When we talked about emotions effecting memories in class, it really stuck with me. I didn’t realize that this actually had a name, mood congruence. This phenomenon is described as mood having a direct effect on memories able to be retrieved. In the past, I have noticed that when I am in a bad mood or feeling particularly negative I can only remember negative memories. Ones where I knocked on the rugby ball in and important game, missing tackles, failing exams and quizzes. I get stuck in a rut of perpetual negativity. But once I get back to a happy and positive mood all of the types of memories change. They go back to when I scored a winning try in a game, got A’s on exams, having great adventures with my friends. My mood and the outside world directly effect which memories I’m able to access. Some of these are mood dependent memories, where I can recall memories depending on my mood, but some of these are mood congruent where it is easier to recall memories when I feel a similar way to how I felt when the memory developed. Emotions effect memories greatly and can effect how many and which are able to be retrieved. This is something I have to keep in mind in the future as some memories may continue to put me down on hard days and I have to remember that they are temporary and only feel so prevalent because of my current mood.
Author: rbs5521
Can you see it?
Vision is a phenomenon between cones and rods reacting to the perception of light and the brain reading the signals from the eyes and creating a picture for us to see. I was in fifth grade when I fist noticed my vision getting fuzzy. It was minor so I didn’t mention it to my mom, but it was just noticeable enough to start to have difficulty reading the board in class. But soon it got bad enough that I couldn’t make out the board and my grades were dropping. Eventually I told my mom and we got my eyes checked out. It turns out I was near sighted. I was given glasses. My vision progressively got worse over time too. Now a days if an object is more than 5 feet away from me it is blurry almost to the point of no recognition. I have friends that are able to drive and function without their prescribed glasses or contacts. I also have friends that have perfect vision and will take my glasses and make fun of how bad my eyesight is. Poor eyesight hinders my every day life. Every morning I have to wake up unable to clearly see the world and choose whether to put on glasses, that get greasy and and dirty throughout the day, or to touch my eyeball just to put a weird flexible piece of plastic against it so I can see. These products are also expensive. Glasses can be up to a couple hundred dollars and contacts cost a few hundred dollars a year, and insurance only covers so much of it. All in all there is a big hindrance from society just because a persons eyes and brain were not wired correctly and some of us aren’t able to see without assistance from glasses or contacts.