Incan’t for the life of me find out why today is “Memory Day.” Incan’t see anywhere who declared it so, and for what reason. But manynlists note that March 21 is Memory Day…
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n …andnI happen to be very interested in memory…
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nSonI thought I would just take “their” word for it (you know, thatnmysterious “they” we talk about when we don’t know who) andndeclare:
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nTodaynis Memory Day!
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nMemorynis a tricky thing. As much as we like to trust our memories—“Hey,nI was there. I know what I saw; I know what I heard!”—studiesnhave shown that all of us remember things surprisingly poorly. n
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n Eyewitness testimonyn is famously bad. If four people see a crime, for example, theyn almost never agree on exactly what happened or what the variousn people involved look like.
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Sometimes people losen their memoryn and don’t know even who they are. It is very rare for a person ton have total amnesia, and even rarer for the memory loss to last an long time—but it does happen. What fascinates me most aboutn amnesia is that a person who doesn’t remember his own life, hisn parents, where he lives, even his own name still DOES remembern things like how to walk and talk and how to do lots of other things.n A fascinating documentary about a total amnesiac is Unknownn White Male.n Heren are some clips from that movie. There is a bit in that movie whenn the amnesiac sees the ocean for the first time in his memory (butn not actually the first time in his life). It’s so beautiful hen starts crying, and at some point he ducks under a wave, not knowingn if he knows how to swim or not—and it turns out he does know how!n Isn’t that weird—“Do I know how to do this-and-such? Why, yes,n it turns out that I do!”n
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nMostn people think that our memories are better than they are. They thinkn that memory works a lot like a video camera, and that once an eventn finds its way into long-term memory, that memory is set and will notn change. They think that people are bound to notice an unlikely orn unexpected event, and that one’s confidence in a particular memoryn is an indicator of the accuracy of that memory. Many people thinkn that hypnosis can improve memory and can help bolster our confidencen in a memory’s accuracy. If you believe these myths, check out this article.
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Playn“Memory”nor “Concentration.” All you need is a set of cards that has pairsnof like objects. You can select pairs of cards from a regular deck ofnplaying cards, such as two 10s, two Jacks, two Aces, and so forth.nShuffle the cards and lay them out upside down in a grid formation.nEach player takes a turn flipping over two cards so that all can seenthe face. If they are a pair, the player takes the two cards out ofnthe grid without moving any other cards, and continues his or hernturn. If the flipped cards are not a pair, however, they must benturned back face-down again, and it is the next player’s turn.
Playn“Memory”nor “Concentration.” All you need is a set of cards that has pairsnof like objects. You can select pairs of cards from a regular deck ofnplaying cards, such as two 10s, two Jacks, two Aces, and so forth.nShuffle the cards and lay them out upside down in a grid formation.nEach player takes a turn flipping over two cards so that all can seenthe face. If they are a pair, the player takes the two cards out ofnthe grid without moving any other cards, and continues his or hernturn. If the flipped cards are not a pair, however, they must benturned back face-down again, and it is the next player’s turn.n
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nAnothernmemory game is “What’snon the Tray?”nHave someone who won’t be playing arrange 15 or 20 small items on antray or table and then cover the arrangement with a towel. Thenplayers all get to see the uncovered tray (or table) for a minute.nThen the arrangement is re-covered and whisked away while the playersntry to list as many of the items as they can remember.
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nPBSnKids offers more memory games.
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nFornmore on memory, check out this earlier post.nThere is a link to a website that helps kids train their memory!
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nAlsonon this date:
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AbsolutelynIncredible Kid Day
AbsolutelynIncredible Kid Dayn
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nMexican President Benito Juarez’s birthday
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nAnniversarynof the Moondog Coronation Ball
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