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Tag: memory

  • Study As You Play

    Study As You Play

    Well here we are again, getting back into the school routine. Early nights, early mornings, lots of studying, and a whole different mindset. Some of us like the busy schedules filled with endless studying, but others like myself would rather be doing many other things then studying for hours a day. If you’re into sports, video games, or your favorite TV shows and movies and would much rather be spending your time with them, let me help you study as you play.

    I’m a sucker for video games-I’m addicted. Studying was nonexistent in my middle school and early high school years, just video games. I would come home from school, grab some food and sit down for hours mashing through games. It’s what I loved to do, and at that point studying never crossed my mind. However, as the years went on and my marks started to fall, I realized I needed to change. The conventional way of sitting at a desk with my head stuck in a book wasn’t going to work for me.  I couldn’t focus, or remember important dates and names that way. So I gave up and went back to my games, and that’s where it hit me.

    I was playing a game called Rock Band (an interactive music game) and found myself saying important history dates to the rhythm of the songs I was playing. Usually I count the notes in my head, but this time I used dates, places and names. This may sound crazy, but it worked. What I started doing was looking over a section of my notes, and replayed it over and over in my head as I played games. I wasn’t able to focus on the work by just sitting there and reading it, but I was able to focus on the material while doing something else.

    This doesn’t just work for video games, this works for TV and movies as well. In English we always had to read books and know all about each characters personality traits. Let’s be honest, some of the books we’ve had to read were just terrible. So what I did was connect the book characters to TV show or movie characters. This will help you remember who each character is, what they do, and their personality.

    These are just my examples, what helped me through the long and important studying process. The main point of this is to tell you that studying doesn’t have to be dreadful. Try to connect or combine it with things you love to do. If you do that, you’re going to be more positive about studying. Make studying a part of your daily schedule, but do it your own way. Every bit of studying will help you, and I can guarantee you’ll see a difference in your school performance. What you have to study, and how much you have to study will only increase, so start making up a routine now-one that works for you. Let’s take this into our own hands, and study as we play.

  • The Human Cognition Project

    The Human Cognition Project

    Every day, you use your brain in many different ways. You use it to learn new material at school, to talk with your friends, and even to blink your eyes. Right now you’re using it to read and understand the words of this article. Scientists know that the brain controls the rest of the body, but there are still many mysteries about exactly how it works. How do people really think? Why do their brain functions change as they get older? Researchers working with the Human Cognition Project hope to find answers to questions of human thought.

    The word “cognition” usually refers to the process of thought, including how people get information and what they do with it. Cognition can be conscious, like when you talk with your friends and think about the words everyone is saying. It can also be unconscious, like when you quickly pull your hand away from a hot stove.

    People’s ability to think and process information changes throughout their lives. Young children have to learn the connection between touching hot stoves and burning their fingers, but most people can make connections like these without consciously thinking about them. They learn how to behave in different social situations and begin to develop their own ideas about the world and how it works.

    Cognition changes throughout people’s lives. Accidents, illnesses, stress, or getting older can often affect the brain. Everyone has occasional memory lapses and problems with understanding difficult ideas, but some people have more troubles than others. Some cognition problems are minor and cause few lasting troubles, such as when you forget to do your homework and have to hand it in late. Other problems can be much more serious, such as when people forget their own names and addresses. They could become lost or get into all kinds of other trouble.

    The purpose of the Human Cognition Project is to find out more about what happens when the brain is not working as well as it could. Seven projects are part of the research, covering topics like the connection between what people see and what they remember. Another topic is how this connection relates to witnesses of crimes. Helping people to remember events more accurately could be an important result of the work in this area.

    How people’s brains change as they age is another important part of the Human Cognition Project. When people get older, they often lose their memories or develop other problems with thinking clearly. These problems are often called dementia, and they are an important part of the Human Cognition Project. If scientists could understand exactly why the brain loses so many of its abilities as it ages, they might be able to find a cure for the mental troubles of old age.

    Will all of this study of cognition help people with problems like memory loss or other loss of brain function? It might not provide a cure, but it can at least provide a basis for future research into the human brain.