Live data from Hacker News

The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

quantamagazine.org

11–20 of 22 posts

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#11
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?

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#12
post #2

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,…

Where did you read about python coroutines?

In the massive cheat sheet that was posted a couple months ago. Here’s the link: https://gto76.github.io/python-cheatsheet/

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#13
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you read about python coroutines?

In the massive cheat sheet that was posted a couple months ago. Here’s the link: https://gto76.github.io/python-cheatsheet/

Thank you for the pertinent reply.

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#14
post #7
post #2

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,…

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]

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#15
post #2

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

Could be adhd "excitement driven" focus/memory...

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#16
post #9

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

Edited title could be: "Hypothesis: The usefulness of a..."

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#17
post #9

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

That seems really basic given where we are these days. I am guessing this is chosen to make it easier to analyze?

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#18
post #9

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

Edited title could be: "Hypothesis: The usefulness of a..."

linear regression :-)

Re: The usefulness of a memory guides where the brain saves it?

#19
post #4
post #2

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,…

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.

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.
Post reply on HN