Amnesia Essays - Cognitive Science, Memory, Neuropsychology

Amnesia Our brains are constantly at work processing and retrieving information. However, we become frustrated when we cannot readily retrieve information that we have stored in our brains. The inability to remember can occur for a number of reasons that range from simple forgetting to phenomena like Infantile Amnesia. Infantile Amnesia is described as an adult`s inability to remember events before the age of two or three. This phenomena has proven difficult to test because your memory is in a constant state of reconstruction, (Rupp, 1998, p. 171). That is your memories are influenced by past events, and current perceptions about yourself. Therefore, you may remember events only in a way that it is congruent with your current perceptions of yourself, and current relationships. Rupp illustrated this: Grown children who clash with their parents may find memories of childhood plastered over with new impressions the past becomes gloomier and more dismal; recollections of past injustices loom large. (Rupp, 1998, p.172) Hindsight bias is also a factor in both adult and childhood memories. Hindsight bias occurs when our memory of how certain we were about the accuracy of an event is altered. If an event is recounted that is similar to the memory that we have we tend to become more confident remembering events in a much more positive light. If our memory is found to be false, we quickly remember ourselves as being cautiously doubtful about the event in the first place. Therefore, it is clear that our memories are quite susceptible to error. Sigmund Freud, father of the psychoanalytic school of thought had a different interpretation. Freud contended that it was necessary to repress early childhood memories. This necessity stemmed out of the need to repress anxiety-producing sexual and aggressive memories related to a child`s parent or parents. Freud thought that repression of these memories was essential to developing a healthy sex life as an adult. Though Freud`s theories are widely accepted increasingly, contemporary psychologists are veering away from this theory. Memory is defined as the process by which information is encoded, stored and retrieved. This process is central to learning and thinking. There are three types of memory storage systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is the initial storage of information that may last for only an instant. Short-term memory holds information for 15 to 25 seconds. Long-term memory occurs when we store information permanently. Therefore, many of our memories about our childhood are stored there. It is not that newborns are incapable of remembering things but the way that they remember. The brains of newborns are, predisposed to retain certain kinds of information often information related to survival and mastering the environment. (Sroufe, Cooper and Dehart, 1996). In addition, babies are only able to store fewer pieces of information about events and experiences. At this early stage in life, they are unable to organize and store information in a manner that would allow them to retrieve it readily later in life. Piaget believed that, babies memories are sensory motor in nature not true representations. (Sroufe, Cooper and Dehart, 1996). Psychologists have continually tried to find methods to understand the phenomena of infantile amnesia. Studies have been conducted using the birth of a sibling as a reference point for discerning exactly what people can remember from that period. College students and children aged four, six, eight and twelve were asked to recall the birth of a sibling when they were between the ages three and eleven. Researchers asked question like Who took care of you while your mother was in the hospital? Did the baby receive presents? Did you receive presents? Then their mothers were asked the same questions. The study found that children who were under the age of three at the time of the birth remember virtually nothing. The inability to remember events in early childhood is not necessarily a bad thing. Actually, it may be useful particularly for people who have suffered severe trauma during their childhood. It prevents them from reliving these traumatic events, and causing undue anxiety that may impair their adult lives. While I am not in complete agreement with Freud theory on infantile amnesia, I believe that it may serve its own purpose. Bibliography Baddeley, A. (1993). Your Memory, A User`s Guide. United Kingdom: Prion Myers, R. (1994). Exploring Social Psychology. United States of America: McGraw-Hill Rupp, R. (1998). How We Remember and Why We Forget. New York: Three Rivers Press Sroufe, Cooper & Dehart (1996). Child Development: Its Nature and Course. New York: McGraw-Hill

Minimum Wage Essays - Labour Economics, Employment Compensation

Minimum Wage Essays - Labour Economics, Employment Compensation Minimum Wage An increase now will boost income for the poorest workers without the danger of creating more unemployment., states the New York Times in September 1999. Is this statement about an increase in minimum wage really true? There are two sides to the debate about minimum wage that both hold valid points. The minimum wage is a major issue in the world of economics and politics. Political figures often prey on the publics general ignorance of economics and promise to increase the minimum wage. Economists ,on the other hand, view the long term effects and see the damage it can cause. David Card and Alan Kruegur, two economists at Princeton University conducted a study in April 1992 on New Jerseys 18% minimum wage increase while Pennsylvanias minimum wage remained the same. They measured the change in employment in the states fast food restaurants between February and December that year. Card and Kruegur found that the number of jobs grew in restaurants where pay had to rise, compared with those already paying more than minimum was and compared with joints in neighboring Pennsylvania, where the minimum did not change. The study also found no difference between high- and low- wage states. Most people would be delighted to here the above. They would receive more money and their standard of living would increase. But most people do not take into account the negative side effects of increasing the minimum wage. The survey taken by Card and Kruegur was done over the telephone. Fellow economists charge that the questions were vague and errors crept into the numbers. Another study was done using the businesses payrolls found that New Jersey fared far worse than Pennsylvania. Positive effects of the minimum wage can be the obvious; more money for people. They would have more money to spend , the economy would boom and everyone would be happy. Not so; in fact, this would only encourage inflation and increase prices. Money become lesser in value and producers would have no choice but to raise prices in order to make profit. Another negative aspect of raising the minimum wage is unemployment rising. Supply of workers would exceed the demand for workers. Employers would only be able to hire a lesser number of workers. It may also influence teenagers to leave school for a high paying job and make it more difficult for teenagers looking for work to find jobs. Low skilled workers would be left without jobs, seeing as how it only make sense to hire the higher skilled worker verses the lower skilled worker. The minimum wage debate is a touchy issue among many economists and political figures. While there are some positives aspects, the negative far out away the positives.