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September 23, 2008 5 Comments

What's in Your Memory Bank?

On a camping trip this year, I asked my brother if he’s memorized anything, and he was able to recite “Jabberwocky” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” no problem. He recites something to the kids every night.My parents can recall and recite all kinds of poems all the way through.James Freeman wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal back in August that caught my eye. His son had been spouting sports trivia, and Freeman wondered if the obsession was positive, negative, or neutral. So he quizzed some experts. One neurobiologist encouraged it. “The more mental gymnastics you do, the more agile and the quicker your brain becomes.”Howard Gardner was less enthusiastic. “I frankly doubt that memorization of trivia in youth is a significant contributor to easier memorization of materials as you get older,” Gardner said. “The kind of memory needed with age is not of isolated facts but of organized structures of meaning.”A neuroscientist suggested that trivia required reading, and any reading “gets a lot more circuits involved” in the brain than simply watching television.Mr. E.D. Hirsch suggested (with a nod to Keats) that “every thing is worth what it will fetch, so probably every mental pursuit takes its reality and worth from the ardour of the pursuer.” Then Hirsch added, regarding the trivia focus, “it means you like to do something intensely, and you’re more likely to be successful in life” when you do.Well, in response to that story, someone wrote a letter to the editor dated, I think, August 13, 2008. I couldn’t find it online, so I tapped it out here.”Memorizing Sports Facts can Prepare a Brain for Life”

On reading James Freeman’s “Raising Bob Costas: Is Memorizing Sports Trivia Good for the Brain?” (de gustibus, Aug. 8), I was reminded of the late Linus Pauling’s thoughts on the role of memory in creativity. He believed strongly that memory of isolated facts lay at the core of intellect and creativity.Dr. Pauling taught first-year chemistry at Cal Tech for many years. All of his exams were closed book, and the students complained bitterly. Why should they have to memorize Boltzmann’s constant when they could easily look it up when they needed it? I paraphrase Mr. Pauling’s response: I was always amazed at the lack of insight this showed. It’s what you have in your memory bank–what you can recall instantly–that’s important. If you have to look it up, it’s worthless for creative thinking.He proceeded to give an example. In the mid-1930s, he was riding a train from London to Oxford. To pass the time, he came across an article in the journal, Nature, arguing that proteins were amorphous globs whose 3D structure could never be deduced. He instantly saw the fallacy in the argument–because of one isolated stray fact in his memory bank–the key chemical bond in the protein backbone did not freely rotate, as was argued. Linus knew from his college days that the peptide bond has to be rigid and coplanar.He began doodling, and by the time he reached Oxford, he had discovered the alpha helix. A year later, his discovery was published in Nature. In 1954, Linus won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for it. The discovery lies at the core of many of the great advances in medicine and pharmacology that have occurred since.Mr. Freeman, encourage your kid’s appetite for memorizing, whatever form it takes. I’m with Linus–that skill is a gift that lies at the core of intelligence and creativity. (Samuel E. George, M.D., Santa Clara, Calif.)

I love that story. Facts were on hand to feed Dr. Pauling’s creativity because he’d taken the time to memorize.That seems to suggest the impact of memorization on learning, education, and creativity.But how about a Christian taking time to store Scripture in the long-term memory bank?A friend of mine from church told me her family has been working on memorizing the entire book of James. The Belgian Wonder’s late grandmother had also memorized James and was working on 1 Peter the last time we visited her. A man in Belgium memorized the entire gospel of Mark.A few weeks ago, our pastor said he noticed that there is an age–approximately his–that represents a breaking point: People older than him can almost always recite Psalm 23 by heart; younger than that, and it’s rare if they can.What about you? Have you made memory work a priority in your (and your family’s) life?How important do you think it is to prioritize memorization?And, if you feel like sharing, what have you stuffed in your memory bank? What’s in you?Note: Ann V. has written on this subject of memorization here. Anyone else? Drop linkage in the comments!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: memorization, memory, memory work

Comments

  1. Linda says

    September 24, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    One summer my husband and I were separated. We memorized Psalm 145 together, separately. That was many years ago and it still comes to more easily when I need to hear its meaning than any other I have tried to memorize, and often we challenge each other to see how much we remember together. It is a cool thing to share.

    Reply
  2. Denise says

    September 25, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    Memorizing scripture is vital, in my opinion. It’s part of our armor (Eph. 6). We also sing and memorize traditional hymns, full of truth, which strengthen, bring comfort, or give praise in the same way that scripture does.

    So much of what we remember/memorize is done unintentionally. My brain is FULL of movies and song lyrics and gossip mag trivia from forever ago – oh, those totally wasted teenage years!! – and all it takes is a few notes and already I’m singing it in my head or remembering who was married to who and what movie they were in and . . . .

    What are things that I have memorized and use all the time? Multiplication tables, for one. There are many recipes I have memorized, sewing pattern instructions, directions, phone numbers, English grammar rules, dates — — I’m sure there’s more but right now I’m thinking about the laundry that needs doing. 😉

    But I do want to add that like Mary, mother of Jesus, there are times when I just sit and listen and watch my children and store it all up in my heart and in my memories so that when I am older and they are grown with lives of their own I will remember these times.

    Reply
  3. Melissa says

    September 25, 2008 at 8:07 pm

    I believe that scripture memorization is absolutely essential to the christian walk. It is the avenue for meditation and many of those “words” from the Lord at the exact time we need it. As I have memorized larger portions of scripture, I have found that I “own” them and years later, though I may not be able to quote them exactly, I remember quite well the flow of chapters and special things God has taught me through them.

    Reply
  4. Kristin says

    September 27, 2008 at 11:12 am

    I have memorized my drivers license number & I know how to write to “Zoom”

    write zoom z double o m box 350 boston mass 02134 send it to zoom yah! (It helps of course if you know the tune lol)

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Memory Aids to Help Hide It in Your Heart « Ann Kroeker says:
    September 25, 2008 at 10:44 pm

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