Adaptive memory

Adaptive memory Memory is one of the intriguing topics to study in cognitive psychology; it is something we rely on for our daily activities i.e. we use memory remember/recollect information relevant to our day to day activities. Whereas there are traditional approaches to study memory by conducting researches on the framework of levels of processing model and so on. This study has tried to investigate factors of memory from an evolutionary point of view. According to the adaptive memory concept, memory systems are tuned to retain information having survival fitness value. A crucial feature of adaptive memory is that the notion memory has evolved (over the period of time) to increase survival by better retaining information having fitness value. In the recent years, James S Nairne-et-al. research on adaptive memory has interested a lot of other researchers of evolutionary psychology to study this topic. Nairne and colleagues conducted a series of experiment to test the phenomenon of adaptive memory. Central to the school of thought in human memory research is the assumption that human memory systems are functionally designed and like other biological systems, memory is likely evolved to enhance fitness (survival and reproduction). Thinking about the relevance of information to a survival situation produces excellent long-term retention. A few seconds of survival processing produces better free recall than virtually all other known memory-enhancement techniques. Memory is essential to adaptive behavior because it allows past experience to guide choices. In the experiment conducted by Narine-et-al., participants are asked to imagine that they’re a part of a small tribe living in grassland of a foreign land. They’re asked to gather or hunt food items in order to help their and their tribes’ survival. Next a list of words are presented, and participants are asked to rate the relevance of each word to the imagined scenario. In a later surprise memory test, participants typically remember the words rated for relevance to this fitness-relevant scenario better than they remember words that are not fitness relevant (to the scenario). This can be explained through the theory of natural selection. Human memory is evolved because it enhanced survival and fitness in environments that were present during the extended period of human evolution. Anderson Schooler (1991, 2000) suggested that certain mnemonic characteristics, such as the general form of the retention function, mimic the way events tend to occur and recur in the environment. It has been suggested that sex differences in spatial abilities, including a memory for object locations, may have an evolutionary basis. Silverman Eals (1992) suggested that the division of labor typically found in hunter-gatherer societies-men hunt and women gather-may have led to unique foraging-related cognitive specializations of the sexes. Men generally outperform women on tasks thought to be related to hunting skills (e.g. navigation and orientation), whereas women often show an advantage on tasks requiring memory for objects stored in fixed locales. The experiment conducted is based on the study done by Narine-et-al. (2009), here the participants are randomly divided into three groups; hunter, gatherer, and scavenger. Participants in the experiments were asked to rate the relevance of words to scenarios that were specifically designed to mimic prototypical hunting and gathering activities. Following the rating task, participants received a surprise recall test on the rated words. Participants always rated the relevance of the target words to hunting or to gathering food, but under conditions that were either fitness relevant or not. The purpose of this study was to learn whether or not memory systems have evolved to better retain information related to fitness-survival value. Rationale: According to past studies (Narine, Klein, Cosmides, Tooby Chance,2002) suggest that human memory systems are â€Å"tuned† to remember information that is processed in terms of fitness value. Hence it is predicted that when a person is asked to rate the relevance of words to a survival scenario the performance is better on recall scores.

Book review 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Book review 3 - Essay Example The whole idea was conceptualized after a five year teaching of high ranked executives in the world’s best Harvard Entrepreneur program. From her observations, it became evident that majority of her students spent very little time in picturing and actualizing their own companies’ strategies. Leadership and strategy are inseparable. This is a point missed out by many leaders. Clearly as seen, strategies are not ‘how to’ functions in an organization. They cannot be executed on their own, and thus the need for a strong leadership background. There is a very little understanding of the intertwined intimate relationship between leadership and strategy. For this reason, managers keep seeking professional advice from external specialists to help in making company analysis and strategically position them for competitive advantage. This has made strategy a lucrative business for most experts. A question that every business leader must answer is, â€Å"Does your company matter?† (Montgomery pp. 13). For this reason, leaders should not only be willing and ready to learn on how best to be effective managers but also creatively think of possible ways through which their businesses can prosper. In real sense, vey many leaders find it extremely difficult to trace t he existence of their companies and thus cannot even describe or identify the needs in their individual companies. This causes lots of confusion at the lower levels of management because of the colliding decisions at the top. Since leadership and the strategy are inseparable, a question is posed to business leaders; â€Å"Are you a strategist?† (Montgomery pp. 20). A strategist is a leader who wholeheartedly guides the ongoing process from the conception of an idea, its execution, and post convincing results. A strategist carefully watches, identifies, makes decisions, and risks other opportunities for

Chapter 8 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Chapter 8 - Assignment Example dictates a manufacturing plant’s materials handling equipment, such as loading and unloading equipment and the design of the receiving and shipping docks. An order-management methodology that encourages maximum consolidation of shipments between common points enables a company to give larger shipments to its carriers and take advantage of volume discounts. Customer service goals influence the type and quality of carrier and carrier service selected by the seller Transport infrastructure such as roads, ports and airports is indispensable for a country economic activity, and is characterized such that its appropriate provision justifies or calls for involvement of the public sectors. There are three principles on the question of who should bear the costs of a large-scale facility such as transport infrastructure: the user pay principle, the indirect beneficiary pay principle and public financing. Institutional arrangements for developing transport infrastructure include public corporations, special budget account and private finance initiative (PFI), which tap private sector resources. Transport infrastructure such as harbors, airports, roads are usually provided with some form of public involvement within a variety of institutional frameworks. The globalization of the world economy means that an increasing number of shipment are being transported between multiple countries. Inland water transport is relatively inexpensive to user. At one time inland water was consider to be the least expensive form of transportation when compared to rail and motor carrier transportation. On a ton mile basis, rail cost approximately twice as high as inland water carriers, whereas truck cost are approximately 20 times higher then inland water carrier. Although inland water carriers tends to focus on lower bulk commodities that can be handle by mechanical means such as pump, scoop, and conveyor, many different kind of product can be carried. Other product that move extensively