Faith Tong (Week 1)- a psychology lesson for you :)

 a psychology lesson for you :) 

Faith Tong 

    I would of never imagined myself writing a blog post about psychology! Psychology is a very interesting topic and now I’m gonna be an expert today to explain to you how the different types of memories we have can affect the way we speak or express ourselves. 

    Did you know that we have various memory parts that help us to remember information? The two main parts of memory that correlate with language are sensory and explicit memory. Sensory memory is actually divided into two smaller sections: echoic and iconic memory. Echoic memory is when you use listening to remember information while iconic memory is using observation to remember information. The way we perceive others expression while speaking can help determine the way we speak, and affect the way we use language. 

    Similarly, explicit memory is also known as “declarative memory”, where you have to say the information you want to memorize out loud in order to remember it and store it in your long term memory. One of explicit memory’s smaller sections is semantic memory, where one is able to remember words, concepts, or even language through adding meaning to it. For example, if I want to improve at learning a language, whenever I learn new vocabulary or phrases, I can add meaning or emotion to them to help me remember the word meaningfully and for a longer time. 

    Language can bring out different sides of ourselves when we interact with others. So for those who are bilingual, language can bring out two sides of a person. For me, I can speak both Chinese and English, and unconsciously I incorporate differently styles of expressing myself through the language I use. When I speak Chinese, I remember that my culture values respect, so I will unconsciously pay attention to what I say and make sure I don’t offend anyone. But when I speak English, I know that I can be more casual and free to say what I want. The way we remember different aspects such as culture can influence the way we express language. 

    Ok sorry for the whole rant about psychology, language, and memory! I hope you at least learned something and my question to you is: Which type of memory do you think you use the most?     

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