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Are you one of those people that forgets
all important dates? Until somebody gives |
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you a gentle reminder. |
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Do you ever panic when you leave the
house that you have forgotten something? |
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Like shutting the windows. |
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Perhaps you find it hard remembering
where you put your keys. |
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Or maybe you are one of those people who
always forget their pin number. |
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The fact is that none of us have a
perfect memory. Yet it affects everything |
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we do. And it is our memory which
actually helps to define who we are. |
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Taxi! |
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So this program is about giving your
memory a work out. Understanding how we |
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remember things both long and short term.
And what we can all do to prevent these |
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annoying memory lapses we all get from
time to time. |
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Alright, driver! Memory Manor please. |
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Welcome to: How to improve your memory.
For one day only we have taken over |
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Longleat House in Wiltshire. The home of
the seventh Marquess of Bath. And |
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transformed it into our own Memory
Manor. |
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We have remodelled it into a purpose
built laboratory, to explore how our |
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brain works. What memory skills we are
born with. And what parts of memory we |
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can improve upon. And whether you are 9
or 90 we will be reviewing some useful |
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tricks of the trade. To make us all a
little less forgetful. |
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Right now all over the Manor we are
putting 100 volunteers through their |
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paces with a serious of tests and
experiments to access their memory |
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strengths and weaknesses. They are not
memory experts. They are just ordinary |
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members of the public. Like you or I, who
have the occasional memory lapse. And we |
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will see just how much of a difference
good memory can make to their lives. |
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And you will be able to take part at home
too. Throughout the program you will be |
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able to access your own memory skills
with our special interactive tests. You |
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can take part with a pen and paper. And
there are extra instructions on the |
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see-fax page 615. |
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Or by using the grid in some of today's
papers. Or if you are a digital viewer, |
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press red now and let your set-top -box
do the work. It will not cost you a |
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penny. And you get personalized feedback
directly relating to your answers. |
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Remember whenever you see this sign. It
means reach for your pen or your remote |
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as the questions is about to come up. |
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So if you have not pressed red yet now is
the time to do it. |
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And while you are testing your own grey
matter, we will also be following a |
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handful of our volunteers back home to
see just how their memory foibles effect |
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them day to day. We will be giving them
memory strategies to help them and you, |
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forget less and remember more. |
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We will be meeting a singer who forgets
his lyrics. |
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The children's entertainer who finds
getting to the party is no laughing |
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matter. I have not got an idea of where
we are going now. And the teacher who |
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cannot remember the name of his pupils. I
really do not know who is gone. |
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All that still to come. |
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For centuries it was wildly believed that
memory was rooted in the heart. It seems |
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bizarre but it was only 500 years ago
that it was generally recognized that it |
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was a function of the brain. Our memory
breaks down into 3 key processes. |
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Acquisition, storage and retrieval. |
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We take information in through our eyes,
ears or touch. Our brain then processes |
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the information. And places it in a store
from where it is retrieved when it is |
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needed. And it is a process we can
actually monitor. |
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An hour ago we asked Rick Sharp to
memorize a list of names and faces. He is |
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now being shown a series of faces and is
being asked if he recognizes any of |
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them. |
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And if so whether he can remember their
name. At the same time Dr. David |
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Donaldson and his research assistant
Graham McKenzie have been monitoring his |
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brain activity with an EEG or
electroencephalogram machine. Rick is |
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sitting in a faraday cage to prevent
outside electrical signals interfering |
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with the readings. |
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So here we can see the brain activity as
it is being recorded from Rick's |
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electrodes on his scalp. And it shows the
change in voltage over time from the |
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individual electrodes. But we then can go
and have a look at the actual average |
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data and this shows the pattern of
activity. Looking down on top of the |
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head. |
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So the nose would be at the top here and
this is the left and the right. And you |
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can see the that the different pattern of
activity from when Rick could remember |
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just the face versus when he could
remember the face and the name. And you |
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can see the red area shows that the
activity relates to remembering the face |
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is at the back of the head. And there is
additional activity at the front when he |
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could also remember the name. |
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This shows really that memory is a very
complex interaction between the different |
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parts of the brain. Even now scientists
are still discovering how the system |
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works. |
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Now it is time to find out about your
memory. So if you have not pressed red |
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yet grab your remote and do it now. Or
grab a pen to know your answers. Here in |
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the hall our Memory Manor 100 are also
gearing up for the first interactive |
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challenge. |
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They will be using keypads to answer and
will be getting their results. So you can |
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see how you measure up to them. |
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Our memory can only process the
information if we notice it in the first |
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place. Take a one pound coin. The chances
are at least one has passed through your |
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hands today. But just because we might
see something every day, does not mean we |
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notice the finer detail if we are not
primed to. |
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So here is your question. Which way does
the Queen's head face on a one pound |
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coin? Is it to the left or to the right?
If you are playing along at home grab |
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your pen and paper and jot down question
one for the pound coin test followed by |
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your answer left or right. You got until
the timer in the bottom left corner runs |
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out to make your choice. |
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There is a space provided in the pull out
newspaper grid. And you can also find the |
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details on see-fax page 615. |
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So have you got your answer? Well let us
see if the Memory Manor 100 agree with |
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you. |
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Wow, 44% of you think that the Queen
faces to the right on the one pound coin. |
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And 56% think she faces to the left. And
indeed it is the 44% of you are correct. |
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She does in fact face to the right. Well
done. |
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Well, as you saw, most of our volunteers
here actually got that wrong.Although we |
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see pound coins every day. For most of us
it is not important to remember the way |
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the Queen's head is facing. |