Peter Doolittle: How your "working memory" makes sense of the world

Prevoditelj: Maja Covic Recezent: Nika Dolores Dvoravic

So yesterday, I was out in the street

Jučer sam bio vani na ulici

in front of this building,

ispred jedne zgrade

and I was walking down the sidewalk,

i hodao sam pločnikom.

and I had company, several of us,

Bio sam u društvu, bilo nas je nekoliko,

and we were all abiding by the rules

i svi smo poštivali pravila

of walking down sidewalks.

kretanja po pločniku.

We're not talking each other. We're facing forward.

Ne razgovaramo. Gledamo prema naprijed.

We're moving.

Krećemo se.

When the person in front of me slows down.

Kad odjednom osoba ispred mene uspori.

And so I'm watching him, and he slows down,

Ja ga promatram, a on usporava,

and finally he stops.

i konačno stane.

Well, that wasn't fast enough for me,

E pa, to nije bilo dovoljno brzo za mene,

so I put on my turn signal, and I walked around him,

tako da sam uključio svoj signal za skretanje i obišao ga,

and as I walked, I looked to see what he was doing,

i dok sam hodao, okrenuo sam se da pogledam što radi.

and he was doing this.

Radio je ovo.

He was texting,

Slao je poruku

and he couldn't text and walk at the same time.

i nije je mogao tipkati i hodati u isto vijeme.

Now we could approach this

Mogli bismo ovo promatrati

from a working memory perspective

sa stajališta radne memorije

or from a multitasking perspective.

ili sa stajališta višezadaćnosti (multitaskinga).

We're going to do working memory today.

Danas ćemo govoriti o radnoj memoriji.

Now, working memory

Radna memorija

is that part of our consciousness that we are

dio je naše svijesti kojeg smo

aware of at any given time of day.

svjesni u svakom trenutku.

You're going it right now.

To činite upravo sada.

It's not something we can turn off.

To nije nešto što možemo isključiti.

If you turn it off, that's called a coma, okay?

Ako je isključite, to se onda zove koma.

So right now, you're doing just fine.

Tako da ste za sad sasvim u redu.

Now working memory has four basic components.

Radna memorija ima četiri osnovna elementa.

It allows us to store some immediate experiences

Pomaže nam pohraniti neka trenutna iskustva

and a little bit of knowledge.

i ponešto znanja.

It allows us to reach back into our long-term memory

Pomaže nam posegnuti u naše dugoročno pamćenje

and pull some of that in as we need it,

i iz njega izvući nešto što nam je potrebno,

mixes it, processes it

to promiješati, procesuirati,

in light of whatever our current goal is.

ovisno o našem trenutačnom cilju.

Now the current goal isn't something like,

Naš trenutačan cilj nije nešto poput toga da

I want to be president or the best surfer in the world.

želimo biti predsjednik ili najbolji surfer na svijetu.

It's more mundane. I'd like that cookie,

On je više prozaičan. "Želim onaj kolačić",

or I need to figure out how to get into my hotel room.

ili "Trebam otkriti kako da uđem u svoju hotelsku sobu."

Now working memory capacity

Kapacitet radne memorije

is our ability to leverage that,

jest naša sposobnost da na to utječemo,

our ability to take what we know

naša sposobnost da uzmemo ono što znamo

and what we can hang onto

i što možemo zadržati

and leverage it in ways that allow us to satisfy

i iskoristiti to na načine koji nam omogućuju da zadovoljimo

our current goal.

svoj trenutni cilj.

Now working memory capacity

Kapacitet radne memorije

has a fairly long history,

ima podulju povijest

and it's associated with a lot of positive effects.

i povezuje se s mnogim pozitivnim učincima.

People with high working memory capacity

Ljudi s visokim kapacitetom radne memorije

tend to be good storytellers.

često su dobri pripovjedači.

They tend to solve and do well on standardized tests,

Imaju sposobnost riješiti i postići uspjeh na standardiziranim testovima,

however important that is.

koliko god to bilo bitno.

They're able to have high levels of writing ability.

Mogu posjedovati visoku razinu sposobnosti pisanja.

They're also able to reason at high levels.

Također imaju sposobnost rasuđivanja na visokim razinama.

So what we're going to do here is play a little bit with some of that.

Tako da ćemo se ovdje malo igrati s tim.

So I'm going to ask you to perform a couple tasks,

Zamolit ću vas da izvršite par zadataka,

and we're going to take your working memory out for a ride.

a mi ćemo testirati vašu radnu memoriju.

You up for that? Okay.

Jeste li za to? U redu.

I'm going to give you five words,

Dat ću vam pet riječi

and I just want you to hang on to them.

i želim da ih zadržite u glavi.

Don't write them down. Just hang on to them.

Nemojte ih zapisivati. Samo ih zadržite.

Five words.

Pet riječi.

While you're hanging on to them, I'm going to ask you to answer three questions.

Dok ih zadržavate, zamolit ću vas da odgovorite na tri pitanja.

I want to see what happens with those words.

Želim vidjeti što će se dogoditi s tim riječima.

So here's the words:

Ovo su te riječi:

tree,

stablo,

highway,

cesta,

mirror,

ogledalo,

Saturn

Saturn,

and electrode.

i elektroda.

So far so good?

Zasad je sve u redu?

Okay. What I want you to do

Dobro. Sada želim

is I want you to tell me what the answer is

da mi kažete koliko je

to 23 times eight.

23 puta osam.

Just shout it out.

Samo viknite.

(Mumbling) (Laughter)

(Mumljanje) (Smijeh)

In fact it's -- (Mumbling) -- exactly. (Laughter)

Zapravo -- (mumljanje) -- upravo je toliko. (Smijeh)

All right. I want you to take out your left hand

U redu. Podignite lijevu ruku

and I want you to go, "One, two, three, four, five,

i napravite ovo: "Jedan, dva, tri, četiri, pet,

six, seven, eight, nine, 10."

šest, sedam, osam, devet, deset."

It's a neurological test, just in case you were wondering.

Ovo je neurološki test, ako vas zanima.

All right, now what I want you to do

U redu, sad bih vas zamolio

is to recite the last five letters

da nabrojite posljednjih pet slova

of the English alphabet backwards.

engleske abecede unatrag.

You should have started with Z.

Trebali ste početi sa "z".

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

All right. How many people here are still pretty sure

U redu. Koliko vas je još sigurno

you've got all five words?

da se sjećate svih pet riječi?

Okay. Typically we end up with about less than half,

Ok. U prosjeku nam ostane nešto manje od polovice,

right, which is normal. There will be a range.

što je normalno. Postoji raspon različitih odgovora.

Some people can hang on to five.

Neki ljudi mogu zadržati svih pet riječi.

Some people can hang on to 10.

neki mogu zadržati deset.

Some will be down to two or three.

Neki će zadržati dvije ili tri.

What we know is this is really important to the way we function, right?

Znamo da je to vrlo bitno za način kako funkcioniramo.

And it's going to be really important here at TED

I to će biti vrlo važno ovdje na TED-u

because you're going to be exposed to so many different ideas.

jer ćete biti izloženi mnoštvu različitih ideja.

Now the problem that we have

Problem koji se ovdje javlja

is that life comes at us,

jest taj da nam se život odvija

and it comes at us very quickly,

i to vrlo brzo,

and what we need to do is to take that amorphous

a mi trebamo posegnuti za tom bezobličnom

flow of experience and somehow

bujicom iskustva i nekako

extract meaning from it

iz nje izvučemo značenje

with a working memory

uz pomoć radne memorije

that's about the size of a pea.

koja je otprilike veličine zrna graška.

Now don't get me wrong, working memory is awesome.

Nemojte me krivo shatiti, radna memorija je fenomenalna.

Working memory allows us

Ona nam omogućuje

to investigate our current experience

da istražimo svoja trenutna iskustva

as we move forward.

dok napredujemo.

It allows us to make sense of the world around us.

Omogućuje nam da shvatimo svijet koji nas okružuje.

But it does have certain limits.

No ima određene granice.

Now working memory is great for allowing us to communicate.

Radna memorija je odlična jer nam omogućuje komunikaciju.

We can have a conversation,

Možemo voditi razgovor,

and I can build a narrative around that

i mogu izgraditi priču oko toga

so I know where we've been and where we're going

tako da znam gdje smo bili i kamo idemo

and how to contribute to this conversation.

i kako da doprinesem tom razgovoru.

It allows us to problem-solve, critical think.

Omogućuje nam rješavati probleme, kritički razmišljati.

We can be in the middle of a meeting,

Možemo biti usred sastanka,

listen to somebody's presentation, evaluate it,

slušati nečiju prezentaciju, ocjenjivati je,

decide whether or not we like it,

odlučiti sviđa li nam se ili ne,

ask follow-up questions.

postavljati pitanja.

All of that occurs within working memory.

Sve se to događa u radnoj memoriji.

It also allows us to go to the store

Također nam omogućuje da odemo u trgovinu

and allows us to get milk and eggs and cheese

i da uzmemo mlijeko, jaja i sir,

when what we're really looking for

iako zapravo tražimo

is Red Bull and bacon. (Laughter)

Red Bull i slaninu. (Smijeh)

Gotta make sure we're getting what we're looking for.

Moramo biti sigurni da ćemo dobiti ono što tražimo.

Now, a central issue with working memory

Središnji problem radne memorije

is that it's limited.

jest taj da je ona ograničena.

It's limited in capacity, limited in duration,

Ograničen joj je kapacitet, trajanje,

limited in focus.

i usredotočenost.

We tend to remember about four things.

Skloni smo tome da pamtimo otprilike četiri stvari.

Okay? It used to be seven,

U redu? Prije je to bilo sedam,

but with functional MRIs, apparently it's four,

no uz funkcionalnom magnetnom rezonancom pokazalo se da pamtimo četiri stvari

and we were overachieving.

i da smo imali bolje razultate.

Now we can remember those four things

Možemo pamtiti te četiri stvari

for about 10 to 20 seconds

otprilike 10 do 20 sekundi,

unless we do something with it,

osim ako nešto ne učinimo s time,

unless we process it, unless we apply it to something,

osim ako to ne procesuiramo, primijenimo na nešto,

unless we talk to somebody about it.

govorimo nekome o tome.

When we think about working memory,

Kada razmatramo o radnoj memoriji,

we have to realize that this limited capacity

moramo shvatiti da taj ograničeni kapacitet

has lots of different impacts on us.

utječe na nas na različite načine.

Have you ever walked from one room to another

Jeste li ikad ušli iz jedne sobe u drugu

and then forgotten why you're there?

i potom zaboravili zašto ste ondje?

You do know the solution to that, right?

Znate rješenje za to, zar ne?

You go back to that original room. (Laughter)

Vratite se u onu prvu sobu. (Smijeh)

Have you ever forgotten your keys?

Jeste li ikad zaboravili ključeve?

You ever forgotten your car?

Svoj auto?

You ever forgotten your kids?

Svoju djecu?

Have you ever been involved in a conversation,

Jeste li ikad bili uključeni u razgovor

and you realize that the conversation to your left

i shvatili da je razgovor s vaše lijeve strane

is actually more interesting? (Laughter)

zapravo zanimljiviji? (Smijeh)

So you're nodding and you're smiling,

Vi kimate glavom i smješkate se,

but you're really paying attention to this one over here,

no zapravo obraćate pozornost na razgovor sa strane

until you hear that last word go up,

dok ne čujete da je posljednja riječ izgovorena uzlaznim tonom

and you realize,

i shvatite

you've been asked a question. (Laughter)

da vam je postavljeno pitanje. (Smijeh)

And you're really hoping the answer is no,

I zaista se nadete da je odgovor "ne",

because that's what you're about to say.

jer to namjeravate reći.

All of that talks about working memory,

Sve to govori o radnoj memoriji,

what we can do and what we can't do.

što možemo i što ne možemo napraviti.

We need to realize that working memory

Moramo shvatiti da radna memorija

has a limited capacity,

ima ograničen kapacitet

and that working memory capacity itself is how we negotiate that.

i da to možemo svladati uz pomoć samoga kapaciteta radne memorije.

We negotiate that through strategies.

To svladavamo uz pomoć strategija.

So what I want to do is talk a little bit about a couple of strategies here,

Htio bih malo govoriti o par strategija

and these will be really important

koje će biti vrlo važne

because you are now in an information target-rich environment

budući da ćete sljedećih nekoliko dana biti

for the next several days.

u okruženju bogatom raznim informacijama.

Now the first part of this that we need to think about

Prva stvar o kojoj moramo razmišljati

and we need to process our existence, our life,

jest da trebamo procesuirati naše postojanje, život,

immediately and repeatedly.

bez odlaganja i opetovano.

We need to process what's going on

Trebamo procesuirati što se događa

the moment it happens, not 10 minutes later,

onog trenutka kad se to događa, ne 10 minuta kasnije,

not a week later, at the moment.

ne za tjedan dana, već u tom trenutku.

So we need to think about, well, do I agree with him?

Trebamo razmisliti, na primjer: "Slažem li se ja s njim?"

What's missing? What would I like to know?

"Što nedostaje? Što bih htio znati?"

Do I agree with the assumptions?

"Slažem li se s pretpostavkama?"

How can I apply this in my life?

"Kako to mogu primijenti u svom životu?"

It's a way of processing what's going on

To je način kako procesuiramo što se događa

so that we can use it later.

tako da to možemo kasnije iskoristiti.

Now we also need to repeat it. We need to practice.

To isto tako trebamo ponavljati, vježbati.

So we need to think about it here.

Tako da trebamo o tome ovdje razmisliti.

In between, we want to talk to people about it.

U međuvremenu, željeli bismo s drugima o tome razgovarati.

We're going to write it down, and when you get home,

To ćemo i zapisati, i kada dođete kući,

pull out those notes and think about them

uzmite te bilješke, razmislite o njima

and end up practicing over time.

i tijekom vremena vježbajte.

Practice for some reason became a very negative thing.

Vježbanje je iz nekog razloga postalo vrlo negativna stvar.

It's very positive.

No, vrlo je pozitivna.

The next thing is, we need to think elaboratively

Sljedeće je da trebamo razmišljati pomno

and we need to think illustratively.

i ilustrativno.

Oftentimes, we think that we have to relate new knowledge to prior knowledge.

Često mislimo da trebamo povezivati nova znanja s prethodnim znanjem.

What we want to do is spin that around.

No, zapravo želimo to sve preokrenuti.

We want to take all of our existence

Želimo uzeti cijelo naše postojanje,

and wrap it around that new knowledge

obaviti ga oko tog novog znanja

and make all of these connections and it becomes more meaningful.

i stvoriti nove veze tako da to postaje suvislije.

We also want to use imagery. We are built for images.

Također želimo koristiti slikovne prikaze. Stvoreni smo za slike.

We need to take advantage of that.

Trebamo to iskoristiti.

Think about things in images,

Razmišljajte o stvarima u slikama,

write things down that way.

na taj ih način zapisujte.

If you read a book, pull things up.

Kad čitate knjigu, dočarajte si je.

I just got through reading "The Great Gatsby,"

Upravo sam pročitao Velikog Gatsbyja

and I have a perfect idea of what he looks like

i imam savršenu sliku kako on izgleda

in my head, so my own version.

u svojoj glavi, u svojoj vlastitoj verziji.

The last one is organization and support.

Posljednje je organizacija i potpora.

We are meaning-making machines. It's what we do.

Mi smo strojevi za stvaranje smisla. To radimo.

We try to make meaning out of everything that happens to us.

Pokušavamo razabrati značenje iz svega što nam se događa.

Organization helps, so we need to structure

Organizacija nam pomaže, tako da ono što radimo

what we're doing in ways that make sense.

trebamo strukturirati na smislene načine.

If we are providing knowledge and experience,

Ako pružamo znanje i iskustvo,

we need to structure that.

to trebamo strukturirati.

And the last one is support.

Posljednje je potpora.

We all started as novices.

Svi smo počeli ako početnici.

Everything we do is an approximation of sophistication.

Sve što činimo jest približavanje složenijim razinama.

We should expect it to change over time. We have to support that.

Trebali bismo očekivati da će se to s vremenom mijenjati. Trebamo to podupirati.

The support may come in asking people questions,

Potporu možemo dobiti tako da drugima postavljamo pitanja,

giving them a sheet of paper that has an organizational chart on it

da im damo list papira na kojem je organizacijski grafikon

or has some guiding images,

ili neke slike sa smjernicama,

but we need to support it.

no to trebamo podupirati.

Now, the final piece of this, the take-home message

Posljednji dio ovoga, poruka koju vam želim prenijeti,

from a working memory capacity standpoint is this:

sa stajališta kapaciteta radne memorije, jest ovo:

what we process, we learn.

ono što procesuiramo to i naučimo.

If we're not processing life, we're not living it.

Ako ne procesuiramo život, ne živimo ga.

Live life. Thank you.

Živite život. Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)