Memory- Two Poems and Five Tests

I've always been fascinated with the concept of memory. I've even poetry poems about it.

In "a reflection on reflections (memory) I wrote about how memories fade and only key moments and bits and pieces remain.

"memories play like a highlights reel
"TOP TEN THINGS YOU MISSED WHILE BECOMING NEW"
pre-packaged, sorted, and prioritized
produced by the mind, ready for use by you

a dose of nostalgia and a few tastes and songs
mixed with a dream and a story you read
makes everything a bit fuzzy around the edges
until you can't quite trust your own head"

In "Time" I wrote about the desire to preserve memories even though time tends to wash them away.

"I would like to grasp the past and
Fold up my memories like an old quilt
Carefully bend and crease and slide into a drawer,
And take it out from time to time and always have it"

The intricacies of long term memory is interesting for both poetry and science, but today I took some short term memory tests.

1. Every Day Item Memory Test

This test was quite simple, it's just a matter of whether I could recognize a penny. Of course among different change I would be able to pick out a penny, but with the small details changed, I got it wrong. I guess this means someone could easily give me a counterfeit penny and I wouldn't know any better. This test was a quick and funny one but I think it made a good point about the way brains work. We remember just as much as we need to. 

2. Facial Feature Memory Test

I enjoyed this test. I did fairly well on it, identifying 7 of the 10 features. This was a true test of just visual short term memory. I think it was made easier by the fact faces are something we try to remember frequently so facial features may have more significant mental connections than just numbers. That being said, I couldn't come up with a specific strategy for the test like I could for some of the other tests.

3. Short Term Picture Memory Test

I didn't do as well as I wanted to on this test, and I think it's because I didn't think of my strategy right away. Once I thought of it, it was pretty effective though. I made a story about each column of pictures. For example, for the icecream, clock, guitar, and earth I thought "I eat icecream before it's time for my guitar lesson, which i take because I want to be an international star." It is easier for me to remember stories than just visual pictures. 

4. Number Test

I didn't enjoy this test as much as the facial feature one. I think trying to remember numbers reminds me of frantically repeating radio station contest line numbers so I can dial them to attempt to win concert tickets or a thousand bucks. I haven't won yet. Notably, the max number of digits I could remember on this test was 8. Most phone numbers are 1 area code + 7 more digits. So basically, my number remembering capacity maxes out at a phone number. Maybe this is because I never tried to memorize Pi in middle school.

5. Facial Recognition 

I've always wanted to see what Cher and Oprah would look like bald! In all seriousness this test was pretty cool. I got 87 percent accuracy, which is slightly above average. I felt pretty good about this. I wonder if memory skills are genetic, because my mom is the best at identifying every single actor in whatever movie we are watching, along with who they're married to. 

Politics and Personality

I recently took this political personality quiz which I found to be quite interesting. Some questions I honestly wasn't sure how to answer (ex: Should trees be allowed to vote?). But overall, I found the results to be very fitting to who I am. The test said my political personality is an "Internationalist" promoting human rights and a global focus. I found the assessment that I have sensitivity to power inequalities to be very accurate. The test profile said a famous internationalist is Ghandi, which was flattering. I learned a lot about Ghandi through Academic Decathlon and think he is a great role model.

The second test I took was this Political Compass. This test didn't give me the option to skip questions, and sometimes questions are hard! Large questions about economic and global philosophy are often concepts I don't have fully formed opinions on. I thought the analysis this site gave about the need for both an economic and social aspect of political understanding was very interesting, and I was again not too surprised by my results.

Next I did the political typology quiz. I found these questions to be easier than the previous quizzes. Rather than ambiguous statements these were more direct. Yes I support the environment, immigrants, diplomacy, and social change. According to the test I am a Solid Liberal. One of the characteristics of this type is an optimism about the future as opposed to pure cynicism, which I think could be a result of my age. I'm 18 years old and voted for the first time this year, I'm going to be pretty excited and optimistic.

Finally, I took the ISideWith quiz. I had actually taken this quiz a few months ago, and I was interested to see it had been updated with questions that had become relevant talking points for candidates since I previously took it. My results however were the same. I line up most with Bernie Sanders on the issues, but also have a high match with Hillary Clinton. I wasn't surprised by these results.

Intellegence: A Test and an Article

I recently took this IQ test and was relatively pleased with the results. While I was taking the test there were many pattern, special, and logic questions which definitely challenged my brain. With senioritis creeping in I was a bit tempted to skip these challenging questions, but I powered through and experienced quite the sense of satisfaction when I figured each question out. My final score was 124. I think this result is valid because I was able to take the test during the class period without any interruption.  The testing environment was quiet so I wasn't overly distracted. This explanation claims my score warrants "very superior intelligence" which is flattering. I know I'm no genius but I do like to think of myself as intelligent- able to succeed academically as well as solve problems.

I also recently read about the Cyril Burt Affair. Cyril Burt's influence and acclaim in the scientific community for his work on intelligence came crashing down after his death. The controversy over whether his data about heredity of intelligence was fraudulent came from the reports of several different researchers. He was not alive to be able to defend himself and his legacy was as such very corrupted. I thought it was interesting that Burt claimed to have studied 51 pairs of twins who were raised apart, which seems like a high number for such a specific criterion, and this indeed was a red flag to other researchers. Also of particular interest was the fact that the writer of his biography thought the book would clear his name but after his investigation concluded the accusations were most likely true. However, some have supported him claiming he was just eccentric and lost data in World War II. As of now, the issue has still not be settled with research existing on both sides of the debate. This seems to go to show the complexities of different theories of intelligence. A brief biography of Burt's life can be found here

Photo from: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/covers/9780198523369.jpg