Discovery #2 Where was my memory when I needed to say that!
The analogy of the brain as a computer has been done to death. The brain as a genius statistical machine keeps popping up the more we learn how the brain works. But computers are not conscious and self-aware, not matter how good they are at remembering and computing data. So while it is not wrong to talk about the brain in terms of being a computer, it is also not completely correct. We are "same, same, but different" to our technological creation. My recent experiences learning Slovak have shed light on how.
One of the greatest functions of a computer, and central to its entire existence and design, is its memory and ability to store data. This comes in different forms. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_memory) talks about primary and secondary memory. Primary memory are things like RAM (Random Access Memory) which allows random bits of data to be retrieved, used, activated. Secondary memory, on the other hand, is about activating sequential forms of data, like programs. Primary is fast but volatile (i.e. it can be lost pretty easily, like when you turn off your computer) and secondary is slow but secure. This is not so different to your brain. It too has different types of memory. The most commonly known elements are short-term and long-term memory. Short-term (or more recently called working memory) is a bit like RAM. Memories or data can be retrieved quickly and used for whatever task is required, but you quickly forget these things once you don't need them. Long-term memory tends to be slower to recall but is longer lasting. Interestingly, there are some studies that show sequencing events leads to better long-term memory, and think about complex things you do, like cooking, where you can remember how to do things as a sequence more easily than if the order was changed. So in these respects, you can see that our brains are a little bit similar to computers, although obviously not completely. Forgetful people like myself wish they had a more reliable memory like a computer!
Consciousness is definitely how we differ from computers, even though there is a parallel to computers that can still be drawn: software. When you need to remember something, normally some sort of stimulus helps, like when you've lost your keys, you try to remember the last place you saw them. Google helps us search the Internet in a similar way, trying to finish our words for us, or remembering websites we already went to. Ok, so the parallel is pretty flimsy, but there is a certain underlying similarity, I think. But we definitely remember differently to computers in the same way that we differ from them in general: emotions. Good memories are easy to remember, bad memories too. Uneventful or 'normal' events barely register - I couldn't tell you what I had for breakfast last Monday, although I could guess based on normal behaviour. Computers don't distinguish between these things, so they just remember everything. That's why they need warehouses full of databanks to remember so much stuff, most of which is useless, really. Our brains are much more efficient at this. Even though some would say I have a big head, it sure as hell ain't no warehouse!
But how does this relate to language learning? Well, let me explain. Attention & noticing. These two things are inherently based upon remembering stuff. If you don't pay attention to something, you're not going to remember it meaningfully, and if you can't remember it, you're not going to notice it later on. And remembering is a big part of any kind of learning, but especially language learning. Let me give an example of this. Everyday, I try to read and listen to some of my Slovak lessons (one beginner textbook and another one based on the most frequent words in Slovak). I try to repeat listening and reading to the same stuff to help me remember them, but there is no way that I can remember all of it. Each day, though, something different springs out at me - maybe a new form of a word, or recognising a pattern of words as a phrase where before they were just individual words, etc. That stuff gets stuck in my RAM, bouncing around in my head. If I'm lucky, later on in the day something will activate this data and BAM!, I notice it in a way that makes perfect sense. It just slots right into my developing knowledge, understanding, and ability in Slovak and it feels like I have remembered and learnt something.
The other morning, I read the word "časopis", which means magazine. I had read this word before and tried to remember it, but it would never stick. That afternoon, I was leaving the house to visit my wife in hospital (pregnant, not sick...thanks for asksing!) and there were some magazines next to the door. I remembered that the Slovak word for magazine had been something that had caught my attention that morning, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember it at all. I walked out the door with a sense of frustration, "Damn my feeble memory!". Then, my mother in law came out yelling at me. Words in Slovak are still a blur for me as a sentence, but I do still hear individual words I know. And what do you know, out comes the words "...časopis pre Mišku". Like a flash of lightning, I realised that she was saying "...magazines for Mishka (my wife)" and that's how I learnt the word "časopis".
The story is pretty boring and uneventful, but it does clearly show the interaction of attention & noticing and how they interact with working memory and long term memory. I also think that it shows that in essential functions, these types of memory are similar to that of a computer, but the experiences and contexts of how they are used, the way in which people learn, shows that computer-based memory and human memory are fundamentally different. Still, in the back of my mind I can't help but think how wonderful it would be to download a dictionary of another language and have it there for retrieval whenever I wanted it, or needed it to say "Thanks, that's Ok, but Mishka is gonna come home for the afternoon so she can pick them up herself soon." Where was my memory when I needed to say that!
