Leonardo & Da Vinci
How is Human Memory an Oxymoron?
The mind can only perceive and operate with changes. The unchanging is imperceptible by the mind and the only way to perceive it is by changing the mind itself relative to it. Again, this implies that monotony in the presentation of subject matter goes over the student and is not registered by the mind. Boredom then is simply a safety device by which the mind shuts off an unappealing changeless stimuli. Even when we see a static object, we are able to perceive it because the eyes provide the change as the eyeballs fluctuate continuously, a process known as micronystagmus or in more modern terms, saccades. The eyes jump to and fro from a given point to another and back again at a frequency of three times per second. So three times in a second the brain perceives a different image of the "same" object.
Dr. B S Ramachandra, Leonardo and Da Vinci - The Inner Game of Meta-Learning Website
Leonardo: In continuing with our previous dialogue, what strikes me is the statement we had made in the beginning that learning is re-membering. Could we go into it a little?
Da Vinci: Of course, and in making that statement, it at once undermines the very meaning of memory, if by memory we mean something that is recorded and which we retrieve. That is, memory, more precisely, human memory, is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms.
Leonardo: How is that so, Da Vinci?
Da Vinci: Because, in the brain, nothing is ever recorded as a single snapshot chunk and in a specific locale. Rather, once an event is "recorded", the chunks constituting it are dis-assembled and stored in different regions of the brain. And each time we trigger a retrieval of that record, the individual chunks are again re-assembled to form what we think is the recorded event. In reality, the re-assembling is a reconfiguration and is singularly unique. It never, ever, remains the same.
Leonardo: And how does that reconfiguration takes place, Da Vinci?
Da Vinci: By cognitive self-organization, Leonardo. And this self-organization can be of four types, spontaneous, inhibited, stimulated and choiceless.
Leonardo: Four types! Da Vinci, don't tell me, the act of memory retrieval is so involved and intricate!
The hierarchy of the cortex ensures that memories of objects are distributed over the hierarchy; they aren't located in a single spot. Also, because each region of the hierarchy forms invariant memories, what a typical region of cortex learns is sequences of invariant representations, which are themselves sequences of invariant memories. You won't find a picture of a cup or any other object stored in your brain.
Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee, On Intelligence (p. 137). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.
Da Vinci: As a matter of fact, it is, Leonardo. It is just that in normal day-to-day life, one does't get to inquire deeply into this apparently innocent process of remembering. No wonder we use terms like recalling that is totally inappropriate for human memory. Let me quickly take you through these four processes I mentioned.
1. Spontaneous Self-Organization of Memory:
This is the default process. It happens when the brain-mind is in a normal state of awareness. This means, out of the seven plus or minus two chunks of information we can consciously give attention to at any given time, at least three to four are available for attending to the recorded event. And if the recorded event itself has happened when the brain-mind was in a similar state, the retrieved record is approximately the same as before. That's why we get the impression that the memory is the same, that is, unchanged. In this case, the previous recorded event gets best-matched to the present retrieved negligibly reconfigured event and gives the impression of being invariant in time. This is the justification for naming the record as memory, something that is static and changeless. Thereby, memory remains as limiting as a passive, static state, something that we can do nothing about but bear with, rather than an active, dynamic process that can be exercised with choice, as it should be.
2. Inhibited Self-Organization of Memory:
This is when the brain-mind is in a state of distraction and less than two to three chunks of information can be given attention to. As a result, either the recorded event itself does not come into conscious awareness or if it does, it reconfigures with a very less signal to noise ratio. Especially, if the state of distraction of the brain-mind is high, the retrieved record gets reconfigured with much distortion as in the case of emotionally charged events, traumatic experiences or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And if this gets re-recorded such that it overwrites the earlier, it becomes the new default memory. And as the previous recorded event has been overwritten by the present sufficiently reconfigured event, this becomes the seeding point for future memory retrievals. This is often the major cause for learned helplessness.
3. Stimulated Self-Organization of Memory:
This is when we put the brain-mind into an enhanced mode of attention such that a maximal number of chunks of information can be taken in consciously. One may also make a conscious effort via specialized disciplines like personal development, goal setting or creative visualization, martial arts or yogic disciplines to choose the particular chunks in order to reconfigure the memory along a desired outcome. This is aiding Nature in her nurture causing an increase in ordered complexity. In this case, it becomes possible to overwrite memory and overrule the hold of previous recorded events and escape their clutches leading to a new positive beginning. This also makes it possible to eliminate limiting emotional charges from the previous recorded event keeping only the filtered residue of positive experiential gains or lessons of life. Here, Aldous Huxley's statement is particularly prescient: "Experience is not what happens to us. It is what we do with what happens to us." In other words, what is important is not what happened and was recorded ipso facto but how we consciously deal with it by interpreting it and reconfiguring it during the process of memory retrieval. Thereby, memory becomes our helper. This is an aid to learned optimism as opposed to learned helplessness.
4. Choiceless Self-Organization of Memory:
This is when we put the brain-mind into a mode of complete attention with choiceless awareness in the terminology used by the great Indian seer-philosopher, J Krishnamurti. When the attention is complete, the brain is quiet and the mind silent and the centre or ego completely absent. There is no observer or rather, the observer is the observed. The perception is total such that the experience does not leave any residue and thereby the illusion of psychological time disappears leaving only chronological time to organize events defacto. Memory now has no psychological or emotional charge as there is no becoming and hence no gap between what is and what should be. All conflict is at an end and there is freedom from the known. Here, ordered complexity has reached its maximal level perhaps leading to the emergence of another order altogether, if any.
Leonardo: That was a really revealing explanation of memory retrieval. So, if memory is not invariant at all, what about invariant memories that neuroscience talks about?
Da Vinci: Invariant memories could actually be considered as "condensates" of generic memories. They are, in a sense, infinitesimal generators of representative memories. Invariant representations are also of similar kind. What in common language one calls as ideals are precisely these invariant memories and invariant representations. As the innovator neuroscientist Jeff Hawkins puts it, "Our brain does not remember exactly what it sees, hears, or feels. We don't remember or recall things with complete fidelity—not because the cortex and its neurons are sloppy or error-prone but because the brain remembers the important relationships in the world, independent of the details."
And,
"Memories are stored in a form that captures the essence of relationships, not the details of the moment. When you see, feel, or hear something, the cortex takes the detailed, highly specific input and converts it to an invariant form. It is the invariant form that is stored in memory, and it is the invariant form of each new input pattern that it gets compared to. Memory storage, memory recall, and memory recognition occur at the level of invariant forms. There is no equivalent concept in computers."
Leonardo: How does this radical understanding of human memory impact learning, Da Vinci?
Da Vinci: Leonardo, in recall as in computer memory, the stored chunks are brought into play as they are. I mean, the mutual configurations remain almost intact. In re-membering, the stored chunks are reconfigured every time the re-membering happens, in a unique manner each time. So during this reconfiguration, new, apparently imperceptible changes take place. And this is learning as opposed to mere memory retrieval. And when the imperceptible changes accumulate sufficiently, a noticeable change can also take place and this brings fresh perspectives into the learning.
Leonardo: And when the imperceptible changes accumulate to such an extent that a dramatic change can be perceived, it become research rather than mere learning, isn't it?
Da Vinci: Of course, Leonardo and that's a good way to characterise research from learning, the emergence of fresh and original insights.
Leonardo: Isn't that also the reason why putting together existing things in a completely novel manner is also said to be an act of creativity.
Da Vinci: Yes, Leonardo. Because whether this happens unconsciously in the brain or undertaken consciously, the outcome is something original and impactful.
Leonardo: So since rote learning is more like recall rather than re-membering, and hence against the very nature of human memory retrieval, it does not result in learning at all, there is neither originality nor creativity involved in it. It is rather, a sheer waste of time and effort both for the students and for the teacher.
Da Vinci: That's so, Leonardo. And since it is against the very spirit of human memory retrieval as you rightly pointed out, there is no increase in ordered complexity. Rather, there is a breakdown of order resulting in the mass of students settling down to lead lives of quiet desperation.
Leonardo: As this act of human memory retrieval being re-membering rather than recalling, it seems to have profound consequences if only one has an insight into this process! It would be great to revisit this in course of our dialogues.
Da Vinci: Of course, Leonardo, we will do so soon, especially in the context of the formation of neural associations and Hebbian learning.
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