‘Single Nucleotide Polymorphism’ that is a DNA sequence variation occurring commonly within a population (one percent) in which Single Nucleotide-A, T, C, or G in the genome differs between members of a biological species.
But it has not been identified as yet by scientists that particularly which nucleotide of DNA from A, T, C, G made the affect and varies among races, which appears as differences in intellect among different races.
Q: Why is it so that, at times, one feels he has met a person or visited a place although he can’t remember it?
A: The phenomenon is because of inability of memory retrieval. For psychologists the term memory covers three important aspects of information processing, namely, encoding, storage and retrieval. Let me explain each of them.
Memory encoding: When information comes into our memory system from sensory input, it needs to be changed into a form that the system can cope with so that it can be stored. (Think of this as similar to changing your money into a different currency when you travel from one country to another.)
For example, a word which is seen on the white board may be stored if it is changed (encoded) into a sound or a meaning, that is semantic processing.
There are three main ways in which information can be encoded or changed, namely visual (picture), acoustic (sound) and semantic (meaning).
For example, how do you remember a telephone number you have looked up in the phone book? If you can see then you are using visual coding but if you are repeating it to yourself you are using acoustic coding (by sound).
Evidence suggests the principle coding system in short-term memory (STM) is acoustic coding.
When a person is presented with a list of numbers and letters, he will try to hold them in STM by rehearsing them verbally.
Rehearsal is a verbal process regardless of whether the list of items is presented acoustically (someone reads them out) or visually (on a sheet of paper).
The principle encoding system in long-term memory (LTM) appears to be semantic coding (by meaning).
However, information in the LTM can also be coded both visually and acoustically.
Memory storage: This concerns the nature of memory stores, that is where the information is stored, how long the memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at any time (capacity) and what kind of information is held.
The way we store information affects the way we retrieve it. There has been a significant amount of research regarding the differences between STM and the LTM.
Most adults can store five and nine items in their short-term memory. Miller (1956) put this idea forward and he called it the magic number 7.
He thought that short-term memory capacity was 7 (plus or minus 2) items because it only had a certain number of “slots” in which items could be stored.
However, Miller didn’t specify the amount of information that can be held in each slot.
Indeed, if we can “chunk” information together we can store a lot more information in our short-term memory.
In contrast the capacity of the LTM is thought to be unlimited. Information can only be stored for a brief duration in the STM (0-30 seconds) but the LTM can last a lifetime.
Memory retrieval: This refers to getting information out-storage. If we can’t remember something, it may be because we are unable to retrieve it.
When we are asked to retrieve something from memory, the difference between STM and LTM become very clear.
STM is stored and retrieved sequentially. For example, if a group of participants are given a list of words to remember and then asked to recall the fourth word on the list, participants go through the list in the order they heard it in order to retrieve the information.
LTM is stored and retrieved sequentially. For example, if a group of participants are given a list of words to remember and then asked to recall the fourth word on the list, participants go through the list in the order they heard it in order to retrieve the information.
LTM is stored and retrieved by association. Organising information can help aid retrieval.
You can organise information in sequences (such as alphabetically, by size or by time).
Imagine a patient being discharged from hospital whose treatment involved taking various pills at various times, changing their dressing and doing exercises.
If the doctor gives these instructions in the order which they must carry out throughout the day, that is in sequence of time, this will help the patient remember them.
Q: In bi-polar or mood disorders, one has premonitions. Some psychiatrists acknowledge this but many believe otherwise. Is it not true that a person peeps into the future when he has premonitions?
A: In parapsychology, precognition also called future sight and second sight is a type of extra sensory perception (ESP) that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information.
The existence of precognition as with other forms of ESP is not accepted by the mainstream scientific community.
Scientific investigation of ESP is complicated by the definition which implies that the phenomenon go against established principles of science.
Specifically, precognition would violate the principle that an effect cannot occur before its cause.
There are established biases affecting human memory and judgment of probability that create convincing but false impressions of precognition.
Q: Can premonitions be used in futuristic studies?
A: Asking someone about premonitions gets a response “That’s ridiculous!” because they are thinking in the normal realm.
How can one predict the future? We have information thrown back on us from what we perceive.
Many times this information is intense because of the type of electromagnetic trauma that occurs during these events.
The more intense the situation, the more the energy will bounce back to our present like a “superb ball.”
Q: Can a person travel in time?
A: Imagination is directly linked with time-travelling, as much as we imagine more connection between brain cells will form and this is called neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is the ability of brain cells to make connection among themselves.
In more brain work (thinking, imagination, learning) you will do more and more connection will form in your brain.
Moreover, previously formed weak connection gets more strengthened. The role of neuroplasticity is widely recognised in healthy development, learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage.
It also refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behaviour, environment and neural processes as well as changes resulting from bodily injury.
During most of the 20th century, the consensus among neuroscientists was that brain structure is relatively immutable after a critical period during early childhood.
This belief has been challenged by findings, revealing that many aspects of the brain remain plastic (shaped, moulded, capable to change) even into adulthood.
Neuroplasticity has replaced the formerly held position that the brain is a physiologically static organ, and explores how-and in which ways-the brain changes due to learning, imagination, to large-scale changes involved in cortical remapping in response to injury.
The role of neuroplasticity is widely recognised in healthy development, learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage.
