“The future is like the past. But there’s a crucial difference. The past is fixed, but the future could be better.” Dr. Jordan Peterson
If somebody tells you something essential, can you precisely remember it 3 minutes later?
Maybe you will. Let me tell you something that happened to me some time ago. I had a small consulting firm in accounting, finance, and economics. One day I received a visit from my wife’s family member. One of her uncles. He was a successful entrepreneur with investments in agricultural products and sugar mills in several Latin American countries. A self-made man in his late sixties. His knowledge of English was minimal, and because of that, he wanted me to help him with specific business deals that he had in the USA. In order words, he wanted me to be his interpreter. I told him that I did not know anything about his business. He told me it would not be a problem if I followed his instructions to the letter. And then he added: “I would not tolerate mistakes or misunderstanding.” He would call me a week before every trip and give me specific instructions about the trip and all the details about the business deals in question. He told me: “I know you are in your thirties, and you think you know everything and don’t forget anything. But trust me, buy a cassette recorder, and tape our phone conversations. Then write a memo and send me a copy. Because if you goof, I’ll fire you on the spot.” Frankly, I said to myself, this man is a raving maniac. But the money was perfect. So, I accepted.
I bought the recorder, connected it to the phone, and waited patiently for the phone call. He called as he had promised one week before our first trip. The conversation lasted for more than one hour. We said goodbye. After rewinding the recorder, I began listening to our conversation. I wasn’t ready for what happened next.
The first thing I noticed was that I could recognize his voice, but when it came to my time to reply or ask questions, I could not recognize my voice even though I knew it was mine. Then the next surprise. There were entire paragraphs that I could not remember at all.
The above true story illustrates what cognition is all about. You see, we understand the world through our senses. In the above example, I heard my uncle’s instructions, but obviously, I did not remember or process the entire gamut of ideas. It’s a relationship between what our senses inform us and how fast our brain can process it. That ability of our brain is called cognition. But alas, that skill deteriorates with time.
Note: If this article has tickled your fancy, I recommend reading The Sharp Brain Guide to Brain Fitness by Alvaro Fernandez, Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, Dr. Pascale Michelon, and Soft-Wired by Dr. Michael Merzenich.
File: HearReadBrain.from Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
The Longevity Gazette 