What Memory is For

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1)      Section 1: Follows cognitive linguistic concepts

 

 

 

2)     Section 2: What memory is for: Proposal: “my proposal is that perceptual systems have ecolbed to facilitate our interaction with a real, three-dimensional world. To do this, the world is conceptualized (in part) as patterns of possible bodily interactions, that is, how we can more our hands and finers, our legs and bodies, our eyes and ears, to deal with the world that presents itself? That is, to a particular person, the meaning of an object, event, or sentence is what that person can do with an object, event, or sentence.”

a.       Resembles p.s.s, most likely motivated it, in that the world is understood based on interaction with it, the previous experiences are called to mind, or exist in the perception of and understanding of objects in the world

b.      It is memory that is doing the work to bring all those relations to mind and provide understanding for the scene at hand.

                                                               i.      It shifts from representing the scene in the environment from bringing about previous experiences, maintains a balance in order not to get bogged down, but does the thing in the environment have to be manipulated in a way prior to the occasion, or does the situation bring about on the fly bodily scripts for the given scene.

                                                             ii.      Proposed solution: Embdied representations arise from the world, the don’t need to be mapped onto it. It reflects how bodies of our sort can interact with the object.

1.       But that implies that we have to call upon some store of information, we don’t automatically know how our body can interact with an object without experiencing and object that resembles that in some way and calling to mind what one did with that object, right?

c.       Categories are created by objects that can be used to accomplish the same interactive goal.

d.      Updated proposal: “memory is embodied by encoding meshed (i.e. integrated by virtue of their analogical shapes) sets of patterns of action. How the patterns combine is constrained by how our bodies work. A meshed set of patterns corresponds to a conceptualization. Updating memory occurs whenever the meshed patterns change ( a change in conceptualization of the environment) and the updating is in terms of a change, or movement, or trajectory toward a new set of meshed patterns. Thus, memory records how conceptualizations blend into one another. This memory works in two broad modes. First, patterns of action based on the environment (projectable properties of the environment) are automatically, that is, without intention, meshed with patterns based on previous experience. This automatic use of memory corresponds closely to implicit or indirect memory.  Second, patterns from the environment can be suppressed so that conceptualization is guided by previous experience encoded as trajectories. This is a conscious and effortful use of memory. The ability to suppress environmental patterns contributes to prediction, the experience of remembering, and language comprehension.”

e.      Here it is stated that the understanding of environmental stimuli based on bodily application is an automatic process that can be suppressed, but is still rooted in previous experience.

f.        Those properties of the environment that provide information in the optical flow of receiving them are referred to as projectable, and those that required use of previous experience are referred to as non-projectable.

g.        Things in the world have both projectable and non-projectable properties. The projectable properties are the visual attributes and how those motivate my interaction with it. A handle size or orientation allows me to visualize grasping the thing in a certain way, projectable properties. However, my previous interaction with objects of this nature, non-projectable properties, how I can interact with a cup, pouring coffee in it and drinking from it.

                                                               i.      Three types of meanings:

1.       Spatial functional menaing

2.       in terms of bodily interactions forms the basis for partonomies and basic level categorization

3.       affordance

                                                             ii.      The meshing of the projectable along with non-projectable properties results in a conceptualization of the entity in question.

1.       “Thus the path becomes the path home and the cup becomes my cup.”

h.      Embodiment and memory:

                                                               i.      The retrieval process of visual imagery appears to be sensitive to how we use our bodies.

1.       Ex: the visual field of up down in front is more quickly retrieved than left right because we use front vision more often.

 

3)      How embodied memories are used:

a.       Path example: trying to decide if a path is indeed a path. Look at the patterns of twigs, rocks, to provide a sptail functional pattern of being a path (projectable properties). Then use non-projectable properties, your desire to get home, to not get wet, and mesh these two properties in order to come up with the conceptualization of whether or not this is indeed a path.

b.      Projectable: automatic, spawing from perceptual patterns, non-reflective. Non-projectable: effortful, higher-order, relating to desires, reflective.

                                                               i.      The meshing of these two dictates how a scene will be comprehended.

                                                             ii.      Resembles my ven-diagram model with a slight alteration of wording.

c.       Patterns from memory, if allowed, will take over the perception. Depending on the amount of overlap between these two spaces, in my old terms, the meanings would take over the scene and the perception would be wholly embodied. Upon altering my wording to fit glenberg’s, the non-projectable properties that tell me the path is mine, will override the environmental attributes and I may put myself in danger by not allocating enough attention to the actual environment.

                                                               i.      The memory aspect can distort the environmental input, cause hallucinations.

d.      In order to avoid this, clamping is introduced.

e.      If something is in the same category with similar properties, such as two chairs, we will not see the two chairs, or two paths as one just because we can sit or walk on either, but there are important distinctions between the two, and this clamping introducing the notion of securing the individuated or situation cognition of a scene.

f.        Updating Memory:

                                                               i.      A change in the conceptualization results in an update of memory equal to that of the change. Of you move in the environment, the projectable properties of that environment change, thus forcing an automatic update of memory based on the fluctuation of conceptualization.

                                                             ii.      “Updating is not encoding a new memory trace. Instead, the shift from one pattern of possible actions (one conceptualization) to the next is reinforced. That is, what is updated is how one situation flows into another. I will refer to this flow as a “trajectory,” ….actions humanly possible under the current conceptualization are biased by what was possible in the previous conceptualization.”

1.       At each step down the path, the projectable features change, but as one continues down the path, those changes become less and less important and a stabilization of conceptualization occurs. Each step will have progressively less information to offer; it is definitely the path home. The memory does not need to be updated, unless an obstacle is presented.

a.       Memory is sensitive to frequency and novelty because it is based on the conceptualization (pattern of action) for a given scene.

2.       “Interaction with the path will result in frequent updating (reinforcement of a particular trajectory) and, consequently, a shift toward a stable conceptualization (e.g. a shift from possibly the path home to definitely the path home)”

a.       Trajectory, what influences the relation between updates, is related to the conceptualization. “once the conceptualization is stable, little further updating occurs”

3.       As the steps continue, the stabilization of the conceptualization, the system does not need to be updated as often.

4.       However, when a log appears, re-conceptualization is required, the situation must be understood and overcome, so memory is updated again, but where is “memory” in this model, is it the non-projectable knowledge base?

g.       Prediction and Supression:

                                                               i.      Prediction requires one to suppress the current environmental to the conceptualization. “This loosens the tie between reality (the current environment) and conceptualization.”  

                                                             ii.      To predict, we follow trajectories guided by bodily constraints on action.

                                                            iii.      The accuracy of the prediction is a function of the projectable features included in the mesh. If one is predicting many steps down the path, the projectable features are largely suppressed, therefore the bodily interaction envisioned may not be wholly accurate because the projectable features may change.

h.      Mesh and Connectionism

                                                               i.      Conceptualization is for preparedness. When certain features of the environment mesh easily with our system, we are prepared for them, however if they do not, it creates surprise. The conceptualization and current trajectory gives a certain anticipation for what should be next. Certain expectations, rooted in the phenomena of priming and semantic congruity.

                                                             ii.      Conceptualization is context dependent: The features of a can, how I can hold it, how it feels, move it etc. all depend on how I intend to manipulate the object (non-projectable). The non-p. gives context for the projectable properties and when they mesh, this conceptualization contains information from both domains.

                                                            iii.      However, connectionists models are not grounded in bodily interactions, whereas this theory is.

 

4)     Memory in the long term and in the short term

a.       Semantic and Episodic are two aspects of the same system.

                                                               i.      Personal experience transfers to general knowledge.

                                                             ii.      “Thus the distinction between episodic and semantic memory probably reflects a difference in the frequency with which the memories are used, the methods of assessment, and the content of the information, rather than any intrinsic difference in memory systems.

                                                            iii.      Episodic memory may be temporally organized based on functional significance, or by recurrent events ( seasons, migrations, life cycles)

b.      Short term memory

                                                               i.      “Memory and the perceptual/action system are designed to produce a meshed conceptualization (possible actions) for current stimulation. It is this constantly changing conceptualization (changing because the stimulation changes in repsnse to action) that gices the illusion of a short term memory. Because the current conceptualization updates memory and provides the starting point for future conceptualization, it will have strong influence on performance over the next few moments (as does short term memory). Distraction (a changing environment) does cause a disruption in short term behaviour because it produces a forced change in the current conceptualization. Limits on the capacity of short term store are simly the limits on coherent conceptualization.”

1.       The stability of conceptualization will dictate if something is recallable in the next few moments.

2.       If new information is presented in the form of projectable properties, the conceptualization changes due to the current trajectory updating the memory system. The new conceptualization may not be so readily equipped to recall the details of the previous situation. However, if the material is repeated, the trajectory will be reused, keeping a stable conceptualization, and thus a stable short term store.

 

5)      Memory in two modes: Automatic and effortful

a.       “the automatic compoenent of memory is the contribution of embodied memories to conceptualization of the current environment. It is a type of perceptual fluency in that it affects how aspects of projectable properties are conceptualized. Because embodeied memories do not change the clamped environment, the automatic operations of memory does not help one to literally see more clearly (that is with greater acuity): it helps one instead understand the environment.”        

                                                               i.      The projectable properties of the environment are coupled with embodied actions and understood through this process.

                                                             ii.      Trajectories that have been reinforced may be a source of repetition priming. If one projection is used, the primed concept can be easily meshed with the key word because the trajectory has been reinforced.        

1.       This calls on the connectionist models of using weights. It seems that a reinforced trajectory would hold more weight than others. It would be this factor that would then lead to forgetting because the trajectories leading from a conceptualization will not mesh with embodied knowledge from the past because the trajectory is degraded.

b.      Effortful memory

                                                               i.      to retrieve biographical or prediction scenarios the projectable properties from the environment must be suppressed. This lends to the conceptualization in terms of non-projectable properties to a greater extent.

1.       “Once the environment is suppressed, conceptualization is controlled by trajectories and bodily constraints rather than the projectable features of the environment.”

a.       Trajectors are the flow from one step in a process to another. They dictate the update of the memory and thus the conceptualization. Depending on the trajectory used, the conceptualization will differ. The trajectory used will depend on what mode of memory one is utilizing.

c.       Encoding paradigms

                                                               i.      using imagery to encode information:

1.       If one were to create  image of a certain concept in order to remember it, the content of the concept is meshed with the image created. “The changes in conceptualization from the orthographic stimulus to the meshed image update memory trajectories.”

a.       It in essence creates a link between the two objects, an association, but it is not an association, because memory is not being viewed in discrete terms, it is a trajectory that guides the conceptualization. The cue of a word will then use the reinforced trajectory related to that word and be meshed with the image created, thus bringing to mind the content to be remembered.

d.      Effortful memory brings about a feeling of remembering because the environment is being suppressed and the use of is being driven by previously created trajectories.

e.      Supression and Amnesia:

                                                               i.      Recollective experience requires:

1.       Supression of environmental input

2.       Use of self-generated information (trajectories)

3.       an attribution that the resulting conceptualization is due more to internally guided than externally guided construction

                                                             ii.      Supressing environment is the crucial skill in developing a sense of sense. If the environment is suppressed, than one can guide the memory process by self generated trajectors, whereas before, the conceptualization is driven by the environment.

1.       Controlling thoughts

                                                            iii.      Language developments helps use words to guide thoughts.

1.       Perceptual symbols are guided by words. A word is seen that creates a trajectory that will guide conceptualization. The conceptualization activates perceptual symbols and attributes them to the projectable features of the environment. Non-projectable features are attributed, giving the context of the situation, which serves to frame what aspects of the environment will receive what pss’s. Creating a meaning/conceptualization for the scene.

                                                           iv.      How can we gain any meaning from a scene based on the projectable and non-projectable mesh?

1.       If I look at the twigs and think yeah, I can break them, touch them rub them, ok that’s fine, and I can look at the twigs and think I want to get home, I think I have seen that twig before, what contribution does the affordance in projectable items have?

a.       I guess it would be important when trying to solve problems, such as climbing over a log, the projectable would be size,  stepping over, climbing on, texture and wether I will fall and the non-projectable is I want to get over, so the conceptualization will be that I need to do what the meshing, how does a mesh between these two systems bring about a meaning. I would think it would just bring about a resolve to get over the log. Which action would be selected for doing it?

b.      We could run a mental simulation, which would suppress some of the projectable properties and run on the trajectory of previous experience, but it seems that this happens automatically, without effort, that is, the decision to cross the log does not require a mental simulation or suppression of the environment. I don’t have to consciously remember the last time I crossed a log and then employ a strategy. It seems that projectable and non-projectable, trajectory, it is hard to see where the actual meaning would arise, the actual decision to step over it. I guess that state would be a conceptualization, a solution to the problem faced. Well, he would say that once the log appeared, a new conceptualization would occur. One that prompts you to think about how to interact with the projectable properties, and the non-projectable would be telling you to cross the log.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Where does action fit into this process? actual motor function execution, or body image/schema, perceptual instantiations of how the body has interacted with these entities before.  

f.        I have the same problem with this theory that I do with my own. What about the properties of the environment that are not embodied, color??, besides with previous experiences with a color, how can color be embodied. I can touch it and feel the texture, but I am feeling a surface and embodying that, not the actual color, I guess I will have to see what he says about abstract concepts.

 

6)      Language Comprehension

a.       Requires dual suppression:

                                                               i.      Environment

                                                             ii.      Literal sounds

b.      If assonance is used, or funny words, we pay attention to the words, the sounds of the, and are not able to suppress the sounds, thus loosing on the conceptualization due to mental trajectors that will mesh embodied things.

c.       Language comprehension is the meshing of actions.

                                                               i.      BUT what if the language used does not imply any explicit bodily action. For, example the last sentence does not describe any person taking any action, how am I supposed to be meshing action sequences for the content of the sentence, such as the “the tired speaker walked to his chair and…” this is an action despcription, fine, I can conceptualizae that in terms of my own non-projectable experiences with being tired and the idea of sitting meshing well, the trajectory has been reinforced, but what about factual statemenents, or abstract statements. He is focusing on a sentence level, but how does word comprehension go into the whole of a sentence?

1.       This process of meshing chair, is more of a circumstance of temporary compatibility of related concepts, when the conceptualization changes, the compatibility changes. Only certain trajectories are relevant.

7)      Conclusions:

a.       Mesh:

                                                               i.      The projectable properties must mesh with the goals and intentions in order for a coherent conceptualization. This is what allows a coke bottle to be seen as a weapon, but not as a chair. The bodily action in both domains must match in the for the conceptualization.