer_feats_of_memory_anyone_can_do.html</a><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>In working my crossword puzzles I often think of a word that would do as it is similar to what I was searching my brain for, but it is wrong and somehow blocks my search for the right one (aka interference theory).<br>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Yeah, that happens to me all the time. I used to be better at doing my own Thesaurus activities, but with that function built into Word and better available online so easily, maybe that function has degraded in my mind as well.</div>
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</div>The idea that video games or anything else has dulled our brains is just silly. The games cause our brains to work in certain ways and not others. Studies show that gamers do better than nongamers on some nongame mental tasks - not surprising.<br>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Brains are obviously quite adaptive, malleable and reactive. If I take time to learn one skill to a greater degree, then it is obvious that I'm not spending time developing other skills. So if I spend 10,000 hours getting good at playing video games, or watching TV, or searching for the VERY best porn, then clearly I can not have spent that 10,000 hours becoming highly skilled in some other area. It isn't what it does to our brain, it's what it does to our knowledge base and skill set.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>Nor have we devolved. Anyone who has taken Psych 101 knows a bit a how memory works. How about attention? Listening is a learned skill and not at all easy to learn. Then you have to get it into memory and that is also a learned skill, not automatic in any way except in some people who cannot help but memorize every license plate ahead of them. I did not forget some things in the novel I read last week, as I did not put them into memory in the first place. Generally speaking one has to try and sometimes try hard to get something into memory and if it ain't there you can't find it!<br>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I find that I remember certain kinds of things without much effort. The sorts of things I learn reading this list, for example, stick very well with me. Other things, like people's names, I find very difficult, even when I apply the memory palace games that are supposed to make it easier. It just takes a lot of time and repetition to remember names for me.</div>
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</div>Nowadays we talk about teaching how to think critically and creatively but I haven't seen much evidence that it is done right. </div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Does anyone know if common core is trying to address this? Or just make math confusing. I want to hear good things about common core if they are there too.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Just like religion: you can't just teach honor and virtue etc., you have to tell people what not to do as well. </div>
</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Not sure I get your point here, but it sounds interesting. Please elaborate?</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Does anyone know of classes at any level that teach all the cognitive errors I mention so often (search Wikipedia for 'cognitive errors')? </div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br>
</div><div><a href="http://www.randi.org/">http://www.randi.org</a> and other skeptics organizations try hard to teach these. Not sure that's a class though.<br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Do economics or finance classes teach how to avoid scams? Why not?<br></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Seems that avoiding scams ought to be part of any course on how to handle money. Great thought.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>The most effective people at drug addicts' facilities are former addicts, who know all the wrong kind of thinking.<br>
</div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>No doubt.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div></div></div>There is more bullshit surrounding psychology than any other field I know. </div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I dunno, I think politics and religion both have it beat. :-)</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>So, Spike, we have to be doubly alert and set our BS detector on high. The problem is keeping an open mind to new things that will pan out. Unfortunately most of them in my field won't (bet we are slowly getting better though we won't catch up with physics and chemistry for hundreds of years, I think.<br>
<br></div>Duke Ellington: "If it sounds good it is good." May work for music. It works all too well for the snake oil salesmen of the world. Oh excuse me, snake oil vendors, I meant to say politicians.<br></div>
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<div class="gmail_extra"><br></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Thanks for a really well thought out post! Much appreciated. My brain feels stimulated!</div><div><br></div><div>-Kelly </div></div></div></div>