1. Language plays a huge role in a young child’s life especially with memory. One major example of how language affects memory would be when looking at Mnemonic strategies. These strategies are viewed as a special kind of transformational strategy that applies specific language to learning, and connect information learned with key words or letters. An example of this would be the A-B-C song. This song uses repetition when looking at the flow of the song and the parts of the song that they increase emphasis or base on to help stick in the child’s brain throughout their entire life. Another example of this would be the song head, shoulders, knees, and toes. This can be seen as a mnemonic strategy that adds emphasis to the significance of language and memory because throughout this song we see examples of chunking. The song chunks three terms together and also provides visuals to children by pointing to the body parts as they sing the song. This can also be connected to Wang & Ross with the viewpoint presented within the reading of memory “Throughout socialization, individuals acquire knowledge and competencies that serve culturally prescribed goals. (Wang, Q., & Ross, M. 2007)”
2. Culture also has a significant impact on memory. Culture is viewed as both a system and princess of symbols mediation. Culture helps to regulate intrapersonal and interpersonal psychological functions. One example of how culture affects memory would be within Autobiographical memories which are personal experiences. One of the main purposes of memory according to Neisser (1982) is understanding how people use their own past experiences to shape their present and future viewpoints. Specifically, if someone has experienced adversity in life they are more likely to have a harder drive and work ethic due to those experiences being so severe and something they never want to have to relive. Another example of how culture affects memory would be relating to how people become skilled at remembering information important to their everyday activities. When looking at Western school systems we see how children learn songs and poems that help structure their learning. When looking at the Buddhist conception of memory we see how some cultures have complete opposite structures of memory. This conception of memory includes awareness on encoding, recall, and recognition. They describe memory during the waking states as a creation of God, along with their viewpoints that meditation allows individuals to remember everything, even memories from their past life.
3. I believe my culture had a substantial effect on my own personal perception of memory. My earliest memory would be from preschool at the age of 4 years old going on a field trip to Krispy Kreme Donuts with my brother and my father. Language was involved in the development of that memory because I was only excited because of how excited my father was to be able to be a part of something within our school. He often used language that caught my attention because of the way he was describing the highly anticipated day. I believe culture did play a part in the event I remember only because at the time I was going to a low income school and this was the only field trip we went on the entire year, but because my father also knew this I believe that’s why we all were mutually excited to go on the field trip. It was to where we didn’t even care about the donuts. We were just excited to be able to go share this memory together. I believe my culture has an influence on the way I remember this event because of the school and financial factors that had directly affected the school’s ability to be able to have field trips for the youth. Even though it was something rare I personally feel like that's partially why I remember it because of the experience and making those memories with my family. Another way this can connect to culture would be because my brother and I have different mother’s and this time of my life was one of the few moments I had the opportunity to share a memory with my father and brother which had never happened again until high school due to my parents and his mother having a custody battle that separated us. This allowed for us to value the memories we have as children more than we had prior.
Hi Adrianna,
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing the different examples that you provided to help your audiences understand mnemonic strategies and how they relate to the topic of language and memory development. These are very effective ways to help children get acquainted with important information from such a young age– which is why they're heavily used throughout the elementary levels! Additionally, I appreciate the graphics and videos that you've integrated into this blog as it not only provides additional information and explanation over these topics, but they serve as examples to help the audiences better understand these topics. The barriers between language and memory is still an evolving topic in the field of child development, so having more foundation over the knowledge and research that already exists is a great thing to have which you did through your blog! Thanks for sharing!