A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “memory”. Follow an idea across the archive.
A review of the synaptic plasticity and memory hypothesis arguing that it is insufficient to explain memory, and proposing a broader cellular processes and memory hypothesis that includes molecular and intracellular mechanisms.
Scott explores various accounts of people's first memories and moments of consciousness, particularly focusing on claims of sudden 'awakening' experiences, and discusses what this might tell us about the nature of consciousness.
Scott analyzes why certain themes appear in recurring dreams, proposing and examining two main theories: one based on prospective memory and another on physical sensations during sleep.
Scott Alexander examines the effectiveness of education by analyzing knowledge retention, questioning the value of schooling beyond basic skills.
Scott Alexander examines why skills plateau, proposing decay and interference hypotheses to explain the phenomenon across various fields.
Scott Alexander discusses unintentional plagiarism in his writing, reflecting on how writers blend their influences at various levels of recognition.
The post reviews research on adult neurogenesis, initially presenting evidence for its existence and importance, then reveals a new study suggesting it doesn't occur in humans, examining the implications of this potential field-wide error.
Scott Alexander explores why medical residency test scores plateau after the first few years, proposing theories related to knowledge retention and individual differences in learning.
A person repeatedly wakes up in a Matrix-like pod, being told different versions of reality about the concept of 'family' in a series of nested scenarios, ultimately revealed to be an alien experiment.
Scott explains connectionism as a neural network-based theory of mind that evolved from spreading activation models, showing how it resolves philosophical problems and mirrors brain function better than classical computing approaches.