Graduating college with no short-term memory
Bio 9G has a lot of information to learn. Imagine what it would be like to take classes after you get a brain tumor removed and you have lost all your short term memory. This happened to Andrew Engel, and he has just graduated summa cum laude from the University of Baltimore. Read or listen to his story about how he has to adjust his study habits to embed all his class information into long-term memory.
13 comments:
Kenny 7240
What an inspiring story, to think that someone could handle a college work load and graduate with a 4.0 But he did it without a short term memory. Almost sounds unbelieveable but he did it with all of his hard work and determination. I can't even begin to imagine how many hours of studying he had to dedicate.
Some questions that came to mind was if the doctors helping him learn and remember, did they gain any new information on how to help students and/or elderly people ehance their memory?
http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2586652.ece
Julia 3716
I just have to think Wow. As a college student now with a perfectly fine short term memory how deterred I am to study sometimes its really embarassing when you hear stories like this. It reminds us some of the abilities we take for granted and how we should value these things that others are unable yet overcome to accomplish.
here is a link to test your short term memory! don't take it for granted and study kids! ;)
http://www.braingle.com/mind/test_numbers.php
oh by the way for the short term memory...it starts off really easy and then it gets harder with each try to adjust to how far you can memorize.
Alexandra 5802
This is truly an inspiring story. I cannot believe that Andrew was able to graduate from college with a 4.0, without having a short-term memory. This fact leads me to believe that hardwork does pay off, and anyone can succeed if they try hard enough. Andrew was very dedicated to school, and I can't believe that he spent 12 hours a day studying. . . I would definitely not be able to do that. My short-term memory does not always work well and sometimes I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast, but at least I know I have a short-term memory. Andrew did not have a short-term memory, but created his own methods of trying to remember people and things. He said that he had a notepad in which he would write in everday, and then he would go home and study it, to help him remember names of people, and events that occured. I kind of feel sorry for Andrew, because I could not imagine not not being able to remember my roommates name. I give Andrew a pat on the back for figuring out how to remember things, and graduating from college with a higher GPA than I have, even though I have a short-term memory.
Here is an interesting article that talks about the different types of memories, and how they affect us.
http://www.tbiguide.com/memory.html
Vidya 7546
Amazing! I was astounded and floored after reading this article and it saddens me that with everything we are provided, we still complain about how difficult schoolwork, projects, etc are - and we are the supposed "normal" ones...By reading this article, I realized that not only do you have to be determined to achieve your goal, but also, dedication and taking initiative is a huge part of this man's success. I feel that through repetitive actions, the person at hand might have been able to succeed, but I would really like to learn the intricacies of the brain and see what triggered this loss of memory in the first place, and how he was able to work around it. An interesting article I found:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12
/20/healthscience/snvital.php
Lyndsay 3718
When I first read the title to this article, it immediately reminded me of Dory in "finding nemo". After I read the article, I was really amazed by how smart one can really be. For me, school is already difficult enough, and to be suffering from short-term memory loss... i don't even know what to say. Its just amazing.
The ways the doctors helped him were obviously really effective. Hopefully people like me with horrible short term memory can be introduced to some of the exercises he performed.
here's a link to the wiki on dory :]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dory_(Finding_Nemo)
Bryan 4270
Even with short term memory I could only hope to achieve everything he has in college. A 4.0, graduating cum laude, wow. This is not just a story of a student learning with an extreme disability, but a story of a student challenging his docors' opinions and forcing them to think of new ideas to help him overcome his lack of short term memory. Posed with such a challenge, these doctors were thinking ouf of the box and with such thinking they could probably help so many other people who suffer from memory loss. You must keep in mind that Andrew was driven and determined to go through with college and he would not let anything stand in the way. When we study hard science we tend to forget the human factor involved.
For those of you interested in drugs that help fight such diseases as Alzheimer's:
http://www.nymemory.org/drugs.html
Amira 7670
This is such an inspiring story. It had me thinking how we take everything we have for granted without realizing the immense blessings all around us. Just listening to his experience has made me want to study harder, and set higher standards for myself. It's so interesting to see how much we need every part of our bodies, and how each part has been created for a specific reason and in a specific way. Also, it is important to note how all the parts in our body are linked, to the point where one part of the body aches, the whole body aches.
Some questions came about though while hearing his story. I wondered if recorded all the lectures or conversations he had with people, and later listening to them repeatedely, whether that would help his memory at all or not. Also, what is considered short-term memory, and what is considered long-term memory? Lastly, can that part of the brain he has lost be replaced?
The link below clarified some of the questions above regarding memory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_term_memory
This is pretty amazing to me because I have a problem remembering things even with my good short term memory. I really doubt I would have the desire or motivation to continue on with school the say this guy did. I don't know if i could get a 4.0 how i am, and to think about doing it with memory loss like this guy sounds impossible. this is truly an inspiring story that must have taken countless hours of dedication. Spending 12 hours per day studying is absolutely insane. We need more of these types of people in our society because we are plagued with lazy people like me, and not enough hard workers. I wonder if doctors learned any new things about how to better integrate information into students heads out of this study.
I think that this is an amazing as well as very inspiring story. I have a perfectly good short term memory, and I have a hard enough time recalling information. Doing something like achieving a 4.0 GPA is something that i know I will never have all throughout college, but to know that someone without a short term memory did it is amazing. Doing something like studying 12 hours per day is also incredible. I don't even study that much for a final exam. This is very impressive, and reflects alot of things about this individual. We need more people who are willing to work like this in our society, so that we can move forward in a positive direction. I wonder if doctors learned anything new about memory retention for people who don't have any memory loss through this patient.
Stephen 2068
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Acoustic-Neuroma-1006/Short-term-memory-loss.htm
Davidson Lao
8776
This story is incredibly powerful and inspiring. This goes to show how strong the motivation and determination of this kid. It's hard enough to obtain a college degree at any college or university, but with this impairment it would seem impossible to many people.
Retaining information and training his memory must have been very difficult for him, yet he was able to obtain his degree. I think it if funny how much we complain about doing homework and studying when today's college students tend to cram right before the test and expect themselves to remember everything. This guy had to constantly study just to achieve the same effect. This is amazing.
Here's a link to information about human memory:
http://www.audiblox.com/human_memory.htm
I think that this is an amazing as well as very inspiring story. I have a perfectly good short term memory, and I have a hard enough time recalling information. Doing something like achieving a 4.0 GPA is something that i know I will never have all throughout college, but to know that someone without a short term memory did it is amazing. Doing something like studying 12 hours per day is also incredible. I don't even study that much for a final exam. This is very impressive, and reflects alot of things about this individual. We need more people who are willing to work like this in our society, so that we can move forward in a positive direction. I wonder if doctors learned anything new about memory retention for people who don't have any memory loss through this patient.
Stephen 2068
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Acoustic-Neuroma-1006/Short-term-memory-loss
I think that this is an amazing as well as very inspiring story. I have a perfectly good short term memory, and I have a hard enough time recalling information. Doing something like achieving a 4.0 GPA is something that i know I will never have all throughout college, but to know that someone without a short term memory did it is amazing. Doing something like studying 12 hours per day is also incredible. I don't even study that much for a final exam. This is very impressive, and reflects alot of things about this individual. We need more people who are willing to work like this in our society, so that we can move forward in a positive direction. I wonder if doctors learned anything new about memory retention for people who don't have any memory loss through this patient.
Stephen 2068
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Acoustic-Neuroma-1006/Short-term-memory-loss
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