Human Intelligence, Memory, and Learning: A Comprehensive Analysis
Intelligence
Intelligence: The approach to learning to interpret and apply is not reduced to rational thinking. Assessment and measurement are sociocultural, which gives meaning and assumptions of learning that are debatable. It is the capacity, from the capacity of experiences, to creatively adapt to environmental conditions, either appropriate or acquired, changing the environment. It is the capacity for knowledge and using it in novel situations. It can be understood as creative adaptation. The concept of “safe and appropriate” is adapted when it refers to species, and even more so to individuals. As an aggregation of specific abilities, intelligence is understood as a multiple of concrete capacities. The theory of multiple intelligences poses that there is not only one type of intelligence, and they are all independent. These would be verbal, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, and personal. Emotional intelligence integrates emotions into reasoning, logic, problem-solving, and interpersonal relations. It is related to subjective well-being and social adaptation, and is central in analyzing mental health and quality of life. It is related to the experience of attachment and the formation of early attachments.
Intelligence and Memory
If we consider intelligence as the capacity to adapt to new situations, memory is a function that is basic to intelligent behavior. When we need to find the right information, it is what makes the difference between having a better adaptation and being unsuccessful. In this, intelligence is related to all memory processes: how to discriminate what to pay attention to, decode the received information, organize and store it, and how to access it when needed.
Multi-Store Model of Memory
Long-Term Memory (LTM): The ability of this memory is practically unlimited. It is in this memory that all learning is recorded. LTM constitutes the identity of the subject: all we are, all our experiences are recorded in this experience. It must be remembered that learning encompasses the whole individual. Memory capacity has a direct connection with the learner and the rest of cognition. It is possible, then, to remember learning episodes, aromas, and flavors, ranging from what to what theoretical physiotherapy, and everything can be learned and remembered. Memory is also needed in terms of survival because, through it, we can understand and interpret situations and exercise caution in dangerous situations. The key to successful development of this capacity is the repetition of association and significance of content. Through an exercise of will, we can attribute meanings or value to content.
On the Interpretation of the Momentum
Stimulation, impulse, response, interpretation of the subject: responses to the outside world always contain an emotional element. There is a percentage of emotion in the response, and a percentage of emotion involved in the response.
Memory
Preliminary Thoughts
- Memory is an ability of consciousness. In every second of the existence of human individuals, we make use of this capability.
- It is a capability that allows you to save, record, and store.
- It is a capability that develops over time. No one comes into being with the ability developed. At first, there is only memory usage.
- Memory can be trained. Recognized methods exist, and some of these methods occupy association, e.g., 1995/1991/2009.
What Kind of Information?
Information that is recorded covers a wide spectrum, from kinesics to abstract theory, through the senses and memory skills. It is a capability that is carried out in the form of double registration and updating (remembering). You cannot remember if you previously had no record. Registration starts from the womb; there are no innate contents because there is no past life. Memory is directly related to the record. A good record enables a good memory, but it is not the only factor affecting recall. The elapsed time, information, and practice also affect it. Memory constitutes the identity of the person (memory loss is a loss of identity).
Kinds of Memory
Theory and psychological research interpret the action of memory capacity when compared with the functioning of the components that make up storage.
On the Record
Just what constitutes learning is what is recorded.
Significance
The greater the significance of the information, the greater the possibility of registering it. There are three forms of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
Sensory Memory
It presents a level of meaning. It is the ability to record content for a few seconds that relates to perception, such as sounds, melodies, shapes, and colors. It has a high capacity, but only a minimal amount of information will go to the short-term store. The information remains in the consciousness for a few seconds. For example, when we hear a melody and stop its emission from the player, we hear it in some form in our mind.
Loss and Forgetting
We must not confuse the information lost with oblivion. Loss implies the destruction of neurons and, therefore, the destruction of information. Lost information does not recover anymore. To go back to having that information, it is necessary to repeat the learning process. The destroyed neurons are lost forever. For information to be recoverable in forgetting, you need to activate those neurons in the brain where the information is saved. All we have learned is recorded in long-term memory; it is never cleared (except for the destruction of neurons). Everything learned can then be retrieved. Factors affecting oblivion are as follows: elapsed time, significance of the information, and failure to use.
There is a direct proportion between time and the amount of information forgotten. If the contents are of little significance, awareness will soon forget them. Under a traumatic mechanism, they are rapidly banished by consciousness to somewhere in the mind. This is due to the immediacy of such facts, to lead a normal life. Unlike other materials relating to cognitive processes, memory is part of the life of the human being. By definition, man is a psychological being. Memory is part of the identity of the person, making any form of severe memory loss a loss of identity. Memory loss is always produced by brain damage that causes the destruction of memory: accidents, diseases, drugs, shock, alcohol, and failure of dreams.
As mentioned, a good record enables a good memory, besides the other elements mentioned: significance, use of the material, and time.
Key to Effecting a Good Record
In regards to theoretical-abstract information, systematization, ranking, or ordering are what lead to a good memory. In regards to episodic memory, it will be the significance of what is done that will enable memory. Understanding the functioning of memory is especially important for those who are in a formal learning process (school) and who are in a process where their memory is tested in evaluations.
Multi-Store Theory
Short-Term Memory (STM)
Working memory and memory of this time are assimilated to the memory of a computer screen. Short-term memory uses a limited range of information. The purpose of this report is to respond to the demands of the present moment and, in turn, seek new learning because, as we have learned, only what can happen to long-term memory will remain; the rest is lost. That is short-term memory, where information is encoded to allow understanding and, therefore, assimilate and generate learning.
Short-term memory presents two weaknesses:
- It handles little information, and it is lost if not derived into learning.
- To code and meet the requirements, it relies on the contents of long-term memory.
LTM: The ability of this memory is practically unlimited. It is in this report in which all the learnings of the individual are recorded. LTM constitutes the identity of the subject: all we are, all our experiences are recorded in this experience. It must be remembered that learning covers the entire individual. Memory capacity has a direct connection with the learner and the rest of cognition. It is possible, then, to recall episodes, flavors, and tastes.
Preliminaries
“Ominia mea mecum porto” – “I carry with me all my (literal)”
Translation and Interpretation: All the things of greatest value of my property are always with me. Tangible property may be lost, but the goods of the spirit, which are achieved through the will, will not ever be lost. This notion applies both in a cultural group as well as at an individual level.
Constructivist Definition
“Process conducted by visual intelligence, by which the human subject is constructed as a person” (metaphysical definition, constructivist) -> Everything in man is the result of an action conducted by pedagogical forces present in the culture. In 99.9% of cases, everything in man is the subject of learning. Only 0.01% is instinctive. Learning is covered by each of the human dimensions and involves a qualitative and ontological change (relating to being) on the subject, not just about a compression or assimilation of theoretical content. The transition from ignorance to knowledge is a change in the very being of the subject. Ignorance and wisdom are ontological statuses. It is a process that takes place from the physical to the theoretical-abstract, through the will, emotions, moral values, and language, reaching abstract intellectual skills.
Example of Physical Learning
You learn to ride a bike, walk, or do some sport (not the language of the dumb, as it includes abstract knowledge).
Will
Domination or control of the disposition to do something, willpower, spirit of overcoming, self-control.
Feelings, Emotions (Emotional Intelligence)
Development of the capacity to both identify emotional states in oneself and others; ability to modify action through negative emotional states.
Social Modeling
Also called social modeling or observation. It is not known exactly why individuals imitate, but the fact is that a large percentage of learning is accomplished through this means. Children possess a great capacity for imitation. To compete in the economic field, they copy from existing models to overcome or refine them. This is based on the following stages:
- Acquisition: Observing a certain behavior in another individual, positively identified.
- Retention: The previously observed behavior is stored in memory.
- Enforcement: The subject acts according to the observed pattern.
- Reinforcement: Social reinforcement comes from outside the subject or is established in their repertoire of behaviors, either reinforcing the imitated behavior or abolishing it.
The process of learning by imitation can be conscious or subconscious. You can compare the action with the action of a potter and clay. Clay is the human individual. The model or design, formed by pedagogical forces in each culture, is the result of action in the culture. At some point in individual development, the person starts to take an active role in the process.
New Considerations on Learning by Imitation
Many complex learning processes are carried out by imitation: male and female gender roles, violent behaviors, envy, fear, peaceful behaviors. Neither the model nor the one who intends to imitate is aware of imitating or being imitated. It is said that the process of imitation is both conscious and subconscious. The characteristics of the imitation model are learned from what is liked (looking like the similar). Therefore, women learn best from women, and children from children. If a positive affective relationship enables learning, a greater emotional bond leads to greater imitation.
Intelligence
Latin etymology: intus (within) + legere (read) => read inside things
Interpretation of the Etymology
Intelligence is a capacity that makes it possible to understand things in their very being, in their core identity, in their constitutive essence. It is the essential capacity to learn. The definition of intelligence conceives of it as a power of knowledge, but intelligence is much more than just knowing. Intelligence is defined in various ways, but the common denominator always refers to the idea of a faculty. It is a capacity that entitles the subject to exercise it through certain operations:
- Capacity for knowing and interpreting (cognitivist notion)
- Apply knowledge to life and circumstances (pragmatic notion)
- Learn to solve problems based on previous experience
- Control and identify emotions throughout experience (strongest of all knowledge)
Definition
Intelligence is the latest spiritual power that directly enables human beings to effect the process of learning, that is, the construction process. For this reason, if there is no intelligence, there is no learning. Intelligence is not only rational thought; it is the spiritual power that enables human development in every physical dimension: emotional, rational, moral. Intelligence allows all learning, from the physical to the theoretical-abstract, from the will to feelings, moral values, art, etc. Currently, research is being conducted on emotional intelligence (Goleman). Another researcher has developed the theory of multiple intelligences.
Aspects of Emotional Intelligence
- Being able to motivate oneself
- Persist despite disappointments
- Control impulses
- Delay gratification, regulate, be patient
- Avoid mood disorders that decrease the ability to think
- Hope
- Empathize
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Author: H. Gardner, a psychologist at Harvard University. It has long been understood that intelligence is a rational capacity, that is, the ability to understand things logically. Gardner identifies the following applied fields of intelligence:
- Verbal or Linguistic Intelligence: Fluency in spoken or written language. This capacity is mainly developed by:
- Verbal/Spoken: Politicians, teachers, preachers, salespeople, announcers.
- Written: Writers, poets, writers.
- Logical-Mathematical: Engineers, mathematicians.
- Spatial: Capacity to locate oneself in space; sense of self-guidance. Navigators, pilots, astronauts.
- Bodily-Kinesthetic: Related to body movement. Characteristic of athletes, dancers.
- Musical: Affinity for both interpreting and creating music.
- Artistic: Includes all the arts.
- Personal Intelligence:
- Intrapersonal: Emotional intelligence, capacity to know oneself.
- Interpersonal: Capacity to build relationships.
Intelligence is a spiritual power that defines man. It is a skill for learning (the process of constructing oneself). It is virtually illuminated, but in practice, only a minimum percentage is used. How to use more? Through stimulation and practice. Any healthy person is intelligent, in principle. Students are asked for a customized education program. They are intellectually capable, but reality requires the application of one of these intelligences. Examples:
- Mathematical: The four basic operations, percentages, rule of three.
- Spatial: Cardinal points, sense of direction (left, right, up, down).
- Bodily: Walking, biking, running, any sport.
- Musical/Artistic: Only those who have an operation related to a particular profession develop these.
- Personal Intelligence: Represents a real challenge for everyone, as it connects with the emotional nature of humans.
Learning
Learning is a relatively permanent modification of behavior, thought, history of emotions as a result of experience. The most common mechanisms are the imitation of constraint processing, information processing, and thought. It alludes to the notion of a repertoire of one party to the acquisition and phasing out of behaviors.
- Classical Conditioning: The association of a stimulus that naturally causes a physiological reaction.
- Operant Conditioning: Production by the association of the impact of behavior, by association of awards or punishments.
- Learning by Imitation of Models: Concerning gender roles or violent behavior, it is not always meant to be imitated, nor is the observer aware of imitating. A principal element is the characteristics of the model.
- Learning by Information Processing: The content may refer to sports activities and indications about thinking. Didactics are included in this program.