Sean Donahue, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
A global pandemic might be at the forefront of everyone’s minds. But we can’t assume that future threats will get the attention they deserve from people living in an information-saturated world.
Whether we miss them, feel guilty about not having appreciated them more or struggle to forgive them, remembering our parents can hurt. Here’s how to move on.
There are two types of knowledge – we’ve evolved to acquire the first naturally; we need schools for the second. Cognitive load theory explains how to teach knowledge we don’t automatically get.
Real-life adherents to the Mandela Effect veer into conspiratorial thinking. But they do hit on an important truth: Our understanding of history is malleable.
The decision to move the Stasi files into the German national archive has sparked debate of how memories of life before reunification should be handled.
The ‘contexual-binding theory’ suggests memories are easier to retrieve when your brain is in a similar context to when the memory was first formed. Food for thought if you’re cramming for an exam.
Brain functions integrate and compress multiple components of an experience, including sight and smell – which simply can’t be handled in the way computers sense, process and store data.
There are three types of memory: sensory, working and long-term. Activating sensory memory is the first step to better learning. This means learning through as many senses as possible.
As children’s self-regulatory capacities and the prefrontal regions of their brains develop, so does their ability to carry out their future intentions.