Memory loss (From Penarth Times)

Memory loss

I NOTED that one of the mental abilities which a television programme presented by Anne Robinson recently tested was memory.

There can be little doubt that a good memory can be a real asset in day-to-day living, and it is presumably correlated with general intelligence in some way.

Older persons in particular can find that their memory lets them down, especially what is called short-term memory. Notoriously, pensioners can often better remember what happened decades ago that what happened last week, though in some cases general mental ability other than possibly speed of response is not seriously affected.

And a photographic memory, unaccompanied by other highly-developed mental capacities, might not take you far beyond pub quizzes and such like.

There is clearly a need to understand, if possible in some depth, as well as to remember. Memorising things parrot fashion as some of us did with poetry at school is not nowadays considered to be the best approach to literature.

Michael O'Neill Warley House Railway Terrace Penarth