Human Memory, Thinking, and Intelligence
Milton Duarte
AIU Online Abstract Memory is one of the most important functions in the human brain it is essential to the well being of a person or any creature. The brain can perform many functions but these functions are made with the purpose to serve for good.
Human Memory, Thinking, and Intelligence
Anyone can start out by explaining basic functions of the human brain, what it can do and how it can perform. Two of the basic processes for learning, are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Also some more information human brain is that it is equipped with the ability to solve problems, make decisions, and use a sophisticated language. This also comes to mind when talking about intelligence: “Only human beings are capable of creating methods to measure the intellectual achievements” (Career Education, 2010)
Memory is a system or process by which the products or results of learning are stored for future. It is also the most important thing a human can do to be well experienced and know about anything. There are 2 types of learning, which are classical conditioning and operant conditioning; in classical conditioning you are trying to increase the probability of a response to some neutral stimulus by pairing that stimulus with a following stimulus that already produces the response (University of West Florida, 2009). For example classical conditioning involves learning new behavior via the process of association (Saul McLeod, 2008). Meaning that is a teenager was to hangout with people that are intellectual he will learn to behave the same way they do or the opposite if he was to hang out around with someone that is a thief he will learn to be a thief. It is a simple yet a rectifying way of putting it. Operant Condition in the other hand is the form of learning in which responses that are usually voluntary and thus emitted come to be controlled by their consequences (University of West Florida, 2009). It is also called Skinnerian condition after B.F. Skinner, who worked out its fundamental principles. These uniquely human aspects are essential for learning and memory of a human being. For example if a person was to commit any kind of violation when driving he or her will be issued a ticket and will learn from that experience that making a violation is prohibited by law and that it will be punished for it. Making it apparent that he will learn from his mistake while experiencing negative consequences.
The first man to have defined these types of learning is Hermann Ebbinghaus and his work often stated about the phenomenon of memory and techniques for improving your memory and physiological basis of learning and memory. His work also describes how the human brain is capable of solving problems, making decisions, and using sophisticated language (Career Education, 2010). For example solving everyday problems, making decisions in life, and using language in a scholarly fashion instead of using slang. One of the most important parts of the human brain is the Hippocampus. This part of the human brain is really important to make short-term memory into long-term memory it is a medium between them. The process involves putting some input into the brain and storing it in the short-term memory then transferring it into the hippocampus which then transfers it to the long-term memory which stores it in a more secure place for later use. There have been ways to measure the intellectual potential of a human and they are found out by tests.
Tests to determine how smart is a human being are already invented and they are called IQ tests or in other words Intelligence quotient. The IQ of a human being is measured to get and evaluation quotient of how much knowledge an individual has. Although sometimes they might not be accurate in order to be reliable, an Intelligence test has to have three things and those are “Reliability, Validity, and Standardization” (Career Education, 2010). Reliability, Validity, standardization; these three things are what make a test believable and legit. These tests of intelligence are used to identify exceptional children, which always include “metal retardation, learning disabilities, and the gifted” (Career Education, 2010). Children with mental retardation often include the inability to learn at the same rate as a normal student would or with the same level of competence as a student with no disability. Children who have a higher level of learning are labeled gifted, these children have a much faster rate of learning things than normal or regular children and that’s why they have earned the sacrilegious name of the Gifted. If a human mind is well trained it and it is put to the test constantly it will develop over time and it will gather information at a well-experienced level. Higher IQ’s means more smart people, more smart people better future, and a better future can improve the generations to come. References
Memory, Thinking, and Intelligence. (2010) In course materials. Retrieved March 8.2013, from A.I.U.
Classical vs Operant. (2009). In University of West Florida Website. Retrieved March 8, 2013 http://uwf.edu/jgould/classicalvsoperant.pdf Classical Conditioning (2008) In Simply Psychology. Retrieved March 8, 2013
http://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html