I conducted a series of drawing tests based on information about constructed memory and false memory. I wanted to see how drawing from memory differed from drawing from sight, and constructed a three stage test with controls(time restrictions) to explore this.
Phase 1: 2 minute Memory Drawing
Stage 1: 1 minute observation of an object
Stage 2: 2 minute drawing from memory
Phase 2-2 minute observational drawing
Phase 3: 5 minute observational drawing
I observed that there was a lot of 'guesswork' with familiar objects i.e.with water bottles and scissors but when an object was unfamiliar there was much more attention to detail and the drawing were more truthful although there was less actual detail.
Working with an fairly familiar object: SLR camera. Test subject: Female Age: 22
I remembered things the wrong sizes and forgot things like branding.
Schema memory
-We have a pre-existing 'script' for situations and also a 'blueprint of our expectations of' things like objects and environments. We often draw on it to exist within various situations in society. However, our 'schemas' for what we expect can actually affect what we remember to have been there.
i.e. A study that Professor French mentioned which involved students at a lecture hall being later asked what was in the lecture hall. They relied on their 'schema' for what should be in a lecture hall to list what was in it, and often mentioned things what weren't actually there. This could be incorporated into my research. Below is a description of what schema is.
The concept of a 'schema' is fascinating and it is incredible that we do indeed have scripts for every aspect of our lives. This perhaps is why people can be thrown by things that are unlike those that they've seen before, or if something isn't quite right or up-to their expectations.
Christopher French is a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths who agreed to a 30 minute meeting to discuss the field of memory, his interests as well as the subject of memory in relation to my dissertation. Professor French also provided some valuable research papers that will aid in my process.
I was able to record the interview and some fascinating areas of interest for example the effect of perception on memory, how schema memory theory works, false memories and general anomalistic psychology.
I am very interested in the deterioration of memory and the creation of false memories and what influences this. A simple test was conducted in the interview-he asked me to describe what the number four looked like on a clock face with roman numerals. I responded with 'IV', and he explained that it was incorrect, and explained that this was an example of my 'expected memory' overriding the truth. On clock faces the number four is always IIII and despite walking past a roman numeral clock on a daily basis, I recalled logical information which overrode it. In normal notation, the number four is usually 'IV'.
Professor French later explained the fallibility of eyewitness reports and explained how a group mentality can affect individuals recollection of events. Suggestive techniques can also change a persons memory of events for example by asking leading questions, which, especially when a person is slightly unsure can affect their memory of events. Doctored photos can also have the same effect. Responses to media stimulus can affect memories and help construct false ones. I am extremely interested on how information can be skewed, misrepresented or created completely.
I was also sent four papers to read.An audio clip has been included and a transcript will be following it soon.
I’ll talk a bit about memory generally and then anomalous experiences.
The history of research into memory-it’s gone through various different phases. In the past the theory was talking about different types of storage: long term and short term and the processes that got from one to the other.
Everyday memory: Gillian Cohen-the psychology of everyday memory. She talks about scheme theory: the idea is that generally when you are interacting with the world around you, you make a lot of use of your knowledge and your expectations about the way that the world is.
For example if you walk into a restaurant you have a script for that: meet the host, sit down, read the menu etc. If you did something like that and then someone asked you week later to remember the experience various aspects of that, because memory doesn’t work like a video camera and it is a constructive process; when anyone asks you to recall you are building up this memory on the basis of certain bits of information that you remember more or less accurately. There are some gaps, and occasionally you say that you don’t remember, but sometimes we fill in those gaps based on what weexpectedto happen. Sometimes that will be accurate but sometimes it won’t be and we’re not even aware that we filled in those gaps.
Example: when we try and remember something we often report the thing we must have seen rather than what we did see: this relates to memory for objects. We know that if you show people video clips or have even staged crimes in front of them, then ask them, they get details wrong: eyewitness reports are notoriously unreliable. Even memory for very simple everyday stimuli: we can still get things wrong.
On clocks and watches with roman numerals on how is the number ‘four’ represented?I would say ‘IV’ and this was wrong. I got this wrong because this is how it is notated everywhere but on clocks and watches; they have an unusual way of representing it. The next example is asking people do draw a clock from memory: if they copy it they draw it right, but if they draw it from memory they write what they think they must have seen instead of what they did see. It’s a very simple experiment but it generalises beyond that; in lots of situations.
It relates to perception as well as memory; you perceive ambiguous stimuli in line to your beliefs and expectations, as you remember things that have happened to you hence ‘memory distortion’
Cohen talks about schema theory; the organisation your knowledge about the world into these schema i.e. scripts about what happens in certain situations or schemas for objects i.e. what a dog is. It accounts for an awful lot of memory distortions.
Example: People invited to a psychology experiment: sat in a waiting room of a postgraduates office before they came in. They were then asked about what they remembered about the room. They remembered things that weren’t actually there based on their schema for what should have been in the room, and missed things that they did not expect to see.
Another aspect is that you may not remember things because you didn’t really take it in at the time:
A classic example of selective attention; something is missed because focus is on something else. The original study between Simons and Chabris showed that around 44 percent of people don’t see the gorilla. It goes against your intuition. Another reason that you may not remember something is because you didn’t process or see it at the time. You wouldn’t expect to see a gorilla. Even if the test was made with very obvious stimuli and people still ignore it.
Generally memory is ‘top down processing’; one is the senses, and sometimes that’s ambiguous or not clear and to make sense of it we use our ‘top down processing i.e. ‘beliefs, expectation, general knowledge’ the two interact and it’s a mental model about your place in the world and you can be influenced by your beliefs. You might think you’ve seen something but in actual fact it’s not quite what you say.
False memories:
The research in false memories took off in the 80s particularly in America and all over the world people were going into therapy with fairly common psychological problems i.e. anxiety or depression, but came out believing that they’d been the victims of childhood sexual abuse. And when this came out it was tearing families apart and people were going to prison. The question was whether these recovered memories were actual real or not. This started a lot of experimental research. There are lots of techniques available to see how easy it is to implant false memories and it turns out to be much easier than we would’ve thought. In about 25% typically you can implant some kind of false memory. It’s a bit scary.
Method: Interview someone. ‘Im going to ask you about various events that happened when you were a child’. There were some things that you remembered and some things they couldn’t, but they’d come back a few days later with better memories of the events. Then the test coordinator would invent a memory and ask them to remember it i.e. being lost in a supermarket. Lots of people after going away for a few days and coming back did completely believe that they had experienced this, and even gave details about it i.e. ‘a nice old lady found me and made an announcement’. At this point they test subjects were told that one memory was false, and they could no longer differentiate between the memories that were real and the one that was fake. Again quite scary.
Memory is very malleable and can not only distort things that you did witness, but also making up memories of things that never happened at all.
Paranormal experiences: how reliable are these?
Looking at these same of factors in anomalistic context.
Example: Memory conformity. If you have multiple witnesses and they tell the same story its likely to be treated as having more weight than a single report. However when people witness something i.e. a crime or UFO they discuss it with each-other and another person’s account can influence another person’s memory.
Examples: Video of staged crimes watched by pairs of people, but something is different in each person’s video. They think that they are watching the same video but there are subtle differences. They are the instructed to discuss and come up with an accurate account. In my version I can see that the woman takes some money, but in your version you cant. You find that the people who didn’t see the money being taken actually report that they do which has a massive effect on crime cases.
Emma Greening: Showed a video of an alleged psychic doing some metal bending. After he’s done bending the key, he says ‘if you look closely you’ll see it’s still bending’, and around 40% of people report that they saw it bending. However it wasn’t still bending. If you see the exact same video without the bending suggestions, 0% of people say that they saw it bending.
We borrowed the same tape from Richard and added a memory conformity element. The people were watching in pairs, but one was a stooge instructed to after the video say that it either was bending (Agree) or wasn’t bending (disagree). If the stooge agreed then the amount of reports that people saw it bending went up to 60%.
Things that happen at the time and after the event can influence your memory for the event. ‘Post event information’: someone witness something and then a investigator subtly implies something about what they’ve witness.
Example: Elizabeth Loftess’s work: show people a video of a car accident with a car at a junction and asked some questions about it afterwards. She then said ‘When the red car was stopped at the stop sign… etc….’ or ‘When the red car was stopped at the give way sign… etc….’, this subtle misinformation influenced people recollection of the events. When questioned again a week later you are likely to insert this information.
False memories or anomalous experiences.
What psychological factors correlate to susceptibility to false memories i.e. dissosiativity (mildly altered states of consciousness i.e. away with the fairies) and absorption (people who when reading a book or watching a film completely block out everything around them). Hypnotic susceptibility, Fantasy prone intercorrelate with susceptibility to false memory and paranormal belief and reports of paranormal activity. Looking at this more directly:
Study: ‘Where were you when you first saw the footage of the twin towers collapsing’, you’d probably be able to tell me and be quite confident. Even these fashionable memories are not as reliable as once thought.
Study: Challenger disaster. Questionnaires were given out to student a few days later to ask them about where they were/what they were doing when they first heard the news. A few years later they were contacted again, and what was found was they often didn’t match up despite the students being very sure about their memories. They even said that the information they had previously was wrong and that this new information was right. The confidence in the memory has to reflection on the accuracy of the information, and we often have more faith in a confident person i.e. in courtroom situation than a non-confident person but they are not necessarily more reliable.
In our study we gave people questionnaires about their memory for news footage i.e. where were you etc. We created an imaginary newsworthy event that hadn’t been filmed and 36% of people were happy to tell about what they were doing when they saw this non-existent footage and whether it was in black and white. These people who said they did remember scored higher for belief in paranormal experience.
There are lots of different ways of thinking about memory, and models of memory.
More: Eyewitness testimony and lots of issues do arrive.
Probably the first psychological study of the reliability of eyewitness memory was work from the Victorian era by Davey of the accuracy of reports on séances. He conducted his own séances based on techniques that charlatans used and reproduced those effects in front of gullible people. They wrote down exactly what happened and misremembered thing in a way that they were unexplainable physically. They remembered things that were never even witnessed in the first place that would be in-explainable.
This brief has been edited to incorporate the emerging concept of memory and objects. Initial understanding of memory has been developed through academic research (Memory in the real world, cognitive psychology). Insight into current developments into interventions and the incorporation of new technologies has been incoporated as have references to academic text.
Memory: Hiding In Plain Sight
Project Deadline: 17 December
Context:
This project is an exploration of the unnoticed and the overlooked within the process of human interaction with objects. Human memory is a complex system, with massive loss occurring on a daily basis. Some of this information may form an invaluable insight into things such as personal understanding and development, but it is lost. Sharing and communicating this information with the individual themselves or others forms a critical part of this brief.
Designers are often devising ways to ‘notice the unnoticed’ through techniques such as data mining via the quantified self to see how interventions can be created to enrich understanding of both their own and other people’s lives. This project challenges me to gain a solid academic understanding of how human memory works which is related to every aspect of design; from the design of new interfaces for maximum acceptance to the development of timesaving tools. This project will require the development of existing research techniques and the incorporation of existing psychology techniques into the investigation.
Developing technological understanding to cope with potential informational streams is massively important during the course of this project, as is an appreciation for how to analyse and represent these effectively. Time should be allocated to understand and develop skills within related technologies that emerge throughout the course of the research process, even for experimentation purposes.
Insight:
Memory is a critical process which guides people through their lives, and it is important in determining how individuals interact with the world and each-other. Of particular interest within this project is the way in which we retain information through contact with objects and conversely an examination of what and why we lose information. There are a group of designers who explore the concept of ‘the quantified self’ who form design interventions based on data collected about themselves and others. Vast arrays of successful interventions have been developed through this process. Attention or analysis is often drawn to information that is overlooked, forgotten or ignored, but the ‘why’ has not been examined within a design context. Designers who engage with the concept of the ‘quantified self’ collect and collate data streams for various purposes. What is special about the concept is that even non-designers can get involved i.e. ‘Curetogether’ which is a quantification of the effectiveness of various medical treatments. ‘Pachube’ is one example of mass data collection where anyone can contribute to or use the API to form their own software and often hardware.
The first part of this project is to gain a deep academic understanding of cognitive psychology theory, in particular that of memory. The next stage is to investigate different ways that individuals lose information, what this information is, how it affects them and how it could affect them if it wasn’t lost. It is also of interest to investigate how and what information is saved and what they use it for. Memory that the individual might not notice is being received/retained/accessed (subliminal) through objects is also of interest. What is and could be learnt from the memory hidden in objects, and how it can be extracted and used? The final stage is to be determine a mediating lens within memory in relation to objects, develop a community (whether this is existant or currently non-existent) and starting to work towards an intervention.
Everyone will be regarded as potential test subjects; whether they are aware or unaware participators. An example of this could be the introduction of an object into a space to test the acceptance of it. Creating parallels between subjects, observing parallels and commonalities is extremely important. Perception and recognition also plays a part and will be investigated through the course of the research.
Objectives:
Understand memory in relation to objects then break it down into critical areas of interest. To then research, design and test an intervention. A part of this is to also develop research techniques, analytical skills and technical skills. Researching and implementing techniques from academics i.e. ‘verbal protocols’-Gillian Cohen ‘Memory in the real world’ or ‘self reports’. Appreciation of criticism for various techniques i.e. that verbal protocol can potentially slow/change processes and the validity of them is extremely important. This project will examine user’s engagement with objects and spaces around them and to how they interact with their environment. A community or spatial area will be identified in the course of this project, once parallels between individuals have been established. Understanding the importance of the individual is just as important as understanding the community as a whole, and respecting their differences. A wide range of different people will be engaged with during the course of this project.
Reading:
Cognitive Psychology: Christopher C. French & Andres M. Colman. Chapter 1: Memory
Memory in the Real World: Gillian Cohen.
Cognitive Psychology; Mind and Brain: E. Smith & S. Kosslyn
Interface Fantasy-A Lacanian Cyborg Ontology: Andre Nusselder
Cognition and reality: Principles and implications of cognitive psychology.
Further Reading:
A cognitive psychology of mass communication - RJC Harris
Today an investigation into objects and memory was conducted via an on-site trip to the V&A and Natural History Museum. A museum is a place which in a way stores physical representations of memories, which is why museum were chosen as site of interest.
The field of objects within memory has emerged within memory and interests me, but i wanted to take a step away from in and do some more general reading to understand memory. Memory, however, is such a broad subject that a focus at this stage may help to develop the thought and design process.
I am currently reading cognitive psychology and memory in the real world, and it has created some invaluable insights.
Memory and the Real World
'Einstein and McDaniel (1990) have distinguished between two kinds of prospective memory on the basis of cues that trigger retrieval. Time-prospective memory requires performance either at a specific time or after some period of time has elapsed. In event-based retrospective memory this action is cued by an object, person or event (e.g. putting on your coat reminds you to take it to the cleaners).
Insight: Not only can objects hold memory in their own right, but they can also be reference points to other memories.
Our perception and understanding of objects relies heavily on past knowledge of similar items, any expertise in related history as well as what we can deduce from its physical properties and circumstantial evidence. When presented with this exhibit from the natural history museum, i used my retrospective memory to work out if I'd seen anything previously that was similar, and to see if i knew anything about the period that was relevant. It turned out that they were utensils from a dressing room, and formed part of something called 'toilet service'. Knowing this, if i every come across anything similar i will reference this memory in my formulation for new judgements.
Memory in objects:
Physical object memory: foam. Shape memory materials (materials hat 'remember' their original shapes, and return to the shape even after manipulation.
The examples below are from the v&a (11/11/2011)
1. Casting of a sculpture
2. This was sculpted from foam, but is slightly different in that it has had other materials applied over the top to keep it in it specific shape.
These two objects got me thinking about the memory that objects hold about whatever created them.
Objects that hold memories about whatever created them:
Bullets: Ballistic fingerprinting.
Scientists are able to match bullet casings (in theory) to the exact gun that fired them due to tiny discrepancies between every gun ever made.
Deduction and 'cold' reading is also of interest. Sherlock Holmes the fictional character was able to deduce huge amounts of information about a person from piecing together clues from their attire.
The natural history museum was filled with examples of object memory, and attempted to create positive associations that children would remember through interactive exhibitions.
Students also utilised their natural deductive ability to make judgements about the brand new objects that they were coming into contact with. There was a sensor controlled shaking earthquake simulator that would not go off without having enough people in it (or until the old users of the space left to make room for new ones). The children immediately deduced that they needed more people to get this fascinating new object to work!
Areas of interest:
Muscle memory - the ability to use complicated objects despite a time gulf.
The bag test: What can be learnt about people from their belongings. What assumptions to people make about others from their possessions.
Thanks to feedback, the brief has been reworked. The concept of memory has been detached from objects at the moment, but this will be further explored through two museum visits and through reading academic texts. This is part of my plan to explore the field of memory and its relevance within advances in design.
The Brief
Memory: Hiding In Plain Sight
Project Deadline: 17 December
Context:
This project is an exploration of the unnoticed and the overlooked within personal memories. Human memory is a complex system, with massive loss occurring on a daily basis. Some of this information may form an invaluable insight into things such as personal understanding and development, but it is lost. Sharing and communicating this information with the individual themselves or others forms a critical part of this brief.
Designers are often devising ways to ‘notice the unnoticed’ through techniques such as data mining via the quantified self to see how interventions can be created to enrich understanding of both their own and other people’s lives. This project challenges me to gain a solid academic understanding of how human memory works which is related to every aspect of design; from the design of new interfaces for maximum acceptance to the development of time saving tools. This project will require me to develop and tailor my existing research techniques and incorporate existing psychology techniques into my own investigation.
Developing technological understanding to cope with potential informational streams is massively important during the course of this project, as is an appreciation for how to analyse and represent these effectively. Time should be allocated to understand and develop skills within related technologies that emerge throughout the course of the research process, even for experimentation purposes.
Insight:
Memory is a critical process which guides people through their lives, and it is important in determining how individuals interact with the world and each-other. Of particular interest within this project is the way in which we retain information and conversely an examination of what and why we lose information. There are a group of designers who explore the concept of ‘the quantified self’ who form design interventions based on data collected about themselves and others. Attention or analysis is often drawn to information that is usually overlooked or ignored. Data streams are collected and collated: ‘pachube’ is one example of mass data collection where anyone can contribute to or use the API to form their own software and often hardware.
The first part of this project is to gain a deep academic understanding of cognitive psychology theory, in particular that of memory. The next stage is to investigate different ways that individuals lose information, what this information is, how it affects them and how it could affect them if it wasn’t lost. It is also of interest to investigate how and what information is saved and what they use it for. Memory that the individual might not notice is being received/retained (subliminal) is also of interest. The final stage is to be determine a mediating lens within memory, develop a community (whether this exists or is currently non-existent) and starting to work towards an intervention.
I will need to consider everyone you come into contact with as test subjects; whether they are aware or non-aware participators. An example of this could be the introduction of an object into a space to test the acceptance of it. Creating parallels between subjects, observing parallels and commonalities is extremely important. Perception and recognition also plays a part and will be investigated through the course of the research.
Objectives:
Understanding memory and to break it down in to critical areas of interest. To then research, design and test an intervention. A part of this is to also develop research techniques, analytical skills and technical skills. Part of this project will examine user’s engagement with objects and spaces around them to investigate memory, as this is essentially only possible when individuals interact with their environment. A community or spatial are will be identified in the course of this project, once parallels between individuals have been established. Understanding the importance of the individual is just as important as understanding the community as a whole, and respecting their differences. You will engage with a wide range of different people during the course of this project to thoroughly investigate the subject matter.
Reading:
Cognitive Psychology: Christopher C. French & Andres M. Colman. Chapter 1: Memory
Memory in the Real World: Gillian Cohen.
Cognitive Psychology; Mind and Brain: E. Smith & S. Kosslyn
Interface Fantasy-A Lacanian Cyborg Ontology: Andre Nusselder
Cognition and reality: Principles and implications of cognitive psychology.
Further Reading:
A cognitive psychology of mass communication - RJC Harris
After receiving the brief feedback, the concept of memory will be detached from that of digital or non-digital artefacts. The brief needs to incorporate academic memory theory, recent developments in the technology field related to memory, current and potential interventions.
A rough outline of research steps:
1. understanding how human memory works (academic research) factors/significance
2. investigating these theories (personal research)
once human memory is understood, understanding of 'the overlooked' i.e. things that are not remembered much or at all/things that influence but are not remembered
3. Investigating the overlooked (personal research)
4. Developing an intervention
The working title of my brief is 'Memory: Hiding in plain sight'
Area of interest: overlooked memories. The quantified self: using data from an individual’s/a group of individuals lives
Cognitive Psychology', Edited by C. French and A. Colman.
C. French was the senior lecturer in Psychology at goldsmiths college. Some very interesting concepts have come up.
The memory flow. Adapted from Atkins and Shiffrin, 1971
The 'working' memory concept as described in this book models the way in which we access, store and manipulate information for short periods of time.. There is a concept called the 'Central Executive' which utilises the 'Visio-Spatial Sketchpad' which 'is used for setting up and manipulating visual images' as well a the 'Articulatory Loop' which is a system that holds and utilises inner speech.
To explain the concept of the working memory further, the book gives the example of trying to count how many windows there are in your home (without physically doing it of course). Most people do this by forming a visual image of the house either from the inside or outside, and count how many there are. The visual-spatial sketchpad sets up and manipulates the image whilst the articulatory loop in involved in the process of sub vocal counting i.e. counting in your head and 'saying' them to yourself in your head.
Integrating this into the questionnaire could prove quite interesting. I want to include a question about how the test subjects decided on their most precious items, and also how they decided on their most precious people and how they might compare.
There are a few quantitative questions at the start i.e. age. There is also a question about whether the subject is an only child: to balance this against whether they select a sibling as their choice to save from a burning building. There is also a set of multiple choice questions about how they came to this decision.
Below: Visualisation of the central executive and its relationship between the visual-spatial sketchpad and the articulatory loop. Interesting to see how the articulatory loop is defined as a separate entity to the sketchpad, separated by the central executive.
Below:
Memory: can be Semantic or Episodic (TULVING 1972).
Semantic: The conscious recollection of a personally experienced event i.e. meeting someone a year ago.
Episodic: memory or knowledge of the world i.e. how many inches there are in a foot.
Developing my area of interest/mediating lens: memories are 'lost' temporarily and permanently. How to retrieve them or should we retrieve them at all? Working title. Memory: Hidden in Plain Sight'. To explore further the loss that occurs between episodic and long term memory-what we select, how much influence the conscious decision to remember has on whether we remember things, emotional and historical significance.
Prospective and Autobiographical memory
Prospective: remembering to do things
Autobiographical: capacity to remember events in our own lives
Cross-referencing this with the definition of prospective memory from 'Memory in the Real World'-Gillian Cohen
Prospective memory: Stores intentions and plans. Remember to actually perform the intended actions and keep track of ongoing actions and of the actions we intend to carry out in the future.
Different people have different amounts of ability.
Case study: Older people seem to have a stronger autobiographical memory , but the evidence does not support this observation. Older people tend to 'remisce' more, so they bring forward memories to where they are quickly accessible on a regular basis. Younger people have been observed to think less about the past, are less nostalgic, so have a harder time recovering information from the past.
Case study: Older people are consistently more reliable than the young at remembering to make a phone call to the experimenter at a specific time of day. They live more structured lives, and therefore this may compensate for a possibly poorer memory.
There are various established techniques to conduct memory research. The next post will delve into these further.
A short test questionnaire was designed to examine the types of responses, and to adapt the questionnaire in light of these. The questionnaire was designed to have no lead-in questions. It was tested on two test subjects.
It is entitled 'the burning building test' due to the context that the subjects are introduced to.
A. Which three objects/entities would you remove from a burning building?
B. Why?
C. How often are you in contact with these objects?
D. Which three people would you remove from a burning building? Why?
The first measurable response i got was that both people had more than three family members. The questionnaire was not designed to force people decide between their children or between siblings, so in the next questionnaire it will be made clear that you can group 'siblings' as one answer, or 'parents' or 'children'. However it will be requested that no other groups are put together like this i.e. 'friends' as what will happen is that everyone will say a combination of 'parents', children', 'siblings' or 'friends'. The test is mainly focused on objects as it would make sense that most people would select the same group of important people, but i am interested in seeing if some peoples answers are different.
The second thing i noticed was the tendency to 'group' items together i.e. putting the laptop and phone together. In the real questionnaire it will be asked of test subjects that they only select a single item.
Initial results: Test subject 1
A: University books & notes; Laptop/phone; Clothes & Makeup
B: Important for final year achievements, Important for final year achievements/Communication, 'Important as my appearance is important to me'
C: Every day (all same)
D: Parents, Siblings, Boyfriend
Initial results: Test subject2
A: Passport, Bank Paperwork, Handbag
B: Signifies freedom, Ability to effect freedom, day to day artefact's of life
C: few times a year, Always on hand, daily
D: Child, Child, Two children as one
Note: the test subject did not want or try to choose between children which is completely normal, and the test conditions were changed to allow for this.
NEXT STAGES: Incorporating memory theory research into the questionnaire
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• Encoding: Mainly Semantic (but can be visual and auditory)
This model has strength and weaknesses for example the fact that many believe it to be oversimplified.
Different types of long-term memory have been identified: (memories of events), procedural (knowledge of how to do things) and semantic (general knowledge)
Amended reading list. This has been adapted to further explore my areas of interest around memory. These will be taken out from Goldsmiths university library tomorrow morning (09 Nov) to look over before the presentation on Monday.
Social Cognition, from brain to culture
302.12 FIS Main Seq
Reading to understand social psychology
Memory in the Real World- Gillian Cohen & Martin Conway
153.12
Reading to understand memory further. This was available in ebook form.
Deep learning : how the mind overrides experience / Stellan Ohlsson.
153.13
Understanding the mind and its ability to change, take on new information, learn new skills and change between incompatible beliefs. This relates strongly to memory and how this formulates a mental state at any given point
Cognitive psychology: Mind and Brain
153 SMI
An overview of cognitive psychology which effects the way people think, perceive, remember and learn.
A cognitive psychology of mass communication
RJC Harris 153 SMI
'With this fourth edition of A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication, author Richard Jackson Harris continues his examination of how our experiences with media affect the way we acquire knowledge about the world, and how this knowledge creates consequences for attitudes and behaviour. Presenting theories from psychology and communication along with reviews of the corresponding research, this text covers a wide variety of media and media issues, ranging from the commonly discussed topics--sex, violence, advertising--to less-studied topics, such as values, sports, and entertainment education'
This would be useful in understanding how media interventions are affected by and affect people.
Investigating memory: Brainstorm how i share my memories. Exploring different ways that I record and share memories. Certain aspects are hidden even from oneself: one may not be aware of them because one is not focusing on them. The quantified self could act as a mediating lens if a filter is applied to draw attention to aspects of life which could then be designed for or be a subject on intervention.
Group brainstorm: a way to collect and explore group ideas. All members were able to view previous members input. Conducted with three people.
This topic: Why do we remember some things and not others. What was learnt: themes: trauma, association/isolation, short term vs long influence, importance, respect of a person creating a memory, how much attention is paid.
Question: Why are some memories more important to use than others. What was learnt: Themes: Who the memory is about i.e. family, determined by its relation to other aspects of our lives, does the memory simulate nostalgia i.e. triggers i.e. smell triggers
Which memories are important to you? Put a tick by a point if you agree with one that's already there. This incorporated a quantitative factor which was very useful visually to get a general consensus on key themes. Family formed a central part of all respondents important memories.
1 Nov-group tutorial. Notes on discussion points/individual participation and research.
Natasha-Tested the shadowing IDEO card for her project focus on 'Subliminal Messaging'. Interested in concealment.
Kaf-produced an app using yahoo app builder
Bhavesh-used exflar to create an AR app
The concept of 'the quantified self'
http://quantifiedself.com/ A website for people interested in self-tracking. I signed up.
Essentially a concept centred around the collection of data through a filter, and how this can enrich our understanding of ourselves and others through this. Massively linked to the concept of memory and self-understand/identification. What can be learnt through tapping into memory streams that individuals themselves may be unaware of.
Robert Carlsen
http://robertcarlsen.net/dev/mobile-logger
Robert Carlsen initially created a piece of software that allowed him to track data about bumps/disturbances in the road surface. He wanted to understand his own usage, as well as being able to share and track his own other peoples data. This was turned into a visual illustration that would show where the roughest part of NYC were.
This was then developed into software that was able to track how hard he was pedalling and for how long which allowed him to develop fitness plans.
He then created an iPhone app, called 'MobileLogger' which launched on the app store, which tracks your route. I downloaded the app, and it tracks direction, speed, and your exact location. The user chooses when to start and stop logging. A quick test of this application showed that the user it able to then export the file in .csv format or upload it to the server for community review. Carlesen analysed group data, and identified the potential to create communities around this.
This is a way in which personal and community memory is filtered and shared. What's special about it is that it's data that people aren't aware that they have.
Screenshots of MobileLogger
Homescreen, map visualisation & analysis
The depth of information available is incredible. I did a functionality test on myself on the 9th of november, and started the app on my faily commute. It took information over 1:28 hours, and logged 467 individual data marker. A visualisation of this is below. It mapped this into an excel file which i could view on my computer. There is also the option to share this with the creator-i have attempted to do this but each time the update fails.
More on the Quantified Self
Robin Barooah
http://quantifiedself.com/2011/09/robin-barooah-i-am-broken-or-i-can-learn/
'Robin Barooah gives an insightful talk below on embodied learning. He used a binary self-tracking system, without keeping any of the data, to train his body to know what foods made him feel energized or lethargic. This awareness helped him to lose 45 pounds over the course of several months, but more importantly, it serves as a model of the power of self-tracking to develop intuition and well-being. (Filmed at the inaugural Quantified Self Silicon Valley meetup hosted by Stanford’s Calming Technologies lab.)'
This is a great example of how memory and the techniques to create a quantified self can be accessed via an intervention to solve a problem: weight loss. Robin Barooah collected data about himself after eating and asked himself the question 'am i energised or lethargic'. He did not explicitly analyse the data he collected on paper, but be sub-consciously trained his body and mind to select foods that were beneficial. Simply by asking himself a simple question.
As a spectator pointed out, he engaged in tracking but without quantification. Robin begun to associate the food with the effect of the food by making himself more aware of it. It is a similar 'recognition' effect to the one that i have noticed over the years: if i get a new phone, i start to notice it everywhere and it seems to be everywhere. By bringing something to the forefront of our memory do we instantly become more sensitive/aware of it??
Statistics on yourself-facebook/tweets-location, consumptions, activities.
Creating a sense of community-social bridge
People as interactive objects-we already are interactive objects. Augmenting ourselves-KAF- Embedded oyster card.
Mazlows' hierarchy of human needs-debate.
Is this a set of filters? creating filters for ideation.
Memory has an application within all of these, demonstrating the need to narrow my focus within memory soon.
You need at least 3 theory titles within your brief, published books, as indicative reading references.
I would say firstly that the investigation of digital devices asks for further definition. I agree that they are inseparable from much in life, but you must expand this, I think to include objects as a whole. In your context try and explain the important social and cultural issues, observations and recent developments in the field that you are investigating. Describe what design has previously had to do with your field and what potential there is for interventions by designers now, or in the future. It is good practise to write a title and a subtitle sentence that supplements the core of the ideas you are looking to investigate.
An insight is a theoretical or ideological observation or notion. It should be formed of ideas from outside your own thinking, ideally gleamed from published work- books are best for this- brought up against your own ideas.
Engage with the human, social, cultural and societal issues at stake before you think about something as specific as a digital device. If you are already planning to involve a device you may completely miss an opportunity to actually take a fresh look at 'memory' and it's place in a wider field of experience.
Also try and write more, a brief should be about 1000 words.
To clarify-
Define all your terms. What is 'embodiment' etc. Try not to write as though you might see existing technologies as the only embodiment of your aims. These exist as a tiny part of a whole world of human interactions. People interact and use memory in so many ways and there is a huge insight that you will miss if you do not understand how and why remembering, recognition, groups, 'the remembered' and other key notions in this space operate and
effect behaviour. Danah Boyd writes a lot of good theory on social networks and youth. http://www.danah.org/ Also look at the work of Durrell Bishop- http://www.designinginteractions.com/interviews/DurrellBishop
Explain more clearly how you could create your approach, how it may question an issue through research methods and design experiments that you will then specifically define and how and why these methods are appropriate to your aims.
The presentation should include your results from all the ideation work so far, your brief and an explanation of a time frame map for the different stages of the project.
To do:
Research memory/recognition in more depth: academic journals, books try and explain the important social and cultural issues, observations and recent developments in the field Describe what design has previously had to do with your field and what potential there is for interventions by designers now, or in the future.
Investigate the concept of memory first hand. Detach the concept from digital platforms/devices. Clarify terms within the brief, and rewrite it taking into consideration the research and investigation.
