The Trained Memory: Being the Fourth of a Series of Twelve Volumes on the; Applications of Psychology to the Problems of Personal and; Business EfficiencyHilton, Warren
Science
The Trained Memory: Being the Fourth of a Series of Twelve Volumes on the; Applications of Psychology to the Problems of Personal and; Business Efficiency
Hilton, Warren
Memory; Psychology, Applied
Just as each of our individual sense-organs selects from the multitude
of ether vibrations constantly beating upon the surface of the body only
those waves to the velocity of which it is attuned, so each one of us as
an integral personality selects from the stream of sensory experiences
only those particular objects of attention that are in some way related
to the present or habitual trend of thought.
[Sidenote: _The Man on Broadway_]
Just consider for a moment the countless number and variety of
impressions that assail the eye and ear of the New Yorker who walks down
Broadway in a busy hour of the day. Yet to how few of these does he pay
the slightest attention. He is in the midst of a cataclysm of sound
almost equal to the roar of Niagara and he does not know it.
Observe how many objects are right now in the corner of your mind's eye
as being within the scope of your vision while your entire attention is
apparently absorbed in these lines. You see these other things, and you
can look back and realize that you have seen them, but you were not
aware of them at the time.
Let two individuals of contrary tastes take a day's outing together.
Both may have during the day practically identical sensory images; but
each one will come back with an entirely different tale to tell of the
day's adventures.
[Sidenote: _Waxen Tablets_]
_All sensory impressions, somehow or other, leave their faint impress on
the waxen tablets of the mind. Few are or can be voluntarily recalled._
Just where and how memories are retained is a mystery. There are
theories that represent sensory experiences as actual physiological
"impressions" on the cells of the brain. They are, however, nothing but
theories, and the manner in which the brain, as the organ of the mind,
keeps its record of sensory experiences has never been discovered.
Microscopic anatomy has never reached the point where it could identify
a particular "idea" with any one "cell" or other part of the brain.
[Sidenote: _Not How, but How Much_]
For us, the important question is not _how_, but _how much_; _not the
manner in which, but the extent to which_, sensory impressions are
preserved. Now, all the evidences indicate that _absolutely every
impression received upon the sensorium is indelibly recorded in the
mind's substance_. A few instances will serve to illustrate the
remarkable power of retention of the human mind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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