I just read a fascinating article called “Brain Gain” in the most recent New Yorker. At first blush, one might not connect the stories of college students (or professional poker-players) taking “neuro-enhancers” like Adderall for a cognitive boost with concerns over memory loss. But raising for bar for “normal” cognition creates greater pressure and worry [...]
Archive for the ‘history of memory’ Category
Cognitive Enhancement in the Age of Dementia
Posted in cultural phenom, disability, history of memory, public education, science of memory, tagged adderall, carl elliott, memory loss, neuro enhancers, peter whitehouse on April 25, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Blocking and Unlocking Memory
Posted in cultural phenom, history of memory, public education, science of memory, tagged memory research, NYT's article on memory on April 6, 2009 | Comments Off
Today’s NYT’s article on the memory research at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn is the stuff of sci-fi-esque movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Looks like they can block some unpleasant memories in mice – like the memory of a particularly disgusting taste (wonder how they simulated that…) – some three months [...]
Ballenger’s Call for Alzheimer’s Activists
Posted in books, cultural phenom, history of memory, public education, tagged activism, alzheimer's, dementia, history, Jesse Ballenger on July 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Jesse Ballenger has a fantastic article in Newsday today, which contextualizes the lived cultural experience of people with Alzheimer’s, and inviting more activism to insist on creating a valued place in culture for people with dementia. Ballenger is the author of the incredibly detailed and rich history of senility in modern America, Self, Senility, and [...]
The problem with pills
Posted in cultural phenom, history of memory, medicine, public education, science of memory, tagged alzheimer's, antipsychotics, dementia, improving care, NYT's science section on June 24, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I would love to read a good history of pharmaceuticals in this country. Just when did we become convinced that it is cheaper to medicate than to provide actual care or change behaviors? How is it that we arrive at the numbers that tell us this is so? And why do we believe them? There’s [...]
It’s not memory loss, it’s…wisdom
Posted in cultural phenom, history of memory, public education, science of memory, tagged aging, memory loss, wisdom on May 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The NYT’s Science Section featured an interesting article today about how memory loss associated with aging might actually be recast as a widening of the attention/focus to better synthesize information rather than focus on details. This, the article tells us, is another way to define wisdom. Might this also be true of other “losses” associated [...]
New book on memory by Sue Halpern
Posted in books, cultural phenom, history of memory, science of memory, tagged books on memory, memory loss, sue halpern, what's normal? on May 19, 2008 | Comments Off
As the population ages, the marker of “normal” in memory loss will continue to shift. There are several books out now that address the worry over memory loss in all its manifestations – from seemingly benign to the significant losses in the dementia experience. The latest entry is coming out this month from Harmony Books, [...]
Can We Erase a Memory?
Posted in history of memory, science of memory, tagged dementia, erase memory, memory loss on January 30, 2008 | Comments Off
As I was strolling through old emails this afternoon, I came across this article that my husband sent to me…and that I forgot about… We tend to think of memory as an etching on our brains, but this article steers us toward a much more fluid, living sense of memory. Food for thought.
a definition of memory from 1235
Posted in history of memory, tagged Boncompagno da Signa, history of memory, Le Goff, memory on November 11, 2007 | Comments Off
“What is memory? Memory is a glorious and admirable gift of nature, by means of which we recall past things, embrace present things, and contemplate future things, thanks to their resemblance with past things.” Boncompagno da Signa, in Rhetorica novissima (in Jacques Le Goff’s History and Memory, 1994)
