Cognitive Human Memory

Cognitive Human Memory Evaluate the influence of modern technology on cognitive theories of human memory Cognitive Science is a branch in the field of psychology that studies the mental processes of the people. These mental processes include attention, perception, memory, recollection and learning. Cognitive psychology is seen as an interrelated field where it intersects with other disciplines such as philosophy, computer science, neuroscience and linguistic. Out of all those mental processes that were mentioned above memory has been of great interest and most researched, for it being a very complex topic. There have been several research conducted in order to find the nature of memory. Memory is the ability of a living organism to store, retain and retrieve information. In cognitive psychology memory is divided into three stores, namely the sensory, short term and long term. The information is processed in all these three stores. This is often referred to as the information processing model. George Miller (1956) had proposed an idea that is fundamental to the information processing model. The concept is ‘chunking and the capacity of the short term memory. Miller stated that short term memory could hold only up to 5-9 chunks of information, where a chunk is a meaningful unit and it could refer to words, digits, people faces etc.,. This concept was considered to be the basic element in the subsequent theories of memory. The other theory of human memory, the multi store model was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). Their theory was very influential within the information-processing model. They also suggested three types of memory stores, namely sensory, sh ort term and long term stores. Sensory store holds temporary information that is acquired from the environment in an unprocessed state. The information that is given attention is processed to the short term store, some of the information is rehearsed in the short term store and passed on to the long term memory. This information is retrieved on active searching. One of the major contributions of the cognitive science to the field of psychology is the information processing model where the metaphor of ‘brain as computer is taken in the literal sense. Cognitive scientists try to study the nature of intelligence from a scientific point of view by creating computer models of the human mind that helps us in explaining the processes that take place during problem solving, remembering, perceiving etc. It is believed that if we observe how does robotics and expert systems accomplish tasks assigned to them, then we are using the Artificial Intelligence to understand the working of the human mind. However the influence of modern technologies on the cognitive theories of human memory is note worthy. It has had positive as well as negative impact. Firstly, let us look at the positive side of using metaphors of mind that are borrowed from the technological advances. The usage of computer metaphor helped in the development of important scientific breakthroughs. It led to the invention of artificial intelligence that helps people in all the fields to make better utilization of the information in order to work smarter rather than working hard. Robotics and other expert systems have also helped humans in making their life much simpler and easier. This can be considered as a major contribution of the cognitive psychology to the modern technology. The other advantage of using computer metaphor to human mind has made the understanding of the mental process involved in memory very simpler. The nature of memory was a very complex and mysterious concept initially, however with the computer analogy better understanding of the human memory has been achieved. The working of the mind is very similar to that of a computer in several ways. Computers receive information, codes it in particular format, which it can understand and when necessary it is retrieved. This is the same activity that a human mind does. They receive information from the environment, process it and store it in mind in a form that they perceive and on later stages they are able to retrieve them effectively. Thus, we ourselves can see that a metaphor of mind borrowed from the advanced technology has made our understanding very efficient and easier. So far we have seen the advantages of using metaphors of mind. However as it was mentioned earlier this concept is not without its drawbacks. Firstly the concept is overly simplistic. By using computer model as an example we do not consider the complexity of the human behavior. Understanding human behavior is a very complicated phenomenon for it involves biological, chemical, or/and psychological reactions within the body/mind before it produces any outcome or behavior. Having many things to be considered, the computer model does not make our understanding in depth, and creates a very easy picture about the mental processes of the human mind. Secondly, we can say that this concept is very hypothetical. Computer model itself is a theory. A theory is drawn out of a hypothesis, which is only assumed to be the truth and necessarily need not be the reality. In this state, trying to explain human mind in terms of computer model may not be totally accurate. Psychology being a scientific stu dy needs to conduct lab research for us to believe in any idea that they propose though the comparison between the human mind and the computer is widely accepted. Finally, I would like to conclude the essay by saying that the usage of computer analogy in the field of cognitive study has made our understanding of the human mind more convenient. For a field that is full of complexities this concept has contributed enormously in a positive way. Every aspect has pros and cons, similarly this concept also has some disadvantages that were mentioned few lines above, and nevertheless, I would personally say that the advantages have overweighed the disadvantages. References: www-psych.stanford.edu/~bigopp/Encoding.PDF http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AITopics/CognitiveScience http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/memory.html http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/memory.htm http://tip.psychology.org/miller.html http://www.cranepsych.com/Psych/Cognitive.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AITopics/Applications

Importance of Organisational Design

THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN AND ITS IMPACT ON ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR The impact of globalization and new technologies on business environment has made it vital for organisations to constantly reassess their structure. French et al (2008), stresses that an organisation should be able to design its tasks and delegate some duties so that it can achieve its mission and vision. It is necessary to explore the importance of organisational design and how it can help in understanding the behaviour of informal and formal groups.Organisational design refers to the roles and formal reporting relationships that exist within an organisation. According to French et al (2008), it is selecting and implementing a structure for an organisation. The structure of an organisation is the assigned interrelationships and networks that exist among organizational resources (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2005). Organisational structure can be flat or hierarchical, bureaucratic, organic or hybrid. There are arguments that organisations are now less hierarchical in structure (Molinsky et al, 2012).In contrast, there are several who claim that the modern organisational structures are still very controlling with top-down power (Diefenbach and Sillince, 2011). The purpose of the organisational design is to prepare a layout for which the objectives of the organisation are achieved as it is to align with the organisation’s core competencies. Organisational design has to flexible and must be in alignment with the organisation’s strategy (Goold and Campbell, 2002). When the organisational strategy changes, components of organisation design such as structures roles and functions should be realigned to cater for this change (Corkindale, 2011).If there is a misalignment of organisation design with the organisation’s strategy, the result will be frustrating as employee performance will not drive organisational goals. Every organisation has both formal and informal s tructures. The formal structure represents the different types of design (i. e. hierarchical, matrix, flat etc. ) where the positions are clearly distinguished while the informal structure is built on individual associations and social processes (Mullins, 2011). This informal order cuts across the formal structure and is needed to keep the formal structure in order.An organisational structure that emphasises the formal structure over the informal structure will lead to bureaucratic and rigid organisation. Also, organisation design dictates the communication and decision loop within an organisation. Huber and McDaniel (1986) argue that organisations design should be carried with the objective of facilitating organisational decisions. Poor organisation design might lead to top management totally detached from the base operation of the business, missing out crucial details on every day realities of the business.A good organisation design should provide us with an insight into the organ isational strategy, its communication and decision making loop and if it takes advantage of its formal and informal structures. Where the organisation design cannot provide these insights, it is most likely ineffective. Therefore Managers should always therefore strive to get feedback from the employees about the organisation structure and if it affects the ways they relate with one another and if it helps to fulfil their achievement needs (French et al, 2008).

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, born in 1821, was a great Russian prose writer. He was born in Moscow and studied at the St Petersburg Engineering Academy. His first published work was a translation of Balzac’s Eugenie Grandet, which appeared in 1844. Two years later his first original works, the short stories Poor Folk, The Double were published, later followed by other short prose pieces.(Leatherbarrow, 47-48) In April 1849 Dostoevsky was arrested for suspected revolutionary activity and condemned to death, or at least was taken to the scaffold and to the last moments before execution before the true sentence of four years in prison and four years as a private in the Siberian army was read out. He was released from the army in 1858. The result of his imprisonment was the change of his personal convictions: he rejected the socialism and progressive ideas of his early years, and instead adhered to the principles of the Russian Orthodox Church and belief in the Russian people.A nother immediate fruit of his imprisonment experience was his remarkable House of the Dead that appeared in 1861. Other novels followed which display a profound understanding of the depths of the human soul. Notes from the Underground of 1864 sets rational egoism, which proffers reasons for treating others as instruments, against irrational selfishness which treats others as enemies. Crime and Punishment of 1866, The Idiot of 1868, and The Devils (also translated as The Possessed, written in 1871) led up to his great achievement, The Brothers Karamazov, completed in 1880.With the Slavophils, Dostoevsky venerated the Orthodox Church, and was deeply impressed by Staretz Amvrosy whom he visited at Optina. (Leatherbarrow, 169) But his sense of goodness was neither facile nor naive. He saw human freedom as something so awesome that most people are ready to relinquish it. This is epitomized in the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor. In his speech accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature, Solz henitsyn quoted Dostoevsky, ‘Beauty will save the world. ’ The Brothers Karamazov is Dostoevsky’s final novel, completed only two months before his death.It was intended as Dostoevsky’s apocalypse. Its genre might best be called Scripture, rather than novel or tragedy. (Bloom, 5) This novel is the synthesis of Dostoevsky’s religious and philosophic search. The scene of the novel is laid in a sleepy province in the family of the noble, the Karamazovs. A sleepy province had always been for Russian writers the source of characters of integrity, pure passion and spiritual relations among people. However, Dostoevsky presents the life in such province in different light. Spiritual decay had penetrated into patriarchal up-country.From the very early stages of the novel’s writing Dostoevsky underwent several influences. The first was the profound impact the Russian philosopher and thinker Nikolai Fyodorov had on Dostoevsky at this time of his life. A ccording to Fyodorov’s doctrine Christianity is a system in which â€Å"man’s redemption and resurrection could be realized on earth through sons redeeming the sins of their fathers to create human unity through a universal family. † (Sandoz, 221) The tragedy of patricide in The Brothers Karamazov acquires more poignant coloring as Dostoevsky applies a complete inversion of this Christian system.Thus the sons in the novel do not attain resurrection for their father. Quite to the contrary they are complicit in his murder, and such turn of events is for Dostoevsky a metaphor for complete human disunity, breakage of the mentioned spiritual relations among people. As already noted religion and philosophy played a vital role in Dostoevsky’s life and in his novel in particular. Nevertheless, much more personal tragedy changed the way the novel took later. In 1878 Dostoevsky stopped writing the novel because of the death of his son Alyosha who was only three-yea rs old.This tragedy was even more difficult to endure for the writer as Alyosha’s death was caused by epilepsy, a disease he inherited from his father. Dostoevsky’s desolation could not escape being reflected in the novel; one of the characters has a name Alyosha. The writer endued his character with the features he himself aspired to and would like to follow. Though very personal experience had a profound influence on Dostoevsky’s choice for theme and actions that dominated the external of the novel, the key problem treated by this work is human disunity, or breakage of the spiritual relations among people.In comparison to previous novels social split-up is accruing, getting more distinct the relations between people are becoming more fragile in The Brothers Karamazov. â€Å"For everyone nowadays strives to dissociate himself as much as possible from others, everyone wants to savour the fullness of life for himself, but all his best efforts lead not to fullnes s of life but to total selfdestruction, and instead of ending with a comprehensive evaluation of his being, he rushes headlong into complete isolation.For everyone has dissociated himself from everyone else in our age, everyone has disappeared into his own burrow, distanced himself from the next man, hidden himself and his possessions, the result being that he has abandoned people and has, in his turn, been abandoned. † (Dostoevsky, 380) This is how the situation with the Russian society of the 1870s is defined by the novel character, Starets Zosima, who is especially close to the writer. The Karamazovs family in Dostoevsky’s novel is Russia in miniature – it is absolutely deprived of warmth of family ties.Unvoiced hostility relates the father of the family, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, and his sons: the eldest – Dmitry – the man of spoiled nature, Ivan, the captive of loose manners, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov, a child of shame, lackey by his posit ion and in his soul, and a novice Alyosha, who is making his best to reconcile hostile clashes that finally resulted in a dreadful crime of patricide. Dostoevsky shows that all participants of this drama share responsibility for the tragedy that had happened, and first of all, the father himself, who is, for the author, the symbol of decay and degeneration of human person.The contemporary society thus was infected with a serious spiritual disease – â€Å"karamazovshchina†. The essence of â€Å"karamazovshchina† lies in the denial of all sacred things and notions that sometimes ranges up to frenzy. â€Å"I hate the whole of Russia, Marya Kondratyevna. † – confesses Smerdyakov. – â€Å"In 1812 Russia was invaded by Emperor Napoleon 1 [†¦] and it would have been an excellent thing if we’d have been conquered by the French; [†¦] Everything would have been different. † (Dostoevsky, 281-282) The same Smerdyakov â€Å"As a child [†¦] had loved to string up cats and then bury them with full ceremony.He would dress up in a sheet, to represent a chasuble, and chant while swinging some imagined censer over the dead cat. † (Dostoevsky, 156) â€Å"Smerdyakovshchina† is the lackey variant of â€Å"karamazovshchina† and it demonstrably uncovers the essence of this disease – perverted passion for expressing humiliation and desecration of the most sacred values of life. As it is said in the novel â€Å"'people do love the downfall of a righteous man and his degradation'†. (Dostoevsky, 415) The main bearer of â€Å"karamazovshchina† is Fyodor Pavlovich who enjoys constant humiliation of the truth, beauty and good.His carnal relation with a foolish Lizaveta Smerdyashchaya, the result of which is the lackey Smerdyakov, is a cynical desecration of love. Fyodor Pavlovich’s voluptuousness is far from being a mere animal instinct and unconscious behavior. His volupt uousness has an idea to engage in controversy with the good. Karamazov is quite conscious of meanness of his intentions and deeds, and so he derives cynical satisfaction in humiliation of the good. He is always longing for spiting upon a sacred place.He consciously makes a row in Starets Zosima’s cell and then goes with the same intention to the abbot to dinner: â€Å"He wanted to take revenge on everyone for his own tricks. [†¦ ] I can’t hope to rehabilitate myself now, so I’ll spit in their faces and be damned! I’ll not be ashamed of myself in front of them and that’s that! ’† (Dostoevsky, 109) A distinctive feature of â€Å"karamazovshchina† is a cynical attitude towards the nation’s bread-earner – Russian farmer: â€Å"The Russian people need thrashing† (Dostoevsky, 282).According to Karamazov’s psychology all higher values of life has to be overridden, dragged through the mud for the sake o f frantic self-affirmation. There is a father Therapon living together with the saint Starets Zosima in a monastery. Outwardly this man is striving for the absolute â€Å"righteousness†, he leads an ascetic existence, exhausts himself with fasts and prayers. But what is the source of Therapon’s righteousness? What is its inducement? As it turns out then, his inducement is the hatred to Starets Zosima and desire to surpass him.Katerina Ivanovna is very kind to her offender, Mitya, all because of smoldering hatred to him and of a sense of wounded pride. The virtues turn into delirious form of self-affirmation, into magnanimity of selfishness. With the same selfishness and same magnanimity Grand Inquisitor â€Å"loves† humanity in a tale contrive by Ivan. In the world of Karamazovs all relations among people are perverted, they acquire criminal character since everyone here is trying to turn those around into â€Å"marble pedestal†, the pedestal for one†™s selfish ego.The world of Karamazovs is the world intersected by the crime chain reaction. Which one of the sons is father’s killer? Ivan did not kill, however, this is he who first formulated the idea of permissibility of patricide. Dmitry didn’t kill Fyodor Pavlovich either; he teetered on the brink of crime in a fit of hatred to his father. Fyodor Pavlovich was killed by Smerdyakov, but he only brought to an end Ivan’s ideas and passion that overfilled Dmitry’s embittered mind. In the world of Karamazovs the definite moral boundaries of crime cannot be restored – everybody is, to certain extent, guilty of murder.Potential delinquency reigns the atmosphere of mutual hatred and exasperation. Every person individually and all people together are guilty, or as Starets Zosima says â€Å"As to every man being guilty for everyone and everything, quite apart from his own sins. † (Dostoevsky, 379) â€Å"Remember especially that you may not si t in judgement over anyone. * No man on this earth can sit in judgement over other men until he realizes that he too is just such a criminal as the man standing before him, and that it is precisely he, more than anyone, who is guilty of that man’s crime. † (Dostoevsky, 402)â€Å"Karamazovshchina†, according to Dostoevsky, is a Russian variant of the disease, suffered by the all European societies; this is a disease of civilization. Its reasons are the loss of moral values by a civilized man and the sin of â€Å"self-worshipping†. The upper classes of Russian society, following the progressive classes of Western European society, worship their ego and consequently decay. The crisis of humanism comes, which in Russian conditions acquires forms which are particularly undisguised and defiant: â€Å"If you want to know, – argues Smerdyakov, when it comes to depravity there’s nothing to choose between them and us.They’re all blackguards, bu t there they walk about in patent leather boots while our scoundrels go around like stinking beggars and don’t see anything wrong in it†. (Dostoevsky, 282) By Ivan Karamazov’s formula: â€Å"for if there is no God, how can there be any crime? † (Dostoevsky, 395). The sources of Western European and Russian bourgeoisie were considered by Dostoevsky to be not in economic development of society but rather in the crisis of modern humanity, caused by â€Å"strenuously self-conscious† individual. (Lambasa et al., 118) Thus it can be concluded that Karamazov’s decay, according to Dostoevsky, is the direct implications of isolation, solitude of a modern civilized man, it is the consequence of people’s loss of feeling of great universal relation to the secular and divine world that is superior to the animal needs of human earthy nature. Repudiation of the higher spiritual values may bring a man to indifference, loneliness, and hatred to life. T his is the path kept by Ivan and Grand Inquisitor in the novel. Works Consulted Bloom, Harold.Fyodor Dostoevsky’s the Brothers Karamazov. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Karamazov Brothers. Trans. Ignat Avsey. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994 Lambasa, Frank S. , Ozolins, Valija K. , Ugrinsky, Alexej. Dostoevski and the Human Condition after a Century. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. Leatherbarrow, W. J. The Cambridge Companion to Dostoevskii. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002 Sandoz, Ellis. Political Apocalypse: A Study of Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2000.

The Diurnal Cycle and How it Affects Daily Temperatures

All things in nature have a diurnal or daily pattern simply because they change throughout the course of a day. In meteorology, the term diurnal most often refers to the change of temperature from the daytime high to the nighttime low. Why Highs Dont Happen at High Noon The process of reaching a daily high (or low) temperature is a gradual one. It begins each morning when the Sun rises and its rays extend toward and strike the Earths surface. Solar radiation directly heats the ground, but because of lands high heat capacity (ability to store heat), the ground doesnt immediately warm. Just as a pot of cold water must first warm before coming to a boil, so must the land absorb a certain amount of heat before its temperature rises. As the grounds temperature warms, it heats a shallow layer of air directly above it by conduction. This thin layer of air, in turn, heats the column of cool air above it. Meanwhile, the Sun continues its trek across the sky. At high noon, when it reaches its peak height and is directly overhead, sunlight is at its most concentrated strength. However, because the ground and air must first store heat before radiating it to surrounding areas, maximum air temperature isnt yet reached. It actually lags this period of maximum solar heating by several hours! Only when the amount of incoming solar radiation equals the amount of outgoing radiation does the daily high temperature occur. The time of day this generally happens depends on a number of things (including geographic location and time of year) but is usually between the hours of 3-5 p.m. local time. After noon, the Sun begins its retreat across the sky. From now until sunset, the intensity of incoming solar radiation continually declines. When more heat energy is being lost to space than is incoming at the surface, a minimum temperature is reached. 30 F of (Temperature) Separation On any given day, the temperature swing from low and high temperature is roughly 20 to 30 F. A number of conditions can widen or lessen this range, such as: Day length. The greater (or shorter) the number of daylight hours, the more (or less) time the Earth is subject to heating. Length of daylight hours is determined by geographic location as well as season.Cloudiness. Clouds are good at both absorbing and giving off longwave radiation, and at reflecting shortwave radiation (sunlight). On cloudy days, the ground is shielded from incoming solar radiation because this energy is reflected back out into space. Less incoming heat means less -- and a decrease in diurnal temperature variation. On cloudy nights, diurnal range is also decreased, but for opposite reasons -- heat is trapped near the ground, which allows the days temperatures to remain constant rather than to cool.Elevation. Because mountain areas are located farther from the radiating heat source (the sun-heated surface), they are warmed less and also cool more rapidly after sunset than do valleys.Humidity. Water vapor is good at absorbing and giving off longwave radiation (energy thats released from the Earth) as well as absorbing in the near-infrared part of solar radiation, which reduces the amount of daytime energy reaching the surface. Because of this, daily highs are typically lower in humid environments than they are in dry environments. This is the primary reason why desert regions experience some of the most extreme day-to-night temperature fluctuations.Wind speed. Winds cause air at different levels of the atmosphere to mix. This mixing lessens the difference in temperature between warmer and cooler air, thus decreasing the diurnal temperature range. How to See the Diurnal Pulse In addition to feeling the diurnal cycle (which is done easily enough by enjoying a day outside), its also possible to visibly detect it. Watch a global infrared satellite loop closely. Do you notice the curtain of dark to light that rhythmically sweeps across the screen? Thats Earths diurnal pulse! Diurnal temperature isnt just essential to understanding how we meet our high and low air temperatures, its essential to the science of winemaking.