White privilege and the inequality today in South Africa - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1957 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/07/30 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: White Privilege Essay Did you like this example? Introduction This research paper, will be based on the concept of white privilege in mainly the educational sector and investigate whether it truly is the cause of much of the inequality and social issues faced in South Africa such as black poverty and high black unemployment . Secondary and primary material will be gathered from the web and physical books in the form of articles, documentary as well as eBooks (electronic books) which are relevant to the topic of white privilege and its effects on the quality of education for individuals in South Africa. Trying to explain it and its causes. These will be summarized in the form of literature reviews that will be used to add more substance, and validity not to mention weight to the argument that will take form of an essay following after the literature reviews. As the research of the topic develops potent questions will emerge and branch off and will have to be discussed to aid in substantiating the deduction of this paper. Questions like, Can black poverty to a certain extent be blamed on white privilege? or, does white privilege affect black males or black females more?, but at the same time not falling into the trap of telling a single story from one perspective as Chimamanda Adichie a well-known Nigerian author would put it. As there is a great danger of a single story. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "White privilege and the inequality today in South Africa" essay for you Create order This research paper will further explore who has the power to deal with privilege. As some would argue its the government while others would debate its a case where we need white people to realise they possess immense power which they either need to give up or share, instead of using to further personal gain. As there have been instances where white privilege was shared by its white recipient with those who are not afforded the same opportunities as them. As well as instances where a recipient of white privilege acknowledges they are a beneficiary and then try to minimize the effects of the privilege on their life so that they can be in a fair race with others. This paper seeks to explore why either of these have not become a common practice by all white people in South Africa. One doesnt have to search for long or hard to see the effects of this privilege. It can be observed on almost every street corner one can easily spot a black beggar being passed by white commuters who dont eve n look at them twice but as soon as they come across a rare site of a white beggar they are quick to offer them aid, from the element of preference as white is viewed as better. Arguments where the points are raised about whether the use and abuse of privilege by white people has basically shaped the unequal and unethical communities we live in today. In which the most of the black youth are unable to further their studies due to the fact that they come from financially struggling homes. Or how when others from neighboring provinces do make it they are forced to sleep in toilets and lecture rooms as they do not have a place to stay since they cannot afford accommodation. While at the same time their white counterparts do not experience such or even think such is possible due to white privilege shielding them from such. The paper will furthermore seek to prove that people are being deprived of needed opportunities, which would assist in them bettering communities while minimizing if not eradicate the effects of poverty and other social issues such as unemployment or lack of education experience within their communities. But the paper also seeks to address the issue of people needing to understand that white privilege is inherited by these current generations and not created by them so it firstly makes sense that most of them feel they have worked as hard as the next guy of colour to accomplish everything they have. As it also makes sense they are unaware of the fact that they are beneficiaries of white privilege as they have been exposed to it sense birth and that it made it less challenging for them to accomplish everything they have. Secondly that the anger expressed to them by black people is because they are privileged and do not seem to want to acknowledged they are. The tension between the two races further escalates with racism and white superiority coming in to play while they seem to deny the existence of white privilege. In situations where white people seem to think its acceptable to undermine and disrespect black people whether old or young because of the fact they are inferior, poverty stricken and less intelligent than them. A perfect example of this would be Penny Sparrow and her all too familiar comments on Facebook that describe black beachgoers as monkeys, in an apparent reaction to litter left behind after New Years celebrations, even more so basically stating they are uneducated and that are a source of discomfort to others(white people). Or how white people are quick to jump to the aid of a white beggar at a street corner rather than a black one. Such leading to the conclusion that white people only love and value their own hence to the example of the beggar stated above or Penny Sparrows remarks. The same way a white tragedy gets more attention compared than a black tragedy. Which makes it clear that being white carries power because of the past practices and beliefs of Eugenics throughout the world and Apartheid in South Africa. The main issue to be dealt with in this task is how its believed white privilege has become a transparent power that assists white individuals accomplish more in their lives while also shielding them from difficulties, compared to their colored counterparts. Review of literature (Summary of evidence) Source A https://www.plagiarizechecker.com/ The article is written in response to a video that displays where white privilege is in South Africa, as it exposes a white man for assaulting a traffic police officer. The video depicts how the black body is rendered imaginary and the invulnerability of white privilege. The disgraceful appearance of a police officer, a representative of state power, having to get his cap off the ground is a standardized daily occurrence of a black individual. The article goes on to talk about white privilege being an unescapable control with a strong hold on the countrys institutions, mines, farms and courts in this. At the same time it also seems that the government doesnt want to change the conditions of black people or of society. The writer feels that the only explanation that can be given for the officer not retaliating is that he could not bring himself to it because he has accepted it. Just like other black people, that they are utterly defenseless. He has allowed himself to deliberately have a sense of inferiority when in contact with white privilege. The writer goes on to express his views that the worst kind of violence used on a black individual is structural violence, and that the government does nothing to dismantle apartheids legacy on society. In the writers view a solution cannot be found in mass created anger, which mainly gets fueled by political parties that benefit off every racist attack that gets reported by the media. Relationships between political parties and black people need to be reevaluated so that they may realize that the government even after the introduction of democracy has done nothing to change their conditions. REFERENCE: Mapheto, T. (2018). The position of white privilege. [online] News24. Available at: https://www.news24.com/Columnists/Guest/the-position-of-white-privilege-20170210 [Accessed 27 May 2018]. Source B https://www.plagiarizechecker.com/ The article is written by a white South African, called Lisa and shes been asking herself questions about white privilege. Shes goes on to explain that people are customary with the term, but fail to understand the notion behind it. She goes on to acknowledge that shes a beneficiary of white privilege. She states shes had to work hard for everything, but goes on to admit that based on her race shes been afforded opportunities that were not available to nonwhites but that does not mean anything was handed to her. But white privilege has made it easier for her to reach her goals and achievements. In her opinion black people are unhappy with white people because they are depicted as being unable of admitting to be recipients of privilege. Lisa also feels whites need to admit many of them are results of white privilege as that would help in the process of reconciliation, since blacks hold hate towards complete strangers because of their race. Lisa goes on to state that whites must be aware of white privilege and understand while admitting they are beneficiaries. As well as black people need to know white people did not seek privilege, it was inherited. That circumstance created beneficiaries of this privilege. An advantage is given to a white person because of white privilege but all that is being asking is that people understand that. As a white person admitting being a beneficiary of white privilege simply means one is being mindful that because of their skin colour they have been afforded with opportunities. Lisa furthermore explains that acknowledging white privilege is all about being honest and open about the fact that for decades because of having white skin, white people received certain advantages provided to others because of their races. REFERENCE: Hold, L. (2018). I am a beneficiary of white privilege. [online] News24. Available at: https://www.news24.com/MyNews24/i-am-a-beneficiary-of-white-privilege-20171012 [Accessed 27 May 2018]. Source C https://www.plagiarizechecker.com/ The article is written by a white individual Lisa, who witnesses the aggression of racism and white privilege in a Woolworths store in the north of Gauteng. While looking for a meal, she heard a white female raising her voice, speaking in a loud and patronizing voice to the woman working behind the patisserie counter. The worker attempted to mumble a quiet explanation. Lisa then explains how she wanted to help, because she knows the work has to begin within the white community to challenge itself and its own racist elements. She went on to explain as much as the woman was a stranger her tantrum wasnt, because shes also thrown it herself in the past, and the woman working behind the counter is no stranger , and every person in any services position who has to deal with white people and their tantrums. She explains after they left the store she tried to confront her, but her reaction was atrocious. Lisa furthermore explains how she was left there, soon got into her car and drove home, hands shaking and shocked. It took a few hours of crying before deep anger rose and she thought to herself that all this time all she assumed people needed to understand white privilege. But she was wrong especially after the incident she witnessed, the level of violence and hatred said towards her by a complete stranger for confronting her lack of respect showed her as a white person how far behind whites are as a community. She realized how white privilege has deeply engrained and debased white people. And in her opinion that its time white people act, on a daily we witness these incidences occurring. White privilege has dehumanized white people so much that they need to regain their basic ethics and morals and pass then onto the following generations. REFERENCE: Golden, L. (2018). If you are a white South African, please read this The Daily Vox. [online] The Daily Vox. Available at: https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/a-letter-to-white-south-africans/ [Accessed 27 May 2018].

God, Religion and Plato - 1293 Words

Plato brings up a lot of points in his discussions about the philosophy of God and of religion. Many of these points seem to foreshadow what the Christian faith teaches, ideas such as the highest forms, the cultivating a life for the afterlife, and the immortality of the soul, and the idea of just and unjust med and their rewards. Though some of these ideas need to be changed a bit to fit in with each other, the main idea behind their thoughts seem to be parallel. In the following paragraphs I will expand more on how the relationship between Plato’s philosophy of God and religion can be seen in the Christian faith. The first main point of Plato’s philosophy that foreshadows Christianity is the idea of the forms. Plato holds the idea that there are forms, which are the perfection of certain aspects, such as beauty, truth, goodness, etc. Plato says that these forms are the highest things, they are the really real, and that things on earth only participate in the forms. He also describes the forms as separate, simple, and eternal. These forms do not mix, like beauty and goodness are completely separate forms. They are simple in that they can’t be broken down; they just are beauty or goodness. Finally they are eternal meaning that the forms don’t die out like the things on earth, they have no physical body and therefor cannot die. Plato says that things on earth can participate in the forms in the sense that they reflect that form. If we take a flower for example, PlatoShow MoreRelatedPlato And Plato s The Apology1623 Words   |  7 Pagesdetermining how the world worked and its origins/cosmology, as oppose to philosophers such as Plato And Socrates who focused more on ethics or morality. Plato’s conception of God and religion can be depicted in his literatures â€Å"Euthyphro† and â€Å"The Apology† which he expresses through his writings of Socrates in dialogue formation. While one may assume that both Plato and Socrates shared analogous notions of God and religion it is impossible to truly know given the Socratic problem. The problem lies in thatRead MoreWhat did it mean for a man in Ancient Greece to lead a good life, according to Platos’s four dialogs in the Trial and Death of Socrates?1010 Words   |  5 PagesAncient Greece, leading a good life is rather more complex than it is in today’s society. It is evidenced in Plato’s four dialogs in The Trial and Death of Socrates. Through the dialogues of Socrates we can learn that in Ancient Greece education, religion, society in general, law and values played a major role on a person’s way of living a good life. In the dialogues of The Trial and Death of Socrates, society condemned those such as Socrates for changing or questioning their way of life. A personRead MoreThe Influence of Platos Theories on Chrisianity1169 Words   |  5 Pagesworship of these deities was the mainstream of religion during the Helleni stic period until the rise of the great philosophers. Amongst these philosophers, Plato emerged as one of the founding fathers of Western philosophy. Living from roughly 428 BCE until 348 BCE, Plato’s theories predated Christianity by at least four centuries. Because of this, it can be assumed that early Christian worshippers used Plato’s teachings as a basis for their religion. It is evident that there is a surprising amountRead MoreAnalysis Of Plato s The Euthyphro 1723 Words   |  7 Pagesof the greatest reflective thinkers of all time, Plato was the innovator of many written philosophical dialogues. Accompanied by his teacher, Socrates and his most notorious disciple, Aristotle, Plato set the groundworks of Western philosophy and science amid dialogues such as Apology, Euthyphro, Republic and Laws. These dialogues provided some of the earliest handlings of political inquiries from a philosophical viewpoint. In the Euthyphro, Plato composes a dialogue that transpires in 399 BC, weeksRead MoreThe Incompleteness of Pl atos Euthyphro Essay848 Words   |  4 Pagespiety is induced by the non-existence of the Gods, which they declare Socrates implied through out his life. Hence arises the purpose of this interpretation: to demonstrate, by shifting emphasis to the development of the dialogue, that its failure to define piety originates from the mistaken presupposition that doctrines -- systematic explications of religious beliefs -- existed within the ritual religions of the ancient Greeks. Since these religions did not contain doctrines, the presuppositionRead MoreEuthyphro Dialogue Essay examples1485 Words   |  6 PagesIn the dialogue Euthyphro (Cahn and Markie), Plato presents an argument against the divine command meta-ethical theory. While the argument is presented against the predominantly pantheistic Greek religions, the argument can be easily applied to the monotheistic Abrahamic religions. The dialogue starts off with the two main characters: Euthyphro and Socrates. Socrates has been indicted for corrupting the youth of Athens and Euthyphro is indicting his father for murdering a day-labourer who killedRead MorePlato s Redefinition Of Piety Essay1543 Words   |  7 Pagesremove assumptions and preconceived ideas of what religion and piety are about. James Schall, in his essay â€Å"What is Piety?† makes useful note of this sometimes overlooked, but obvious fact: Plato does not have revelation; that is, he does not have available an explanation of the inner life of the Godhead that is itself Trinity. Nor does he have a doctrine of Incarnation, wherein God is also revealed as a specific human being, God and man, one God, but two natures. Nor does he have such a thing asRead MoreSocrates, Plato, and Aristotle884 Words   |  4 PagesFarina Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, three men considered to be the quintessential basis of ancient Greek philosophy. Not only were they responsible for Greek enlightenment, but also foreshadowed the coming of Christ in there speculations. Plato, the protà ©gà © of Socrates, became the first to document the philosophy of his teacher, which in turn is passed down to Aristotle. This process of mentoring aided ancient man in the intellectual evolution of politics and religion, known as the linearRead MoreChristianity, Buddhism, And Confucianism872 Words   |  4 Pagesthere are many different thoughts and explanations about how to live, there is some common ground between them. Throughout the year 600 B.C.E. to the year 600 C.E. the ideas of religion such as Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism and philosophy like those of Plato, Laozi, and Socrates. From 600 B.C.E. to 600 B.C. religions began to impact the traditions and attitudes in Europe and Asia resulting in multiple differe nt, but yet similar approaches to the same goal of living morally and truthfullyRead MoreThe Dilemma Of The Euthyphro Dilemma952 Words   |  4 Pagesreaders many good points to understand relativism about morality and connect with religion. Also, this is these dialogues between Euthyphro and Socrates, and it find out in the Plato’s dialogue. In the Euthyphro, Socrates asks whether a thing is pious (or good or right) because it is loved by the Gods (or, in its secular form, ‘loved by someone’), or is a thing loved by the Gods (or someone) because it is pious (or good) (Plato, 1981, 10a); it can be considered one of the questions and the most luminous

Brain Blast! Factors Affecting Retention Free Essays

string(70) " permits a smooth integration of information processing in the brain\." Brain Blast! Factors Affecting Retention BY hypoactive Chapter I Statement of the problem: The different factors affecting retention of fourth year students of Vulcan Ecumenical School Three Specific Questions: Why do some people have a better memory than others? ; How do we remember? ; and Why do we forget? Significance of the Study: To widen the knowledge of the readers about retention; Alms to show different ways on how one can have a better retention; This study Is to benefit students especially those from Vulcan Ecumenical School Scope and Limitation This study mainly focuses on the senior students of Vulcan Ecumenical School. The articles gathered here are a combination of local and foreign literature. Chapter II Review of Related Literature Presented In this chapter Is a synthesis of facts that support the topic the researchers would want to prove. We will write a custom essay sample on Brain Blast! Factors Affecting Retention or any similar topic only for you Order Now Included in the chapter is the definition of memory, parts of the brain that are in charge on remembering and forgetting, connectivity of the brain, a deeper understanding on autobiographical and semantic memory, long term and short term memory, how and why people remember and forget, the reason why some people have a better memory than others and some methods on how one can Improve his/her memory. Local Literature According to Alfonse M. Albany of Philippine star, the human brain weighing roughly one-and-a-half kilos, with a volume more or less half that of a medium-sized coconut, with its about 100 billion neurons, each with some 10,000 interconnections, is probably the most complex structure that we know. Yet, that structural complexity hardly begins to hint at the incredible variety and the enormity of its functions. Surely, this is a case of a whole that is vastly greater than the sum of its parts. Albany said that the brain is the seat of our consciousness and of our emotions, the repository of our memories. It synthesizes and analyses our sensory inputs, decides what behavioral responses are appropriate or necessary to promote our continued survival. And when parts of it fail to perform properly, we are burdened with depression, or schizophrenia, or Alchemist’s diseases, or other such debilitating disorders. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates put it well: â€Å"Men ought to know that from nothing else but the brain come Joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, grieves, despondency, and lamentations. No wonder the brain has been the subject of intense scientific scrutiny’s for a very long time. A currently active area of study concerns the â€Å"connectivity† of the brain. Physiologists distinguish â€Å"structural† or â€Å"anatomical† connectivity from â€Å"functional† connectivity and both from â€Å"effective† connectivity. The first merely means the physical connections between groups of neurons 1 . The second refers to correlated behaviors of different brain regions. The last involves the transfer of information from one region to another, possibly affecting the behavior of the latter ? a causal connection 2. Our Marvelous Brains On one of the articles of Koruna Sanchez she wrote that because of the amount of information that the human brain receives everyday, a sort of built-in filter kicks in to only allow those that seem important. Otherwise the brain would literally heat up and burn out faster than we would want it to. A good example was when a portrait of the famous Mona Lisa was shown to several persons, they all failed to notice a OF in the background, which of course is not in the original painting. Because we know, or supposed to know what the Mona Lisa looks like, we don’t look at other details anymore. Misdirection’s is another way to distract the brain. So many examples of seduction were shown, which is the bread and butter of a good magician or illusionist, and yes, even con artists and criminals. Your brain is made to focus on something while ignoring everything else. Watching a basketball being passed several times among players while totally ignoring a gorilla that walks among them. And this is what criminals like pickpockets master. That little bump on the shoulder is enough to distract you while they go after your wallet or purse. Or using beautiful women to get the attention of gullible men. You know the rest. Foreign Literature 1. Definition of memory According to lucid research. Mom, the human memory is a complex activity of the brain that allows us to store information and retrieve it again when we need it. There are two discrete memory systems: A system that keeps a record of our personal life experiences is usually called Autobiographical memory. A system that holds the knowledge about the world is called Semantic memory. It is possible for one system to work better than the other because these two work in somewhat different ways. For example, a student might have a good autobiographical memory and recall in detail everything about an event, but a poor semantic memory o failing to remember things that need to be learned in school. Both memory systems can store information from all our senses – vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch – but in semantic memory visual and auditory-verbal modes of information usually predominate, unless another mode was particularly important. For example, a perfume maker would have a very well-developed semantic memory for doors. 2. Get to know your Brain Parts of the brain that is in charge of remembering and forgetting: The Cortex As said by Dry. Paul Nassau, the Cortex 5 is the outer covering of the brain. It is a word that translates to mean â€Å"bark of a tree†. This is one part of the brain that is responsible for your most complicated thinking abilities. Your memory, language, personality, intentional motor skills, spatial ability and visual perception are all controlled by the Cortex. The Medial Section of the Brain This part tends to be older and more primitive. These are responsible for controlling drives, impulses, fears, instincts, emotions, reflexes, subconscious processes and automatic behaviors. Supporter The â€Å"Subcultures† are the deeper brain structures. This permits a smooth integration of information processing in the brain. You read "Brain Blast! Factors Affecting Retention" in category "Papers" 3. Short-term Memory According to Keener Cherry, Short-term memory is also known as primary or active memory. It is the information that comes from giving attention to sensory memories. Duration of short-term Memory: Most of the information stored in this memory usually last for approximately 20 to 30 seconds. While many of our short-term memories are quickly forgotten, attending to this situation allows it to continue on the next stage – Long-term memory. The Capacity of Short-term Memory: â€Å"The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two†, expert psychologist George Miller suggested that people can store between five and nine items. More recent research suggests that people are capable of storing approximately four chunks of information in short-term memory. . Long-term Memory According to Keener Cherry, Long-term memory refers to the continuing storage of information. The information is largely outside of our awareness, but can be called into working memory to be used when needed. Some of the information is easy to recall, while others are more difficult to access. Duration of Long-term Memory: Long-term memories can last for a matter of days to as long as many decades. Types of Long-Term Memory Long-term memory is usually divided into two types – declaratively (explicit) memory ND procedural (implicit) memory. Declarative includes all of the memories that are available in consciousness. Declarative memory can be further divided into episodic memory (specific events) and semantic memory (knowledge about the world). Procedural memory involves memories of body movement and how to use objects in the environment. How to drive a car or use a computer are examples of procedural memories. 5. A deeper understanding about Autobiographical and Semantic Memory According to human-memory. Net, Autobiographical or Episodic memory is a memory system consisting of experiences recollected from an individual’s life. Individuals can see themselves as actors in these events, and the emotional charge and the entire situation surrounded by the event is usually part of the memory. On the other hand, Semantic memory is a more structured record of facts, meanings, concepts and knowledge about the external world that we have attained. As stated by Luke Mastic, semantic memory is generally derived from the episodic memory, in that we learn new facts or concepts from our experiences, and the episodic memory is considered to support and underpin semantic memory. 6. Why do we forget? Lucid research. M says that the human memory is a system which is intended to remember information as well as forget information. Generally, we only retain the information we need for as long as we need it, and then it is forgotten. The human brain is constantly bombarded with huge amount of knowledge, and even though the information storage capacity of the human brain is very large, if we store every single item of information that ever reached our senses from the moment we were born, our memory would totally be overloaded before we started school. The fact is: we simply do not need to retain most of the information we receive each day. We only need to preserve some of that information and can safely forget the rest. The trick is to make sure that the information we do need is stored properly in memory ready for memory for a short time provided we strive to keep it there (e. G. By thinking about it or by rehearsing it to ourselves). This process is called short-term memory or at times working memory because we use this when working on any activity, such as listening to a conversation. But unless we also make an active effort to store that information in long-term memory in a semantic form, it will be forgotten very rapidly. Once in long-term memory, information is reasonably permanent. However, if we don’t use that information we are likely to find a difficult to access when we need it, and the information is not stored very efficiently, it will also be difficult to access. When we say we have forgotten some item of information what we really mean is either: (a) the information was never properly store in long-term memory in the first place, or (b) the information has been stored in long-term memory but we can’t find it because it has been stored in an disorganized way and/or because we haven’t used that information for ages. 7. How do we remember, and why do we forget? An article by Shish Uranus said that the notion of memory is so intriguing that we’ve come up with more metaphors for it than for any other mental phenomenon. Early theories predicted a memory â€Å"Ingram†24, a literal text written by the body to describe past experiences. Freud popularized descriptions of repressed memories, experiences physically buried in the depths of the subconscious. Modern descriptions are dominated by analogies to computers, in which the human brain is a hard disk that stores experience in electronic files and folders. Our memory represents a change in who we are. Our habits, our ideologies, our hopes and fears are all influenced by what we remember in the past. At the most basic level, we remember because the connections between our brains’ neurons change; each experience primes the brain for the next experience. 8. How does the Brain process information Chris McKee said that information processing starts with input from the sensory organs, which transform physical stimuli such as touch, heat, sound waves, or photons of light into electrochemical signals. The sensory information is repeatedly transformed by the algorithms of the brain in both bottom-up and top-down processing. For example, when looking at a picture of a black box on a white background, bottom-up processing puts together very simple information such as color, orientation, and where the borders of the object are – where the color changes significantly over a short space – to decide that you are seeing a box. Top-down processing uses the decisions made at some steps of the bottom-up process to speed up your recognition of the box. Top-down processing in this example might help you identify the object as a black box rather than a box-shaped hole in the white background. Once information is processed to a degree, an attention filter decides owe important the signal is and which cognitive processes it should be made available to. For example, although your brain processes every blade of grass when you look down at your shoes, a healthy attention filter prevents you from noticing them individually. In contrast, you might pick out your name, even when spoken in a noisy room. There are many stages of processing, and the results of processing are 9. Why do some people have better memory than other people According to Joyce Ward, people vary in the efficiency of their long-term memory. Some have a good memory and some poor long-term memory. This is probably determined partly by hereditary. But research has shown that most of the difference between people with good and poor memory can be attributed to the methods they use to learn that information in the first place. By developing the appropriate memory strategies we automatically store information in a more organized and efficient way that makes it easier for us to locate when we need it. Despite individual differences in memory, research indicates that in most people memory can be improved significantly by appropriate training. His does not mean that we can enlarge the storage capacity of our memory, what it means is that we can make our Emory more efficient, so that it is more likely to absorb new information and hold that information in a way that makes it easy for us to find it again immediately when we need it. In order for the brain to process information, it must first be stored. There are multiple types of memory, including sensory, working, and long-term. First, information is encoded. There are types of encoding specific to each type of sensory stimuli. For example, verbal input can be encoded structurally, referring to what the printed word looks like, phonemically, referring to what the word sounds like, or semantically, referring to what the word means. Once information is stored, it must be maintained. Some animal studies suggest that working memory, which stores information for roughly 20 seconds, is maintained by an electrical signal looping through a particular series of neurons for a short period of time. Information in long- term memory is hypothesized to be maintained in the structure of certain types of proteins. 0. Capacity of the Human Memory According to Robert Gonzales, the comparison between the human brain and a computer is not a perfect one, but it does lend itself to some interesting lines of inquiry. The capacity of an average human head varies, depending on who you ask. Some experts estimates it in as low as 1 terabyte or approximately 1000 gigabytes. The reason behind the 100-terabyte estimate still has its fla ws. It assumes, for example, that each synapse store 1 byte of information. In reality, each one could conceivably store more or less than that. 1 1 . Improving the memory No. 1: Stay Mentally Active Just as physical activity helps keep your body in shape, mentally stimulating activities help keep your brain in shape. Do things that challenge your mind such as solving crossword puzzles and learning to play an instrument. No. 2: Socialize regularly Social interaction helps ward of depression and stress, both of which can contribute and other. No. 3: Get organized You are more likely to forget things if your home is cluttered and your notes are in not in order. No. 4: Focus Limit distractions, and don’t try to do many things at once. If you focus on the information that you’re trying to remember, you’ll be more likely to recall it later. Understanding – if we understand the information it will be easier for us to remember, and if we understand how memory works, it is easier to make it work well for us personally Practice – the more often one does an activity, the more likely he/she will member it- Memory Strategies – ways of processing information that will help a person remember well. Organization – this ensure that information is stored in a more meaningful and well-organized way which is easy for the brain to recall it. 2. Tips for enhancing your ability to learn and remember According to helped. Org, these are some ways on how one can enhance his/her ability to learn and remember. 0 Pay attention – You can’t remember something if you never learned it, and you can’t learn something?that is, encode it into your brain?if you don’t pay enough a ttention to it. It takes about eight seconds of intense focus to process a piece of information into your memory. If you’re easily distracted, pick a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Involve as many senses as possible. Try to relate information to colors, textures, smells, and tastes. The physical act of rewriting information can help imprint it onto your brain. Even if you’re a visual learner, read out loud what you want to remember. Relate information to what you already know. Connect new data to information you already remember, whether it’s new material that builds on previous knowledge, or something as simple as an dress of someone who lives on a street where you already know someone. For more complex material, focus on understanding basic ideas rather than memorizing isolated details. How to cite Brain Blast! Factors Affecting Retention, Papers