Upon visiting Philadelphia, specifically the Reading Terminal Market, I witnessed waves and waves of people walking, talking, and buying food-related materials. The stands were all so congested, which made finding somewhere to eat lunch a serious and speedy feat. Once, I finally sat down and took in my surroundings, my immediate thoughts were “Wow, it’s like the pandemic never occurred!”. I then realized that I had not thought of the Pandemic and there were no visual indicators in the reading terminal market, except occasionally empty hand sanitizer bottles reminding you to clean your hands. I realized then that I had not quite thought about the Pandemic for a while and had a difficult time attempting to bring a specific memory to mind about that very time that happened not too long ago. It is a seeming blur of laptop teaching, working at home, and facemasks. I would like to talk about a phenomenon that is brought up in the Washington Post article called Science of Forgetting: Why we’re already losing our pandemic memories, written by Richard Sima. In the article, Sima points out the current reasons why our brains may be forgetting our covid memories (Sima, 2023). The article focuses on information overload, monotony, and just not wanting to remember unwanted memories. 

           I will be focusing on Episodic memories of our time living through the Pandemic. The memories which are like mental time travel back to the year 2020-2021. Long-term memories are an “archive” of information about past experiences (Goldstein, 2021). When I talk about remembering, I am talking about the process of recollection of episodic memories of the pandemic and those surrounding the very impactful and traumatizing time. In the article, the talk to Norman Brown, a cognitive psychology professor from the University of Alberta, explains how memory has three interrelated phases for memory: encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of information (Sima, 2023). Norman Brown continues to talk about how new information or experiences are encoded in our brain and how it makes changes to the neurons in our hippocampus. Those memories then become stored during memory consolidation, which happens during sleep, and finally, memory retrieval in which we recollect those memories from the memory trace neurons in the hippocampus and cortex (Sima, 2023). Sima continues to talk about how memories are meant to fade if not used. So why can’t we seem to remember the pandemic?

As Ricard Sima points out, First, there was an overwhelming amount of information that we had to deal with varying from different medical information to waves of different viruses. It was so much new information that we had difficulty capturing it all and processing it. It was also a very stressful time which interferes with the creation of new memories. (Sima, 2023). Secondarily, the pandemic was monotonous for those who were unable to leave their homes. This meant that the lack of variety consolidated our memories together. Finally, Those memories created during the pandemic were not ideal or generally happy ones and so people do not want to think or remember it (Sima, 2023). By default, retrieving a memory is a deep elaborative process, in which elaborative rehearsal is suggested to establish a long-term memory. (Goldstein, 2021). However, If you are not trying to think back and rehearse that memory, it may lead to the pruning of those memories (Goldstein, 2021). 

This article did a great job of explaining how memory works in a simplified and understandable way. I am glad that I am not the only one who feels that the Pandemic was a blur versus a clear and memorable time. However, as the article points out, it is important that we not forgot all that happened as those memories, just like all others, can contain information we can use in the future. 

Resources

Goldstein, E. Bruce. Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Cengage, 2021.

Sima, R. (2023, March 13). Science of forgetting: Why we’re already losing our pandemic memories. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/03/13/brain-memory-pandemic-covid-forgetting/

In our assigned reading there has been a recurrence of the topic of mind wandering. In the textbook,  Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience, mind wandering is brought up as the activation of the default mode network, also known as DMN. The theory behind its occurrences is that DMN occurs when a person is not entirely focused on a task (Goldstein, 2021). I have dealt with the terms daydreamer and would be told repeatedly to “pay attention” since the start of elementary school. I wanted to further understand this mind-wander terminology and found an article that talks about the association with ADHD. To understand the study behind the article we need to understand what mind-wandering is, what is ADHD, and what was concluded in the study. 

Many articles showcase the pros and cons behind daydreaming and mind-wondering. When I attempted to find one in favor of the activity, I was met with one with denounced mind wondering that it leads to unhappiness. Science tells us that mind wandering is extremely prevalent and could occur while individuals did a wide range of activities (Goldstein, 2021). As Goldstein explains, “ Your brain switched from task-related networks…to your default mode network and it is in this state where our mind wonders. It is not a productive time to have as studies show that mind-wandering decreases task performance (Randall, Oswald & Beier, 2014). While it is not an ideal thing to occur, it is prevalent and human. 

Attention- Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder is commonly abbreviated as ADHD. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood (CDC, 2022). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors, or may be overactive. The first symptom listed on their website is A child with ADHD might daydream a lot. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders also includes the symptom of inattention, which includes that a child may have difficulty maintaining attention. (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, I must point out that the terms daydreaming or mind wandering is not included. 

The article Study suggests mind-wandering is an underlying dysfunction among children with ADHD written by Laura Staloch talks about a study in which researchers explored the potential association between mind-wondering and children diagnosed with ADHD (Staloch, 2022). Specifically, unmedicated children diagnosed with ADHD are more likely to mind-wander which ultimately leads to off-task behaviors. It’s fantastic that more studies are being performed so that educators can be better informed on how to better help their students with a diagnosis of ADHD. This information can be beneficial so there is a better understanding of how children think and to be more patient and aware of their student’s behaviors.

Resources:

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, August 9). What is ADHD?. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html#:~:text=ADHD%20is%20one%20of%20the,)%2C%20or%20be%20overly%20active.

Goldstein, E. Bruce. Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Cengage, 2021. 

Randall JG, Oswald FL, Beier ME. Mind-wandering, cognition, and performance: a theory-driven meta-analysis of attention regulation. Psychol Bull. 2014 Nov;140(6):1411-1431. doi: 10.1037/a0037428. Epub 2014 Aug 4. PMID: 25089941.

Staloch, L. (2022, December 5). Study suggests mind-wandering is an underlying dysfunction among children with ADHD. PsyPost. https://www.psypost.org/2022/12/study-suggests-mind-wandering-is-an-underlying-dysfunction-among-children-with-adhd-64451

Schizophrenia is a mental health illness that affects approximately 24 million people worldwide, which statistically means 1 in every 300 people suffer from this chronic condition (World Health Organization, 2023). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classifies the disorder as a chronic mental illness that can involve positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and behavior), negative symptoms, and cognitive impairment (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). How it affects perception is something that is being discovered and studied. In the article, Understanding Delusions of Control: How Schizophrenia Alters Perception of Actions, author Mareike Kardinal, discusses a recent research article that showed how the perspective of an individual with schizophrenia may be different (Kardinal, 2023). To better understand the outcome of this research, we need to know the basics of how the disorder works, the ideologies behind perception, and the general interpretation of the results.  

Schizophrenia itself impairs one’s ability to live a healthy and independent life by distorting one’s reality due to varying disabling symptoms. Though there is no known direct cause of schizophrenia, there is an association between genetics and environmental factors. (World Health Organization, 2023). Treatment for Schizophrenia is more successful when it is a combination of talk therapy and medications, such as antipsychotics (NCBI, 2014). To how it affects the brain, a research article titled Structural and Function Brain Abnormalities mentions an association of schizophrenia with changes to brain systems, including, prefrontal, and medial temporal lobe regions (Karlsgodt et al., 2010). This demonstrates how schizophrenia physically influences one’s brain and how it functions.

There are different theories when it comes to perception and how they lead to our actions. This ranges between theories that support the ideology by Helmholtz, regularities, and Bayesian inference, which all focus on how different factors such as our past experiences help us determine what we perceive (Goldstein, 2021). We will be focusing on the Bayesian Inference which is that we perceive what is most likely to have created the stimulation we have received based on probability (Goldstein, 2021). In other words, what is most likely to happen will. To better understand the relationship between perception and action, we will reference the experiment by Leslie Ungerleider and Mortimer Mishkin (1982), which concluded the importance and connection of the Temporal lobe and the Parietal lobe. (Goldstein, 2021). The ventral and dorsal pathway shows how what we see or perceive is connected to our temporal lobe which is also affected by schizophrenia. (Karlsgodt et al., 2010).

 Following up on the article, Understanding Delusions of Control: How Schizophrenia Alters Perception of Actions, researchers did a controlled experiment to recognize if there is a perspective difference between individuals with schizophrenia and healthy individuals, and there was (Kardinal, 2023). In the experiment, Individuals with schizophrenia perceived the time interval between their action of flipping a switch and a light turning on. If there was even a half-second delay in the lamp turning on, those with the mental condition of schizophrenia reported that external forces controlled the lamp. Kardinal, 2023 states that researchers in this experiment realized that there was an association: the weaker an intentional binding was, the more those individuals with schizophrenia would attribute their actions to an external factor. An interesting factor that is included is that this study was inspired by Bayesian causal inference models, suggesting that blaming external factors could lead to decreased intentional binding. (Kardinal, 2023). This showcases how schizophrenia can lead to changes in perception when compared to healthy individuals.

Overall, this theory of how perception works and the different perspectives behind them helped me better understand the article. I was able to put together how it is all connected and the importance of recognizing the different parts of the brain and how together they influence one’s perception. It was truly so exciting to better understand what I was reading and how this very serious schizophrenia is and how affects those who suffer from it. I would love it if this study could be replicated with a larger pool of participants to see if the results are the same. These results help creates a better understanding of what it is like to be someone who lives with schizophrenia.

References:

 American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596

 Goldstein, E. Bruce. Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Cengage, 2021. 

 Kardinal, M. (2023, May 25). Understanding delusions of control: How schizophrenia alters the perception of action. Neuroscience News. https://neurosciencenews.com/schizophrenia-action-perception-23344/

Karlsgodt, Katherine H, et al. “Structural and Functional Brain Abnormalities in Schizophrenia.” Current Directions in Psychological Science, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Aug. 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4235761/#:~:text=Schizophrenia%20is%20associated%20with%20changes,memory%20and%20declarative%20memory%2C%20respectively. Accessed 29 May 2023. 

 Patel, Krishna R, et al. “Schizophrenia: Overview and Treatment Options.” P & T : A Peer-Reviewed Journal for Formulary Management, Sept. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4159061/.

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Schizophrenia. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/schizophrenia#:~:text=Schizophrenia%20affects%20approximately%2024%20million,as%20many%20other%20mental%20disorders.