Italy's magical mind may unlock memory mystery

Reuters ^

[Ronin]

This is depressing.

I count it as a good day if I remember to zip my fly.

[Dallas]

ROFLMBO.....hahhaahaaaaaaaaaaaa

[ImaGraftedBranch]

My 14-year old is like this. He can read a short story (less than 35 or so pages) two times back-to-back, then recite it word-for-word from memory.

It is the most remarkable thing I have ever seen (next to childbirth, of course).

He has facts at his fingertips. He loves to read, and obtaining historical facts is a hobby for him. I can pick a date in world history and he'll tell me about it (from what he has read) verbatim. The crtical aspect is ensuring that he learns the TRUE history of a subject without bias (something you can't always find in school textbooks) because he won't forget it.

(yes, he is homeschooled -- he has a desire for knowledge that publik skoolz would ruin).

[Consort]

I'll always remember what's-his-name.

[ValerieUSA]

More evolved memories? That's a bit of an assumption.

[fella]

"I count it as a good day if I remember to zip my fly."

Doooh! Thaks for reminding me but it's to late now beause it's bedtime.

[bluesagewoman]

Memory sticks are getting very inexpensive this year. Maybe a port can be developed so we can stick it in our ear. How handy, running short on memory? Just stick it in your ear, and instant memory.

Seriously, my family has early-onset Alzheimer's in our tree. Research in this area is getting very interesting. I know one day the answers will all come together and we'll say the answer was so simple how could we not see it? This family is very generous in allowing research to be conducted on them.

[RightWhale]

once we have identified the molecule involved, the mechanism at the level of proteins coded by DNA, we can search for it in the Golfera family

They are could be off on another snipe hunt. What if memory isn't stored in the brain? Even though our manufactured computers have CPUs and memory chips, the brain may not be organized that way at all.

[Jeff Chandler]

And I thought I was special because I can remember back to before I was 2.

[Walkingfeather]

I have always wondered about people like your son. One question.... When they read something does the cognitive understanding run along with it? I mean yes they can recite but can they explain contexually what they have read? Just curious.

[Ciexyz]

I always thought photographic memory was a fiction created by mystery writers.

[Fracas]

I have an excellent memory. I began reading at age 3 and my parents were surprised that I could remember what I read. I have also been a speed reader since high school and it has been frustrating trying to reassure people that you can both read fast AND comprehend.

Personally, I think it's important to USE your memory, otherwise it will atrophy. For example, instead of entering things in a Palm Pilot, remember it.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Not all the time, unless it is obvious. I would also be derelict in my parental duties (and as a homeschooling family, my duties as his teacher) to let him simply absorb the information without proper perspective. We teach with multiple, practical examples, as well as actual examples from research.

I try not to let him learn a large body of information without multiple references -- it is important to let him read various points of view to test his abilities to discern bias from fact.

He and I have a thing going now where we watch/read the news throughout the day (breakfast, lunch and dinner, specifically) and try to be the first to catch any bias from reporters entering into the actual news report. He is amazed, stunned and a little more than concerned about how much we find on a daily basis.

He's got one heck of an imagination, which he is putting to work writing short stories in preparation for his desire to become a novelist.

[Erasmus]

Grandfather Bartolomeo, 82, was a star pilot during World War Two whose lightening memory put him ahead of the enemy.

... The only difficulty he had was remembering which side he was on.

+={)B^)

[Erasmus]

They are could be off on another snipe hunt. What if memory isn't stored in the brain? Even though our manufactured computers have CPUs and memory chips, the brain may not be organized that way at all.

Well, it's certainly north of the neck and south of the toupee. But you're right about one thing: It's not organized, at any level, anything like present-day computers.

[Jeff Chandler]

Hasn't there been recent research indicating that thought processes are more diffused throughout the body than previously thought?

[Jeff Chandler]

I can't remember where I read that. Ironic, eh?

[RightWhale]

This week's mind theory or hypothesis is that the conscious mind is actually in the highly complex electromagnetic field surrounding the brain rather than in the neurons themselves. I suppose the EM field actually extends to include the entire body. Learned responses, according to this hypothesis such as playing a Lydian scale on your guitar without thinking about it are done automatically through hard-wired nerve memory and do not involve the consciousness except for the initial step of deciding to play the Lydian scale rather than the Dorian scale.

[Jeff Chandler]

If consiousness is seperate from learned response, than how is it that acquired knowledge, properly synthesized, increases wisdom?