Obliviscence And Reminiscence

Author : Philip Boswood Ballard
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781333264758
Total Pages : 110 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (647 download)

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Download or read book Obliviscence and Reminiscence (Classic Reprint) written by Philip Boswood Ballard and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2016-08-19 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Obliviscence and Reminiscence It is generally believed that when one attempts to memorise a passage of poetry the power to reproduce it is at its greatest immediately after. Thenceforth the power is supposed to undergo a gradual process of decay and it is assumed that the longer the lapse of time between the act of learning and the act of reproduction, the more difficult and the less accurate is the reproduction likely to be. And, Speaking generally, whatever may be the nature of the traces left in our minds by our experiences, those traces gradually fade, and the curve of remembering has but one tendency - a downward tendency. Allowing for certain uctuations in memory due to ill-health and fatigue, it will readily be admitted that the strongest and most general tendency among our unrevived memories is this tendency towards oblivion. They are less and less easily reproducible. But this is not the only tendency. Obliviscence is at least partly counteracted by an opposing tendency towards reminiscence. We not only tend to forget what we have once remembered, but we also tend to remember what we have once forgotten. And although we associate reminiscence, in the loose and popular sense of the word, with old age, 'in the strict sense of the word in which it is here used - in the sense of remembering the forgotten - it is really more characteristic of the young. At least it is so when it refers to recently acquired knowledge. When a child has memorised, say, a piece of poetry, and has dismissed it from his mind, the period of gradual forget fulness is as a rule preceded by a period of gradual improvement. And the object of this monograph is to present and discuss evidence as to the nature and extent of this recuperative aspect of memory, this increase in reproducibility, this power which not merely arrests the passage of our memories towards forgetfulness, but drives them back towards ready and accurate recall. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."