Scientific American's The Memory Code - July 2007
Researchers are closing in on the rules that the brain uses to lay down memories. Discovery of this memory code could lead to new ways to peer into the mind.
Anyone who has ever been in an earthquake has vivid memories of it: the ground shakes, trembles, buckles and heaves; the air fills with sounds of rumbling, cracking and shattering glass; cabinets fly open; books, dishes and knickknacks tumble from shelves. We remember such episodes--with striking clarity and for years afterward--because that is what our brains evolved to do: extract information from salient events and use that knowledge to guide our responses to similar situations in the future. This ability to learn from past experience allows all animals to adapt to a world that is complex and ever changing.
Jean-Louis Dessalles explores the co-evolutionary paths of biology, culture, and the great human edifice of language, linking the evolution of the language to the general evolutionary history of humankind. He provides searchingly original answers to such fundamental paradoxes as to whether we acquired our greatest gift in order to talk or so as to be able to think, and as to why human beings should, as experience constantly confirms, contribute information for the well-being of others at their own expense and for no apparent gain: which if this is one of language's main functions appears to make its possession, in Darwinian terms, a disadvantage.
An invaluable background book for pre-intermediate and intermediate students of English. SPOTLIGHT ON BRITAIN gives a region-by-region account of life in the United Kingdom. The wide variety of topics includes London, TV and Radio, Liverpool and the Beatles, Stratford and Shakespeare, Northern Ireland. Interesting information combines with opportunities for lively discussion, and students are provided with comprehension questions and language practice exercises.
As we approach the start of the 21st century, we are undergoing a major revolution in information. Access to information is made easy by the many journals and magazines available on a multitude of subjects. In addition, there is a wealth of information on the world wide web (the Internet) which is available for access by all users. You can find information on almost any subject, common or obscure. Many search engines make it easy to find the information you want.
Psychologists & Their Theories for Students
The purpose of Psychologists and Their Theories for Students is to
provide readers with in-depth information on major psychological
theories, past and present, as well as the people who developed them.
Psychologists explains each psychologist’s theories in detail, then
analyzes the historical context and critical reaction to the theories.
Biographical information is also included. Psychologists is designed to
meet the needs of high school and college students in the first two
years of study.
