Memory in psychology is an accumulation of certain processes directly responsible for storage, accumulation, and, if necessary, reproduction of various types of information structures. Emotional memory is the accumulation and reproduction of experienced emotional experience, which is tightly “fused” in the psyche with the specific event that caused the emotion.
How to manage this type of memory, develop and strengthen this ability? What are the functions of memory for feelings and emotions. Without the ability to remember traumatic experiences, a person would not be able to fully develop.
Types of memory: emotional memory
The famous psychologist P. P. Blonsky identified 4 main types of memory. The basis for dividing memory into motor, emotional, figurative and logical is which mental activity is more clearly expressed in the process of memorization. So, memory happens:
- Motor - remembering movements. Cycling, skating, knitting - all this is possible thanks to the work of motor, or otherwise, motor memory.
- Emotional - the ability to remember feelings and emotions associated with an object, event or phenomenon.
- Figurative - memory for images of nature, auditory or taste images, or conceptual constants formed in the form of an abstract image.
- Verbal-logical. Memorizing mental images, concepts embedded in words and connections between concepts. It develops when the child can already perceive abstract categories.
Memory of the verbal-logical type is the most complex and develops later than other types, thanks to volitional efforts. If logical memory is well developed, then in an adult it becomes leading in all mental activity. Then a person can direct and control all processes of memorization and reproduction.
As for emotional memory, it is this process that plays a key role in the formation of a socialized personality. It is impossible to make decisions about your future activities without relying on your internal states. Without remembering emotional states, a person would not be able to learn from his mistakes.
Definition
Emotional memory – remembering, preserving and reproducing emotionally charged phenomena, memory for feelings. It is acquired as a result of experienced sensations, both positive and negative, which are associated with events that occurred in the past.
In the present, these memories, stored in emotional memory, can serve as a guide to a person's actions and interpretation of events. This is what explains the reluctance to buy any product in a store if the last time you found it not fresh enough, cloying or too sweet. Children's fears fuel their dislike of going to the dentist. A more dramatic example is that after experiencing a difficult breakup, a person becomes less amorous and trusting, closed.
But while emotional memory is important to most people as a means of recalling memories and as a learning experience, for an actor it is much more important. It is important for a stage performer to be able to isolate a pure emotion or experience in a memory, and “live” it – convey it during the stage action. Therefore, he needs a strong, stable and rich emotional memory.
One of the first to become interested in this subject was the French psychologist T. Ribot, who studied the psychology of feelings and used the term “affective memory.” K. S. Stanislavsky, referring to the obsolescence of this concept, in “The Actor’s Work on Oneself,” uses the concept of “emotional memory.”
How does emotional memory work?
The work is based on the interaction of several structural elements: emotions themselves, positive or negative, feelings, thoughts and information that stimulates the individual’s thoughts and feelings. They are closely interconnected and it is impossible to separate the components in the stream of consciousness. How do you remember emotions?
An experienced situation or phenomenon leaves a trace in the psyche called an engram. Emotions help us determine how successful our relationships with society are and whether our personal relationships are successful. The stronger the emotion, the brighter and clearer the engram. Then a sudden reminder can awaken this trace in memory and “pull out” all the emotions. However, the strength and quality of the newly reproduced emotions differ from the initial reaction. For example, after several years, an event that was upsetting may already be perceived as a funny incident. This is due to the fact that the mental assessment of the event is already different.
In the process of memorization, generalization of experiences often occurs. This means that the stimulus that caused the experience is eventually combined with other stimuli. Because of this, a person sometimes cannot clearly remember the real reason for his fear.
Exercises for memory development
Many of the exercises that are presented on the site can be done not only online , but also in everyday life. You can practice remembering routes and people when moving around the city during the day. Memorizing employees in the office, who sits where and what they do, at the time of entering or leaving the office. You can memorize your to-do list for the day, week, or even month. I also highly recommend remembering the events of the whole day, start in the morning: how you woke up, what your mood was, how you managed to get up, what happened at home, what happened on the street, at work, and so on. At first, few events may be remembered, but over time there will be more and more of them.
Pay attention also to a very effective technique for remembering dreams. Not every person remembers what he dreamed in the morning, yesterday, and even 5 minutes after sleep. You can keep a dream diary. Over time, not only will your dreams be remembered better, but their quality will also become better and better. So in one night you will remember not just one, but 3, 4 or more dreams and you will remember everything better than before the start of the training. Often, such attention to dreams not only transforms them from cloudy memories into beautiful and detailed worlds, but also gives awareness. Thus, a lucid dream may develop, especially if in the evening you selectively or completely reread the dreams that you wrote down.
The best way to improve a skill is to undergo training in a special program.
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Within 30 days after subscribing, you will receive interesting exercises and educational games in your email that you can apply in your life.
We will learn to remember everything that may be required in work or personal life: learn to remember texts, sequences of words, numbers, images, events that happened during the day, week, month, and even road maps.
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Emotional and figurative types of memory
Human emotional memory is closely interconnected with images. Due to the fact that emotions brighten experienced events and captured patterns, our brain is able to produce new images that did not exist. That is, to create art and poetry.
Images can be visual, olfactory and even gustatory. Emotional images are best remembered by actors and poets. It is for these people that emotional memory is always leading. And just like in any other profession, you need to be able to manage images.
Development of attention
In order to remember well, you also need to have good attention in order to focus on the desired object, otherwise the information may not even get into short-term memory and the person will immediately forget everything after switching to something else. Severe forgetfulness is typical for absent-minded people or those who are not used to paying attention to anything or have simply convinced themselves that “I DON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING,” “It’s all because I have a BAD MEMORY,” and so on.
Attention and memory are mostly psychological aspects and therefore self-hypnosis plays a huge role here. Of course, it will not make you instantly always attentive and remember everything down to the smallest detail, but if you regularly remind yourself, it will greatly increase your capabilities. And in combination with training, it increases significantly.
How are works of art created? The role of emotional memory
People of creative professions are good at using images. They need to be able to analyze and synthesize images, make analogies and produce new ideas. Without constant attention to these mental processes; to the accumulated emotional experience, the images will be blurry. Accordingly, the actor will not be able to reproduce them clearly enough on stage.
The ability to select a chain of similar images for each image is important. All great geniuses were able to keep in memory many such chains of emotional images, which they then embodied in music or drawing. This can be learned. Another important characteristic of the emotional memory of a creative person is a low threshold of sensitivity. The lower the threshold of emotional sensitivity, the more information about the world and other people a creative person can perceive and embody.
Reviews and comments
You can share your experience and thoughts on the topic of the article by leaving a comment below.
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Key words:1Mnemonics
Physiological basis of memory
The existence of emotions was confirmed by science when an area called the amygdala was discovered deep in the temporal lobe of the brain. This part of the limbic system is responsible for the emergence of emotions. But vegetative changes in the body under the influence of fear, for example, are the work of the hypothalamus. The processes occurring in the limbic system are both electrical and biochemical in nature; they affect the condition of all organs and systems.
Emotions are therefore always accompanied by activation of the nervous system and changes in blood pressure.
Thanks to the work of the limbic system, a living organism develops using motivation. Behavior is unconsciously either directed to where the person receives reinforcement in the form of positive emotions, or blocked when faced with fear or pain.
All strong emotions are consolidated in memory through the formation of synaptic connections. Various parts of the brain take part in the formation of a memory imprint:
- cerebral cortex: parietal, temporal and frontal;
- the cerebellum is responsible for remembering body movements;
- hippocampus;
- subcortical nodes.
Connections between neurons are not established immediately. The work of chemicals such as endorphins, calcium and enkephalins is important here. These substances are neurotransmitters - hormones that transmit impulses between neurons.
The memorization process requires energy and proteins. Therefore, for a good memory it is necessary to eat well.
Verbal-logical memory
Verbal-logical (verbal) memory is our ability to remember and reproduce thoughts, texts, phrases of other people, etc. Why is it necessary to develop memory in this capacity? This type of memorization is of great importance in the learning process and mastering new material.
Exercises for developing verbal memory:
- One of the simplest and most accessible ways to develop verbal-logical memory is reading and retelling texts .
- Write several pairs of words in a column on a piece of paper, in each of which they are connected in meaning, for example, book - story, cow - milk, dining room - dish, etc. Cover the right column with a piece of paper or your hand, read the remaining open words and try to remember the hidden pair. Increase the chain with each workout.
- Ask someone close to you to read a list of 15 unrelated words. Try to repeat them. To make it easier to remember, build an associative series, or connect the words with each other according to their meaning.
For example: cow-table-phone-keyboard…. can be imagined as follows: a cow was sitting on the table, holding the phone and clicking on the keyboard...
- Learn poetry, the best way to develop memory is constant training.
- Exercise “Pictograms”:
- Read the text
- Highlight key words or phrases in the text.
- Assign any picture to each phrase - create an association.
- Link the resulting pictures into a cartoon or a clip.
- Look at the pictures and reproduce the text.
- Use online exercises, such as Vikium.
Instructions on how to remember the text
- Read and understand the material you need to remember. The most important factor is UNDERSTANDING. It is impossible to remember for a long time what you do not understand, because associative connections are not built in memory.
- Write down what you read . Without looking at the source, try to summarize the remembered information in your own words.
- Repeat points 1 and 2 several times . Re-read and write down the text as many times as possible until you are satisfied with the result.
- Review the material you learned after 30 minutes .
- repeat the information again in an hour .
- To transfer the learned data to the long-term department, repeat what you learned the next day .
The above techniques will help you not only develop memory, but also other brain functions: logic, thinking, attentiveness.
Development of emotional memory in children and adults
In order for this type of memory to better develop in a child, you need to help him “turn on” more often imaginative thinking, take him to interesting places and accustom him to the world of literature and theater from childhood.
In adults, one type of memory already dominates, and the psyche is aimed at a certain type of activity. It is very difficult for a mature adult to change perceptions and start thinking differently. However, everyone has emotional memory, and you can try to develop it better and bring it to a conscious level.
What tasks need to be performed to develop this type of memory? Emotional memory is trained if every day, while reading a book, you write down on paper the emotions that arise from the actions of one or another character in your favorite book. Then try to analyze the hero’s inner world, conflict situations between him and society. You can also choose a film for such an analysis.
Memory development online
In order to develop memory, you need a lot of volitional efforts and, of course, the memory itself, in order to remember, about the fact that it needs to be remembered, otherwise it will turn out like in the joke:
“I’m reading a book on improving memory in order to remember where I put the book on speed reading, which I’ve been reading for the second year.”
Not all exercises for memory development want to be repeated over and over again, and many will find it much more convenient and effective to do this online in a game form.
Therefore, a special technique for developing memory online has been developed especially for you with the possibility of free preparation of an individual
The training program consists of effective games and exercise equipment.
Go to exercises
Functions of emotional memory
Why does someone who is not creative need such a memory? The development of emotional memory is necessary for everyone, because a person without emotional experience is uninteresting in communication. In addition, such people are not able to empathize, share painful things and, in essence, are very lonely in their lives. So, we can highlight several functions:
- promotes personality development;
- forms emotional intelligence;
- helps to better navigate society, so it is needed by teachers and company directors;
- influences the development of creativity.
Memory development courses
In addition to games, we have interesting courses that will perfectly pump up your brain and improve memory and concentration:
Development of memory and attention in a child 5-10 years old
The purpose of the course: to develop the child’s memory and attention so that it is easier for him to study at school, so that he can remember better.
After completing the course, the child will be able to:
- 2-5 times better to remember texts, faces, numbers, words
- Learn to remember for a longer period of time
- The speed of recalling the necessary information will increase
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Super memory in 30 days
As soon as you sign up for this course, you will begin a powerful 30-day training in the development of super-memory and brain pumping. The course contains many exercises that require concentration, which is actively trained and developed as the course progresses.
Within 30 days after subscribing, you will receive interesting exercises and educational games in your email that you can apply in your life.
We will learn to remember everything that may be needed in work or personal life: learn to remember texts, sequences of words, numbers, images, events that happened during the day, week, month, and even road maps.
Sign up for a courseRead more
How to improve memory and develop attention
Free practical lesson from advance.
Sign up for freeRead more
Secrets of brain fitness, training memory, attention, thinking, counting
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Why are there problems with money? In this course we will answer this question in detail, look deep into the problem, and consider our relationship with money from psychological, economic and emotional points of view. From the course you will learn what you need to do to solve all your financial problems, start saving money and invest it in the future.
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Emotional intelligence: formation
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and control emotions. Without developing emotional intelligence, it is impossible to successfully lead a team. This is an important quality of true leaders.
A person with developed emotional intelligence is easy to recognize. He gets along well with the people around him, as he understands both his own and other people's emotions. He is always friendly and cheerful.
Conclusion
All behavior throughout life is built on the basis of the emotional experience of the individual. The basis for dividing memory into motor and emotional is the mental activity that is more often used by the individual.
The entire limbic system is responsible for maintaining and developing the emotional state. It includes: the amygdala (amygdala), hypothalamus, mastoid body, hippocampus, olfactory triangle, and other structures. Memory is formed through the synthesis of long-term connections between brain neurons.
The ability to create is, first of all, a developed figurative and emotional memory. The development of figurative memory is necessary for those who decide to devote themselves to literary, musical or acting creative activity.
How to develop short-term memory
Now let's look at how to develop short-term memory in adults. The easiest way is to use applications on your phone aimed at training this brain function. For example, memorizing a number series that is shown on the screen for a few seconds, and as the result improves, the number of digits increases.
In addition, you can develop short-term memory simply by walking down the street: look at any object or person for a few seconds, try to remember all the details as accurately as possible, turn in the other direction and mentally reproduce the picture. If possible, check yourself to see how accurately you worked.
All the exercises described above for auditory and visual memory are suitable for training RAM. And if you want to transfer this information to a long-term information box, repeat it again after a while.
How else to develop your memory and brain activity - use neurobics exercises, which are described in more detail here.
All types of memory in humans are interconnected; it is impossible to remember information using only auditory or visual memory. But each type is developed, maybe differently, so training of less active departments is required to improve productivity and efficiency, including training. In addition, we can say that the development of memory also affects the development of the brain as a whole, its other functions - attentiveness, logic, thinking, etc.
