Embark on a startling voyage into the human mind and discover how the various aspects of your memory operate and the impact memory has on your daily experience of life with Memory and the Human Lifespan. Award-winning Professor Steve Joordens's 24 riveting lectures carefully explain the different systems that make memory possible; how these systems work together to build and access memories, solve problems, and learn skills; how memory systems develop throughout your lifespan; how and why memory deficits occur; and so much more.
Memory and the Human Lifespan
Embark on a startling voyage into the human mind to discover how the various aspects of your memory operate. An award-winning professor explains the different systems that make memory possible and how these systems work together.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Rafa80 from
Fascinating Information
I'm already familiar with the subject of memory, but still got a lot of useful info in this course, and the instructor was entertaining and effective in his delivery.
Date published: 2024-05-08
Rated 4 out of
5
by
EngineerinVA from
Memorable
This is a fascinating course on how our memory works. If one wants to understand cognition – how people think – this is a very good course.
This course shows us explicitly what we all do implicitly – remember things. It shows us the different kinds of memory and how we can care for or even enhance our memories. The lectures on memory and the brain and on Alzheimer’s are particularly noteworthy.
Dr. Joordens is an above-average lecturer by The Great Courses (TGC) standards. His style is relaxed and conversational. He uses instructive examples and exercises.
The course guide is about average by TGC standards. It is written in narrative form (as opposed to outline form or bullet format), which makes it easier to follow. However, there are only two useful graphics in the entire book. The course guide has about 4 pages per lecture, which is a little on the low side, indicating only a cursory level of content. There are appendices with a glossary and a bibliography that includes a statement of what to expect from the cited reference.
I used the video version. Although there are few graphics or other visual aids, the course itself explains why it is better to use the visual version rather than audio-only – dual encoding.
The course was published in 2011.
Date published: 2023-03-06
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Jeff C from
Five Star Course that Should be Renamed
I loved this course, but almost didn't listen to it because the title "and the Human Lifespan" made me think it was just about memory in different phases of life. Instead this is a awesome exploration of all facts of memory - from it's biological underpinnings to how to use the Greek "Method of Loci" to remember a list of items. Prof Joordans is wonderful. He presents the material in a very entertaining way (even playing guitar at one point) and is the perfect guide for this journey I thought I new a lot about memory before taking this course, but learned so much from this comprehensive exploration of memory.
Date published: 2022-11-27
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Cousindrew from
Excellent course!
Prof. Joordans is an entertaining and informed lecturer with a pleasant sense of humor who does an expert job of presenting this sometimes dry material in an interesting and understandable way. His audience experiments are fun and keep the listener well engaged. Audio is entirely adequate for this course as video is not critical to the presentation. Highly recommended!
Date published: 2022-11-10
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Dan72 from
Both very interesting and very educational
One topic that was excluded (or that I missed) was the rate of recall. For example, if asked the capital of Mississippi, I may not recall it immediately but eventually the answer will pop into my head. This rate of recall seems to slow as I age.
Date published: 2022-08-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
CB2022 from
Very clear and enlightening!
Professor Steve Joordens gives a very friendly and clear presentation of how our mental faculties operate. Wonderful subject, nicely explained.
Date published: 2022-06-22
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Vincent2 from
Very useful course
This course presents the current state of scientific knowledge regarding human memory.
Prof. Joordens is engaging. He is clearly on top of his field.
Date published: 2022-04-09
Rated 5 out of
5
by
SandD from
By Far The Best: Thorough, Stimulating, Useful
This course develops very well over time. It is truly a course that you have to invest the time and effort in to understand, so it definitely isn't fluff. Sound scientific principles are demonstrated along with physical processes of memory as well as memory enhancement techniques.
What is most important is the way the fundamentals are tied together in the last few lectures. If you didn't understand things early on, you need to review so that the wrap-up makes sense in many ways.
We are going to watch it again. We hope that Prof. Joordens has a follow-up course.
Date published: 2022-03-29
Overview
About
Dr. Steve Joordens is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where he has taught since 1995. He earned a doctorate in cognitive psychology from the University of Waterloo. Honored repeatedly as both teacher and researcher, Professor Joordens is on the cutting edge of the emerging field of cognitive prosthetics to assist both learning-disabled patients as well as patients with Alzheimer's disease. He is a frequent speaker at professional conferences, where he consistently earns best in session honors. In addition to publishing many articles on human memory, consciousness, and attention in empirical and theoretical psychology journals, Professor Joordens earned both the Premier's Research Excellence Award and the National Technology Innovation Award-the latter for the creation of an Internet-based educational platform that supports the development of critical thinking and clear communication skills in any size classroom. His teaching skills have also earned him repeated honors, including the President's Teaching Award, his university's highest teaching honor; the Scarborough College Students' Union Best Professor Award; a provincially sponsored Leadership in Faculty Teaching Award; and four nominations for Television Ontario's Best Lecturer Competition, which include two Top 10 finishes.
Trailer
01: Memory Is a Party
Using the metaphor of a party whose "guests" include the different components of the complex interactions that make up memory, Professor Joordens introduces you to several kinds of memory-including episodic, semantic, and procedural-to arrive at an initial understanding of the variety of processes at work in human "memory."...
31 min
02: The Ancient "Art of Memory"
Techniques to embed and retrieve memories more easily-so-called mnemonic strategies-date back at least to classical Greece. See how one such technique-the Method of Loci-can help improve the episodic memory you depend on to recall a group of items such as grocery or to-do lists....
31 min
03: Rote Memorization and a Science of Forgetting
Is a mnemonic strategy always the most useful? Examine rote memorization and how it differs from mnemonics. Also, get an introduction to the work of Hermann Ebbinghaus, whose 19th-century experiments in remembering and forgetting marked the first scientific examination of memory....
32 min
04: Sensory Memory-Brief Traces of the Past
Begin a deeper discussion of the different kinds of memory, beginning with sensory memory and how its brief retentive power lets you switch from one stimulus to another-and even gives you your sense of "the present moment." Here, the focus is on iconic (or visual) memory and its auditory counterpart, echoic memory....
28 min
05: The Conveyor Belt of Working Memory
Plunge into the mental processes that allow you to work with information, often with the goal of solving a problem. You learn that these processes can also be used to keep information briefly "in mind," though they require effort and are prone to interference....
31 min
06: Encoding-Our Gateway into Long-Term Memory
How does information make its way from your temporary working memory into long-term memory so you can access it again when you need it? This introduction to encoding explains the process and offers useful tips for improving your own recall....
30 min
07: Episodic and Semantic Long-Term Memory
Strengthen your grasp of how these two key memory systems function. You explore the relationship between them with analogies that range from the job requirements of London taxi drivers to the famed "holo-deck" of the Star Trek television series....
31 min
08: The Secret Passage-Implicit Memory
Encounter still another category of memory-a way in which your experiences can enter long-term memory without the kind of "effortful encoding" discussed earlier. You learn why this sort of memory creation is vitally important, yet also unreliable as a substitute for conscious effort....
31 min
09: From Procedural Memory to Habit
In this lecture, you see that your memory for procedures is useful not only in the "muscle memory" of physical skills, but also in cognitive processes. Also, learn about constructivist learning, in which the explicit structure of a procedure-which is usually taught verbally-instead is learned implicitly during exploratory practice....
28 min
10: When Memory Systems Battle-Habits vs. Goals
What happens when implicit or procedural memories become so powerful they seize control? In this examination of the tenacity of habits, learn how and why habits are formed and what steps might be useful in changing them, or at least regaining control....
28 min
11: Sleep and the Consolidation of Memories
Does sleep play a role in strengthening memories of your experiences during the day? Gain a sense of the latest research about a subject that is difficult to study as you explore the relationship between sleep and memory, including the possible link between specific sleep stages and specific kinds of memory....
30 min
12: Infant and Early Childhood Memory
How does the maturation of memory fit into a child's overall brain development? Gain invaluable and surprising insights into the month-by-month and year-by-year development of a child's capacity for memory, beginning in the womb and continuing on with its dramatic development after entry into the world....
29 min
13: Animal Cognition and Memory
Does an elephant really never forget? Expand your study of memory to investigate the extent to which the mysterious abilities of humans may also exist in animals and, if so, how they might differ from our own....
32 min
14: Mapping Memory in the Brain
Almost two decades since its revolutionary appearance, fMRI-functional magnetic resonance imaging-is allowing researchers to watch the living human brain at work, with no harm or discomfort to the subject. Explore what happens in several areas of the brain as memories are created or retrieved....
30 min
15: Neural Network Models
Can computer models mimic the operations of the human brain? Examine the use of neural network modeling, in which biologically inspired models posited by researchers in cognitive neuroscience are advancing our understanding of just how those operations take place....
30 min
16: Learning from Brain Damage and Amnesias
Leave the world of computers for that of neuropsychology as you focus on the life situations of several patients who have suffered some form of brain injury. You learn how damage to different areas of the brain can have dramatically different impacts on memory and how these patients experience the world....
32 min
17: The Many Challenges of Alzheimer's Disease
In a lecture that explores one of our most frightening diseases from both the caregiver's and sufferer's perspectives, learn how Alzheimer's progresses, how that progression may be forestalled, and ways in which technology may be able to help through the emerging field of "cognitive prosthetics."...
31 min
18: That Powerful Glow of Warm Familiarity
Why does something familiar to us actually feel that way? Discover the sources of familiarity as you are introduced to the concepts of perceptual fluency and prototypes, and explore some surprising ways that those feelings of familiarity can trump other considerations....
29 min
19: Deja Vu and the Illusion of Memory
Is déjà vu simply an illusion of memory? If so, can we learn more about memory by trying to understand how this common phenomenon comes about? Examine some of the theories that have been put forth to explain this uncanny experience....
30 min
20: Recovered Memories or False Memories?
Is episodic memory subject to the same pitfalls as misattributed feelings of familiarity? Can we "remember" things that never took place with the same intensity and certainty as those that did? Gain new insights into what is at stake when long-forgotten "memories" resurface....
31 min
21: Mind the Gaps! Memory as Reconstruction
Metaphors for memory usually reference information storehouses of some kind, such as library stacks or computer hard drives, from which episodic memories are "retrieved." Learn about the extent to which we actually construct our memories anew each time we summon them and how this explains common memory errors....
30 min
22: How We Choose What's Important to Remember
Does our brain always make decisions for us about which aspects of our experience to encode for later recall, or can we influence that process ourselves? Learn potentially powerful techniques for influencing the shape of future memories....
30 min
23: Aging, Memory, and Cognitive Transition
Apply a reality check to the popularly held belief that memory naturally declines as we age. Learn what happened when a researcher corrected for the age-related variables long-ignored by traditional testers-and what conclusions we can draw about what lies ahead for us as we grow older....
29 min
24: The Monster at the End of the Book
Contemplate the significance of what you've learned, with special attention to the common question of whether you can improve your episodic memory-remembering what you want to recall, forgetting what you'd rather not, and making choices about how to achieve a balance....
32 min
