
Brain Maps Out Ideas and Memories Like Spaces - Reedx
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-brain-maps-out-ideas-and-memories-like-spaces-20190114/
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cityroasted
"The Art of Memory" by Frances Yates is an interesting and scholarly book on
the ancient origins of this idea. It's not a light read but I find it
fascinating how influential this idea has been over such long periods of time,
and also how memory has changed and evolved with the accessibility of the
written word. Reciting hour long speeches word for word from memory used to be
a commonplace skill (rhetoric).

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jimkri
This is super interesting, and someone let me know if I'm interpreting it
wrong.

This reminds me of times when I go back home and I have to remember a route to
get somewhere, say the mall, and in my head I following a path that I
remember. Every Time I need to go somewhere in a car it is the most obvious
that I am following that path.

I wonder if this can be used to help people remember events by using locations
to help bring that memory forward. Say you show a picture to someone on a day
something traumatic has happened and the location actually helps them remember
and they can walk through that situation.

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627562696e6761
You're spot on actually, recall performance can be significantly influenced by
the environment in which the recall is occurring. The closer to the original
context in which the memories were formed, the better chance of accurate
recall. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context-
dependent_memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context-dependent_memory)

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jimkri
This is pretty interesting, and thanks for the link. This is now making me
think how people with ADHD (like myself) can use this to understand how they
think. I just read people with ADHD can start creating false memories with
situations because they may not have been paying attention in that situation,
but I don't want to go on too much of a tangent.

The original article is something really exciting to read, the more that we
can understand about how we can navigate through our mental space would help
so many people and it's really cool to think about.

Random thought is if you can apply network theory to the hexagonal array or
the grid like pattern? If it can be, my first thought would be to apply Triac
closure and other principles to see how memories are tied to one another and
the connections between them.

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pizza
Reminds me of the cooler and more general form of synesthesia, 'ideasthesia'
\- like synesthesia where concepts get sensory augmentation
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideasthesia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideasthesia)

So... I wonder then if there is duality in this mapping like between
frequency/time domains with a Fourier transform of signal over time, just,
instead, over a concept domain

    
    
        (grid/place) cells :: spatial resolution / location 
    

<->

    
    
        cells, which if combined, encode concepts :: conceptual resolution/frequency (??)

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beaconstudios
I think concept spaces acquire a "shape" when we become familiar enough (I
associate this with the idea of a subject "clicking"), and that creativity
often involves realising the shape of different concept spaces are similar and
thus ideas from one can apply to another. Furthermore, I believe these
"shapes" exist as a metaphysical "truth", akin to platonic forms. I think it
ties into how real-world problems can often be reduced to pure mathematical
problems. I experience ideasthesia very strongly (often having strong,
immediate instinctual reactions to e.g. how well new software features fit
within the "shape" of the overall domain as well as having affinity or
aversion to concepts for reasons I have to deduce later).

I'm not sure exactly what I'm trying to say, beyond "I think so, yeah". It's a
super interesting area of exploration and either it hasn't been looked into
enough, or I don't know the right words to look for. I can feel a thread
linking concepts like mental models, systems theory, cybernetics, Christopher
Alexander's work on pattern languages, and so on.

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thecupisblue
You're on a good path, abstractions and concepts overlap a lot between
seemingly different areas of reality.

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beaconstudios
Yeah they do, and I'm interested in what we can do with that. I believe that
accessible modelling could change the world in a lot of fundamental ways.

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mitchtbaum
Hands down, my favorite living researcher, developer, demo-er, etc of mental,
spatial orientation and placement etc is Marcin Maskow Kowalczyk.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU2tKYvDH2g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU2tKYvDH2g)

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wenc
Sherlock (BBC) uses a "mind palace" technique [1] to remember stuff, where
concepts are mapped to places/spaces.

It was apparently used by Ancient Greek and Roman orators as mnemonic device.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci)

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ausbah
Fascinating, I wonder to what degree these structures play in human
intelligence as a whole.

