Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Studies Find
Belluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
The article “Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Studies Find” is based around the two theories as to why memories are weakened over time. The first stating, “One is that memories do not diminish but simply get overshadowed by new memories.” The second theory says,” The other is that older memories become weaker, that pulling to mind new passwords or phone numbers degrades old recolation…”. The author Pam Belluck, bases her entire article around these two theories and provides to the readers examples proving how our memories get weaker each day we do not reinfoce memories and information. Old memories are easier to recover when they are only “papered” by newer more evident ones. But once a person is unable to recollect evidence and information about a memory it is harder for the memory to overshine newer ones, showing how our minds are slowly weakening. A study came out providing physical evidence that people’s memories are weakening. They show this through an activity of showing pictures of (ex: Marilyn Monroe or a hat), this activity proves that over time only some images stick in participants minds, while others, like the hat were not as prominent over time. This brought up questioning for the scientists, as to why the participants couldn’t remember the image of the hat they had previously chosen, but they could remember the one of Monroe. While many people find this study concerning with memories weakening, in some cases it is beneficial. People are able to cloud over the memories of an abusive relationship, or erasing someones fears. “If you want to actually weaken a memory, what you need to do is flush it out. It’s the process of the memory coming to mind as a competitor, but losing the competition,” said Kenneth Norman, a Princeton neuroscientist.
Memory loss across the country is becoming more evident and substantial, and is concerning to many people. Participants in the study had to pick between the pictures of Monre and a hat as explained before. The result of people not being able to remember the hat picture was interesting to scientists. “It’s pretty hard to think that your inability to pick the right hat has anything to do with Marilyn Monroe at that point.” Which is true, the reason as to why participants weren’t able to remember the correct hat is puzzling, and confusing to scientists. When shown the word sand in a “cue word” test, the memory of both Monroe and the hat was substantial, but once the cues were abandoned the relevance of the hat. Scientists are still puzzled by these results, but the study has greatly helped the public and people working in similar fields as these results.
I think that the author did a great job writing this article. She included a lot of information about the study and explained in great detail the various activities, trials, and some of the studies. Teh article included visuals that were very helpful and interesting while reading the article, because when confused by aspects of the article reader were able to look at a visual to better understand what was said. I’m really pleased that an article like this was published and stood out to me, because during the school year I get frustrated when I don’t remember information I worked so hard to learn and remember. This article shows me that its not just me not being able to recall facts (etc), but its also the fact that all the information taken in constantly “papers” the old information. I was overall very happy with this article, but I think that the author could have included more numerical statistics and or charts/ graphs.
In Lucy's review of "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Studies Find" she included lots of information on her article. I liked the way that she clearly introduced the topic, and it was very easy to understand. I think that the way she conveyed her information was a easy-to-follow, logical process that a spectator such as I, who knows little about this topic, would not find hard to understand. I think that the way she introduced her outside sources was helpful and clear, and the writing was smooth and fluid through the quotations. I do think she could have had some more statistical information included, such as how many studies were conducted or how many people participated. I also think that she could have had more outside sources in the article. It would have been beneficial to the reader to help understand the topic with lots of information from experts. I learned from this article that if you have traumatic memories that you are having a hard time dealing with, you can just try to forget about them, and eventually you will. If this information was known, it could save many lives from brain disease and PTSD. Overall, Lucy did a great job with her piece.
ReplyDeleteBelluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
This current event review by Lucy of the article “Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds” is very interesting and informative. I really liked how thorough and detailed her summary was. I also liked how she used not one, but multiplied quotes from the article, and I liked how she personally connected the article to herself because I have that same problem with remembering information as well. Even though I did like all the detail in her summary, I thinks she may have used a little too much detail. Lucy could have condensed her first paragraph and lengthened her second paragraph. I found this article particularly interesting because I have a very weird memory. Sometimes, I can forget details within 3 seconds, but other times, I can recall information like I have a photographic memory, even though I don’t. Overall, though, this review by Lucy was very well-written and interesting. I think she did a really good job.
Belluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
This review by Lucy is well-written and interesting. She clearly stated both theories, allowing readers to have their own opinion. She described the experiment and the conclusion. Lucy included quotes from experts on the topic.
I would suggest to shorten to first paragraph. It would also be helpful if Lucy added more details about how scientists will build on these findings.
I learned that competing memories grow weaker over time, which explains why I often cannot remember the information I studied for a test.
Belluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
I really enjoyed reading Lucy’s review of “Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds,” by Pam Belluck. Her review was interesting to read and I thought she gave did a great job. One thing that I thought Lucy did very well was she incorporated multiple quotes into her review from people such as Pam Belluck, the author, and Kenneth Norman, a Princeton neuroscientist. Another thing that liked in Lucy’s review was that she connected the topic of the article to herself and school by saying that it is frustrating to her when she cannot remember information that she worked hard to memorize. One last thing Lucy did well in her review was that she stated both theories on why memories may be weakened over time, which allows the reader to see two points of view on the topic. To improve her review, I think that Lucy could include more statistics; especially to back up her point that memory loss across the country is becoming more evident. Another thing that I think Lucy could improve upon is that she could include more information about how the results of this study will be used in the future. I learned a lot from Lucy’s review. I knew that one’s ability to remember something decreased as time progressed, but I didn’t know why. This article helped provide me with some facts about how this happens. I, too, have a very bad long-term memory, and like Lucy, it is also very frustrating when I can’t remember events that happened to me or information that I have to know for school. I really liked reading Lucy’s review and thought she did a great job.
Belluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
I think Lucy did a good job on critiquing this article. I thought her summary was good because it was easy to understand and told just the main details (the article itself was very long and had tons of information). Something I liked was how she incorporated some quotes into the summary and how it affects everybody. The article was written very well and provided lots of details on the experiments that were performed. I think Lucy could have worked on how this article/topic relates to humanity. In the article, it talks about how if memory weakens, it can be helpful in forgetting about fears or something bad that happened. She included this information in the summary but I think it would work better as an example of how memory weakening affects everybody. Overall, I found this article extremely interesting and it’s nice to know that memory weakening has good points to it as well as the bad.
Belluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
Lucy did a fantastic job in her review of the article "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Studies Find" .She included an abundance of information on her article. First, one thing that I really enjoyed was the clarity in which she introduced the topic, and it was very easy to understand. I think that the way she conveyed her information was a easy-to-follow, logical process that a reader such as myself, who knows little about this topic, would not find hard to understand. I think that the way she introduced her outside sources was helpful and clear, and the writing was fluid through the quotations and there was a great flow throughout the paper. One thing that Lucy could have improved upon was some more statistical information, such as how many studies were conducted or how many people participated. I also think that she could have had more outside sources in the article. It would have been beneficial to the reader to help understand the topic with lots of information from experts. I learned from this article that if you have traumatic memories that you are having a hard time dealing with, you can just try to forget about them, and eventually you will. If this information was known, it could save many lives from brain disease and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Overall, Lucy did a great job with her current events review.
Belluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
Lucy did a great job on her review of this New York Times article. She includes sophisticated vocabulary such as “diminish” and “relocation” and she gave very insightful examples on how the brain loses memory recall when it is not reinforced. She also brings in outside sources and includes what they have said about the topic like Kenneth Norman a Princeton neuroscientist. I think this is a job well done. Some suggestions to make this review even better is to shorten the summary paragraph. If it was a condensed three or four sentences, I think the reader would have gotten the point across better. Also, the reader needs “cold hard facts” as ESPN calls it. Some statistical information or some just facts would have definitely helped me understand her topic. All in all, Lucy’s topic was a great one and she did very well on her review.
Belluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
Lucy did an incredible job when writing this review on "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Studies Find". Throughout the review there were several aspects that I really enjoyed. I think that the way she introduced her outside sources was helpful and clear, this provided a smooth flow through her quotations, which helped give the paper a smooth flow. Another thing that liked in Lucy’s review was that she connected the topic of the article to herself and school by saying that it is frustrating to her when she cannot remember information that she worked hard to memorize. Which gives allows the reader to gain a better understanding on the topic. Lastly, I really enjoyed how detailed her summary was, it allowed the reader to gain an detailed understanding of the topic, without having to even read the article. But, there were a few things Lucy could have done better in her article. To improve her review, I think that Lucy could include more statistics; especially to back up her point that memory loss across the country is becoming more evident. Lastly, she could have mentioned how the statistics could impact the future and what scientists planned on doing with the information. I really enjoyed reading this article, especially since I learned so much about the topic. Especially informations like how if you have traumatic memories that you are having a hard time dealing with, you can just try to forget about them, and eventually you will forget about them, which is very useful. Overall I really enjoyed Lucy's review, she did a great job.
I enjoyed reading Lucy’s review on the article, "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Studies Find ” by Pam Belluck. Lucy did well on many aspects of her review, including the fact that she explained what the article consisted of very well. She explained to the reader of the review what the article said, and did this briefly which made the whole review even more interesting to read. The way she stated the information from the article was in a way where someone who knew little about the topic could quickly pick up on what it was about. Another part of Lucy’s review that I think she did a fantastic job on is explaining how this problem is affecting people today. She gave facts about how memory loss is starting to greatly increase across America. One more thing that I liked about her review was the fact that in the beginning she included different theories as to why memory loss is becoming more substantial. She explained that the first theory says, “One is that memories do not diminish but simply get overshadowed by new memories.” The second theory says,” The other is that older memories become weaker, that pulling to mind new passwords or phone numbers degrades old recolation…”. Lucy did a very good job on reviewing her article, however there is room for improvement. One thing that she could have done a better job on is including statistics about memory loss percentage over the years. By doing this, she would be helping the reader get a better understand as to how much memory loss has increased over the years. One last thing that I think she could improve on is including more experts opinion on how this will affect us in the future. Overall, I think that Lucy did an excellent job on reviewing her article, and there were many facts that surprised me. One being that if someone is experiencing PTSD it is possible to convince yourself to forget about them.
ReplyDeleteBelluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
Belluck, Pam. "Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/memories-become-weaker-without-reinforcement-study-finds.html?ref=science&_r=0
In my opinion, Lucy did a very good job in response to the article, “Memories Weaken Without Reinforcement, Study Finds,” by Pam Belluck. Lucy gave a very good summary that was easy to understand while reading. She stated the main idea of the article and made it flow into certain pieces of evidence that she included. She also clearly provided the reader with direct quotes from the article. This backed up her point of the article and helped to summarize what the main idea was. Lucy also informed the reader of an experiment that was performed on a few people involving pictures. She went in depth with the detail of this experiment. However, this was the only main piece of evidence that Lucy used. To improve her response, she could add more examples of how this affects people. She also could have included facts on how this involves memory loss for certain types of people including gender, age, etc. Something that was very interesting to me about the article Lucy responded to was that many people are unable to remember simple things like a hat. It takes something that stands out to cause them to remember something.