[HN Gopher] The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain sa...
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The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?
Author : pseudolus
Score : 100 points
Date : 2023-09-04 11:09 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.quantamagazine.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.quantamagazine.org)
| apsec112 wrote:
| That is a very strongly worded headline, given that the paper in
| question collects zero data about biological brains, and is only
| studying the behavior of single-layer artificial neural networks
| in Matlab:
|
| https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01382-9
|
| https://github.com/neuroai/Go-CLS_v2/tree/main
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| That seems really basic given where we are these days. I am
| guessing this is chosen to make it easier to analyze?
| youssefabdelm wrote:
| Edited title could be: "Hypothesis: The usefulness of a..."
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| linear regression :-)
| gcanyon wrote:
| I'm (obviously) not sure if this is related, but I know my brain
| has its own ideas about utility: I can easily recall the names of
| all seven castaways, and many actor's names in general, but I
| have to write down the names of people I worked with for two
| years so I can recall them later.
|
| And I can _feel_ this messed-up sense of utility: even though I
| know in the abstract that real people 's names are far more
| important, my brain experiences _noticeable_ pleasure upon
| recalling pointless minutiae that it just doesn 't for many more
| useful things. Hello, forty digits of pi, good-bye, python co-
| routines -- which I read about two days ago and now realize I
| need to read about again.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Where did you read about python coroutines?
| gcanyon wrote:
| In the massive cheat sheet that was posted a couple months
| ago. Here's the link: https://gto76.github.io/python-
| cheatsheet/
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Thank you for the pertinent reply.
| optimalsolver wrote:
| In your comment, just now.
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| Droll
| coldtea wrote:
| > _my brain experiences noticeable pleasure upon recalling
| pointless minutiae_
|
| Could be adhd "excitement driven" focus/memory...
| V__ wrote:
| I'm in the same boat. I can recall faces and where I saw them
| extremely well, but boy o boy am I able to forget your name
| while you are saying it to me.
|
| It is as if nonesense is more fun for the brain and therefore
| gets remembered better.
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| I have problem with both faces and names of occasionally meet
| people, which sucks. Or often met people who I haven't seen
| for years.
| greggsy wrote:
| I have the same problem occasionally, and I think you'll find
| that you're not alone, and (probably, hopefully) not getting
| early on set dementia.
|
| I have observed that it gets better the more often you call
| people by their name. I.e. practice...
| [deleted]
| mcdonje wrote:
| This seems to be the most concise summary of the finding in the
| article:
|
| >the brain sorts its memories into different categories that are
| stored separately, with the neocortex used for reliable
| generalizations and the hippocampus for exception
|
| Also notable:
|
| >Each time an experience is recalled, there are changes in the
| connection weights of the network, causing memory elements to get
| more averaged out. It raises questions about the circumstances
| under which "eyewitness testimony [could] be protected from bias
| and influence from repeated onslaughts of queries."
|
| Eyewitness testimony has been under fire for a long time. IIRC,
| "flashbulb" memories are perceived to be more well-remembered by
| those who have them because of the associated emotions, but
| they're not actually more reliable.
|
| Something that wasn't mentioned in the article, but which it made
| me wonder about, is conspiracy theories and other magical
| thinking. Could it be a mis-coding of an exception as something
| generalizable? That would point to a need for attempting to train
| people to be more skeptical about new findings.
| 12907835202 wrote:
| I have a daily diary I've kept for 6 years. It's just bullet
| points but everyday I can see what I did 30 days ago and the
| same date every year. I think that's helped reinforce those
| memories.
|
| That strengthening of memories ideas has lead me to think I
| should do the same for everything I learn. Just quick bullet
| points I'm reminded of later.
|
| But I've never done it mostly because it would be too taxing. I
| often fill in what I did 3 days later not on the day and
| remembering what I learnt 3 days ago is even harder than
| remembering what I did.
|
| I've meant to try and build a habit like making a quick note
| everytime I go to the toilet or have a drink but again, haven't
| managed it yet.
| biogene wrote:
| >That would point to a need for attempting to train people to
| be more skeptical about new findings
|
| Ironically, many people who were skeptical of the new mrna
| vaccines were labelled as conspiracy theorists!
| MarioCircuit wrote:
| The article was interesting but it took me 20 seconds to parse
| the title as I thought it was referring to "Memory Guides" as a
| noun. Felt like https://xkcd.com/2793/.
|
| On a more serious note, how might the brain distinguish between
| exceptional vs routine memories? Feel like there would be a lot
| of edge cases, e.g. is a yearly recurring event (like a holiday)
| routine? Is a monthly event routine? Where is the line drawn?
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(page generated 2023-09-04 23:00 UTC)