Please read the Landscape of His Dreams from AoM.
After reading the chapter, go to your textbook and see what it has to say about the topics raised in the chapter. This might be difficult so if there is even something remotely similar in the text go ahead and read up on that. When you have done this, please respond to the following questions.
What did your text have to say about the topics raised in this chapter? What information was provided in the text? What additional details did your text provide?
What did you think about this chapter? Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why? What do you now know about your brain that you didn't know before reading the chapter? Has this chapter made you think about other issues about the brain? How does this chapter relate to the material in the earlier chapters?
Please make sure you use the terms, terminology and concepts you have learned so far in the class. It should be apparent from reading your post that you are a college student well underway in a course in psychology.
Include a list of the terms and concepts you used in your post. (example - Terms: memory, cortex, visual system....)
Please use spaces between your paragraphs to make your post easier to read - thanks in advance
Let me know if you have any questions.
After I read this chapter in A&M, I read more about memory approaches in my text. My text briefly discussed memory in the real world approach. This approach views memory as a way for interaction with the real world whereas other approaches view memory as simply a repository of information and events. The real world approach believes that memory should be viewed as a structure that helps us interact with our environment and world. My text also briefly mentions temporal lobe processing visual memories. Our temporal lobes are involved in keeping a visual memory and storing this into long term memory.
I think this chapter was interesting but it wasn't one of my favorite readings we have had so far. I liked reading how Franco was so connected to Pontito yet he was very reluctant to return to the village. He seemed to be living off of his childhood memories of where he grew up and did not want to face the reality of what Pontito had become.
I will remember reading about temporal lobe epilepsy because this concept was new information to me. With this condition, memories are evoked during surgery, by stimulating the affected part of the temporal lobes with an electrode. The interesting part of this surgery is the subject is conscious during the procedure. The stimulation will transport the subject to a past memory.
I'll remember reading about Franco's obsession with Pontito. He woke every morning with one task on his mind which was to consecrate the memory of Pontito. This obsession took over his life and controlled him every day. His visions were very real and vivid to him however, the obsession was not realistic and was distorted by the reality of Pontito. I'll remember this part of the reading because it was sad to read how Franco had so much love for Pontito yet he was lost in the past and could not grasp the reality of Pontito.
The last part of the reading I'll remember is Franco's feelings after seeing the current reality of Pontito. He seemed to be in disbelief and shock that the village had changed to much. He was very disturbed by the changes and how they did not relate to his paintings. The reading also said he has not returned to Pontito after seeing the changes. It was very challenging for Franco to accept the new reality of Pontito.
Overall, I liked reading how Franco's memory was stuck in the past. Even though it was sad that Franco had these problems every day, this story was interesting to read about because it's such an uncommon disorder.
This chapter helped me understand that our brain plays a major role in how our memory processes work. Our brain helps us chose what memories we store and how we retrieve them. Franco's situation really opened my eyes to how some people struggle with processing current and realistic memories which would be a very big challenge. This chapter relates to earlier readings because it discussed how our brain functions help us on a daily basis. Franco's brain wasn't functioning properly and the had to cope with the consequences. This is something that the previous readings have shown us. Each individual in earlier chapters faces some type of challenge because of their brain damages.
Terms: memory, real world memory, visual memory, temporal lobe epilepsy,
This reading was very repetitive, and somewhat hard to read at times. This one seemed pretty lacking in comparison to others...and that is sort of sad because I really enjoyed the other readings. Despite the fact that it was not the best reading, it was kind of interesting how obsessive and persistent Franco was about Pontito, and how he acted in his life in relation to one single town.
While not directly related to what Franco was experiencing, his memories represented somewhat of a flashbulb memory experience. He had such a strong connection to the town based on his experiences and feelings he had as a child, enstilling in him a very vivid picture and representation of it in his mind. This flashbulb memory experience is more of a prolonged one, but it can explain to a small degree why he may be remembering things so vividly.
Most of Franco's memory is episodic memory. He can almost directly pinpoint when and where something happened in his town, to a degree that is shocking and obviously obsessive. His semantic memory is lacking because he focuses so much on his past. He does not take in much factual knowledge when he is so concerned with his past experiences.
His memory systems are also interesting when analyzing them as either declarative or nondeclarative memories. Declarative refers to knowledge of events, facts, or concepts. This area for Franco encompasses his remembrance of Pontito and the things he experienced there. Nondeclarative memory refers to skills and related procedural knowledge. One would say that painting would fit this mold, but would it really? The fact that Franco had never really done much with art in the past (aside from a few doodles) brings to question where this sort of skill set came from. I would argue that while it seems like a declarative memory, it is not based on the fact that there is no memory of doing such an activity to base it on. I guess I would ask what this would be classified as, considering it is not really a memory at all...maybe just a skill he never knew he had.
Artists have a history of being diagnosed as crazy or different, it is not a suprise that Franco would be seen by many as this such a person. It was hard for me to grasp his obsession with the town, and this was maybe because I didn't fully understand it. I did not fully get why he was having these problems with distinguishing his reality and his Pontito reality. I was glad he was able to revist the town and see it for what it was now, but seeing it did what I thought it would do to him...disappoint.
Seeing Pontito as it was after so many years would be a disappointment. I would compare it to the feeling you have when you read a book. You have this conceptual idea of a character (what he looks like, how he should act) and when you see the movie representation of the book you are usually disappointed because it is no where near what you were expecting. Franco had an idea of the town that he remembered, and while some things were intact with his memory, other things weren't.
He invisions the town as he did as a child. His perspective is that of a child, so things seem bigger when he sees them as an adult. It is interesting that he was able to hold onto these pictures and did not have some sort of interferrance from what his brain would insist something would look like. For example, you have seen a fridge and know how it stands based on your height.. after seeing it so many times you would not think of a fridge towering so many feet above you. It is interesting that he would maintain the image of the height of the church for instance, and not have an insistance by his thinking now that it would be different.
The temporal lobe epilepsy was brought up in the text briefly, and it really got me thinking about the brain. I think seizures and the like are very interesting and have a strange effect on the brain. Going back to lateralization, I think about split-brain patients and the seizures that have ceased in them because of their operations. Back to the actual epilepsy discussed in the book, I have read before about the procedure that was done in the book... the stimulation of parts of the brain evoking certain memories. Where these memories take hold in the brain is something I am really interested in, and this reading was a little opening for that.
terms: memory, flashbulb memory, semantic memory, episodic memory, declarative memory, nondeclarative memory, lateralization, temporal lobe epilepsy
The most relatable material from my textbook deals with memory. Memory is such a complex subject that there are multiple terms and countless pages discussing all forms of the memory. Those terms that I found more relevant to this chapter were those of vintage memory and episodic memory.
According to the textbook, episodic memory is a “neurocognitive memory system that enables people to remember past happenings” (MacLin, MacLin, Solso, 2005, pp.223). This is very much similar to Franco’s ability to remember, very distinctly, everything that happened from his childhood. What seems to be substantially different in Franco’s case, however, is that Franco’s memories of his hometown were eerily accurate. This is not the case with episodic memories, in which these memories for most individuals are susceptible to being lost or not accurately remembered.
The other topic in the textbook, vintage memory, deals with being reminded of a certain event from the past and from there, each memory builds upon one another until the whole event or situation is recreated.
I really thought this chapter was interesting, however, maybe a little harder to relate Franco’s personal case to concepts from cognitive psychology. This could be because the chapter did not explain in depth exactly what happened to Franco, other than having temporal lobe epilepsy in this illness prior to these visions. The chapter also did not explain exactly what type of memories it was that Franco was experiencing when he would have these visions of Pontito.
Many of my favorite segments of this book have been small excerpts that explain the concepts very well. One of my favorite one from this chapter has to do with nostalgia. It states, “nostalgia is about a fantasy that never takes place, one that maintains itself by not being fulfilled” (pp. 169). This explains Franco’s position perfectly. He debated for a very long time whether it would be wise to return to Pontito and even after doing so he occasionally had regrets.
Another passage that I enjoyed was about Fredric Bartlett’s description of memory. He stated, “there is no such entity as “memory,” but only the dynamic process of “remembering” (pp. 173). I would say that for most individuals this is true. The section following goes on to say that memory is about generalizing and relating things together, therefore, there can be no “pure” memory of the past (pp. 173). The odd thing about Franco’s case is that he seemed to be so stuck in the past that his memories were not affected by the present.
Finally, I really liked the section of the chapter when Franco goes home to Pontito for the first time and is pleasantly surprised by the reaction of those still living there. I could not help but feel happy for him because he was so scared of not being remembered or even worse, remembered and treated as an outcast. So, the portion of the chapter on page 181, shows how the townspeople were delighted he came back and welcomed him.
The one thing that caught most of my attention was the description of Franco’s temporal lobe epilepsy. I found it very interesting to read about how these types of seizures were first discovered by John Hughlings Jackson and how they were characterized as “commanding hallucinations”, “involuntary reminiscence”, a “sense of revelation” and the “strange, half-mystical dreamy state” (pp. 163).
Overall, I think this has been my least favorite chapter. Although very interesting, as I was reading, I had a hard time deciding what topics in psychology I could relate it to. This is mainly because I thought the chapter focused a lot on how his paintings looked or how the town looked in comparison. This was all very interesting, but did not deal much with the way his memory was working to recreate these images.
Prior to reading this chapter I knew that the temporal lobe functioned in perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, speech, and most importantly, for relevance to this chapter, memory functions. However, I was not aware that seizures/epilepsy of this capacity, in the temporal lobe, could cause changes in the function of one’s memory, such as how it affected Franco. This particular chapter relates to those prior because it shows another personal case in which trauma to a specific area of the brain can have strange effects on its functioning.
Terms: vintage memory, episodic memory, temporal lobe epilepsy, temporal lobe
After the reading about Franco, I referred to the text to further associate myself with concepts relating to memory. Although it makes sense, I was not aware that there was such a concept as VLTM or very long-term memory; which is associated with memories lasting more than three months. I believe the majority of the memories Franco recalled were from his VLTM. The paintings Franco created of Pontito where mostly of images he had not seen in years.
There is a paragraph in the book discussing a study conducted to test participants’ memory for pictures. The results from the study suggest that after 4 months there was a decline of recognition memory, which appears to be “a function of the intervention of confusing images.” We are able to see an example of this when observing Franco’s illustrations of Pontito. Although his illustrations of scenes he recalled from Pontito were strikingly similar to the actual scenes themselves, there were a few differences amongst them.
The text also discusses autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memories are about an individual’s past and the person’s unique history. Throughout the reading Franco is sharing his autobiographical memories of events, and recollections about his time in Pontito. Franco’s entire existence revolves around his accounts of Pontito and the days when he lived there. One memory of Pontito seems to trigger another memory of Pontito and so on and before long Franco’s days, weeks, and months were spent reliving his childhood.
The reading as well as the text, briefly discuss temporal lobe epilepsy. Seizures, hallucinations, altered thinking and bizarre behavior may be characteristic of temporal lobe epilepsy. Activity in the temporal lobes has also been associated with autobiographical memory system. Franco’s heightened obsession about his past, vivid dreams and visions can also be signs of temporal lobe epilepsy.
Compared to the previous readings, I wasn’t particularly fond of this one. I found it to be rather repetitive and boring. I had a hard time staying focused and engaged. I enjoy a fair amount of detail and illustrations are essential but I felt the narratives were overstated. To say the least I found the bizarreness of Franco’s way of life to be somewhat interesting. I think it would be an unfortunate way to live, being so consumed in the past. He basically lost all his friends, acquaintances, associates, hobbies, and peacefulness to his thoughts of Pontito. I think he’s actually pretty lucky to have even married; I’m not sure how his wife didn’t go insane listening to his never-ending stories of the past.
While reading the chapter, I found myself thinking of other accounts in which peoples’ lives have become completely consumed by their obsessive thought; I’m certain this is not a totally rare or uncommon situation. I think it would be a very sad, desolate way to live. I am curious to know more about the causes of the repetitive thoughts and how they manifest. Are there specific events or occurrences, for instance a tragedy, which might make someone more prone to having them?
Terms: autobiographical memory, very long-term memory, temporal lobe epilepsy.
This chapter related to the textbook by something known as eidetic imagery (photographic memory). There is a case in the textbook (reported by Stromeyer) about one of his patients who had very similar instances as Magnani did. She could mentally project an image onto a surface and she could visualize and say a poem in a foreign language. This is very similar to Magnani's instances when he was a younger child and when he finally started to paint.
The textbook states that episodic memory is a "neurocognitive memory system that enables people to remember past happenings." This directly relates to the chapter because Magnani had several memories from a specific picture. He had certain stories and experiences from every thought of Pontito.
The overall issue of Magnani's photographic memory and how he constantly was thinking about his town was an interesting topic, but it was drug out and extremely repetitive; therefore, I did not like this chapter. I felt as though the chapter could have been condensed and gotten to the point a lot quicker than this reading did. Reading about Pontito reminded me of a few small towns in Iowa (due to the fact that the town is basically full of the older generation and rarely any of the younger generation).
Things that I will remember from this chapter include the fact that Magnani was so persistent and obsessive about talking about Pontito. The book stated (my version in cruder terms) that he was not physically living in the town, but he basically should have been because he had no interests other than Pontito.
I will remember how interesting it was that all of the sudden Magnani had this ability to have vivid dreams and to wake up and physically "see" suspended images of Pontito and have this desire to draw them. From this he was able to create remarkable paintings even though he had never painted in his life. This is something that I have never really heard of before. I have heard of people just having hallucinations, but nothing this extreme to the sense that he literally seemed to be having visions where he would stare and his pupils will dilate.
The last thing I will remember from this chapter is disappointment. Magnani adored Pontito and was faced with something he did not recognize nor want to accept. He was faced with a down so devastated and unfamiliar to him. It was nothing like his memories or his paintings. He was away from it and imagined it as nothing changed and it was just the same as always, but this was not the case. The only way I can relate to this is, when you go home (from college) and all of the sudden your room from high school is now a guest room. You knew every picture and corner in that room and then when you come back and it is redecorated it is different and unfamiliar; it is definitely a strange and almost unsetting feeling at first.
I liked this chapter because of the overall idea. The idea that Magnani was "stuck in Pontito" and could not seem to escape it. He was obsessed and everything he did and talked about was in relation to Pontito. I had never really heard of someone being this obsessive about one subject and having hallucinations to the point which allowed them to paint (a talent which they previously never had).
I did not like this chapter because, again, of the way it was written. It was a slow read for me and seemed like the chapter could have been summed up a lot more, while still presenting the valuable information.
This chapter helped me gain more knowledge about the temporal lobe (and refresh knowledge for me). The temporal lobes major functions include: auditory perception, processing speech and vision, and formation of long-term memory. The chapter brought up temporal lobe epilepsy, which I learned is a disorder involving many seizures that can affect both behavior and attention. In this a sensation of a smell that is not actually there can occur. This chapter also helped me learn more about memory, which was stated at the beginning of this blog.
Life memories
The topic of life memories went through the whole chapter. The tremendous nostalgic feeling influenced Franco and his art all his life. The importance of life memories, our own biographical stories is difficult to overestimate. My text provided some interesting information about this special kind of memory: autobiographical one.
First of all it is necessary to define it as recollected events that belong to a person’s past. We experience it every time we use “mental time travel” to place ourselves back in a specific situation. This is a multidimensional complex consisting of emotional, sensory and spatial components. Moreover, autobiographical memories might be presented in two perspectives: field perspective and observer perspective. The first one resembles situation as if we are seeing it, while in case of observer perspective we can see the event “from the outside”, how we took part in it.
What exactly do we remember from the past? What events from our life are more likely to be memorized? Franco’s story although being quite exceptional shows some general tendencies at the same time. People tend to memorize more emotional events rather than the ordinary ones. Franco missed Pontito, missed his childhood, his old life; he came through his father’s death, war and intervention terror. Exceptional memory of Pontito thus might be explained by the emotional trauma, but probably it is not the only reason that influenced him.
The so called reminiscence bump could be one of them. The effect due to which people over the age of forty when they are asked to remember the events in their life present high percentage of memory from resent time as well as from adolescence and early adulthood. Many of them would also call eighteenth year of their life as “the middle one”.
Three hypotheses can explain the phenomenon: life-narrative, cognitive and cultural life script hypothesis. The first one says that people have rich memories of that period because this is the time of assuming their life identities. It explains why adolescence and youth are later transformed to “good old days”, the time of “our generation”.
Cognitive hypothesis tend to attribute early memories to the fact that encoding in general is better during periods of rapid change that are followed by stability. Assuming that adulthood is a relatively stable time in comparison with adolescence that definitely makes sense.
Cultural life sprit hypothesis distinguishes between the events that usually take place in a particular culture and a personal life stories. The most common responds for enumerating memories are those that are important for culture, such as graduating, marriage and having children. Again a large number of events occur during the period associated with the reminiscence bump.
Franco’s case might not be the perfect example, as all his paintings depict Pontito before 1943, when he was nine years old – and thus reflect his early childhood memories. I tend to think it could be connected with the tremendous emotional stress he suffered before the age of ten years – when reminiscence bump usually starts to form. Franco probably remembered Pontito so vividly partly due to the so called flashbulb memory. A specific type of memories referred to the circumstances surrounding how a person heard about the event. It is concentrated exactly on the circumstances (or the surroundings), when and where the news were heard, not on the event itself.
I enjoyed reading this chapter. The reading presented a touching story and outlined some interesting facts about life memories – probably one of the most intimate parts of our personality; and thus one of the most precious one.
Terms: flashbulb memories, cognitive hypothesis, life-narrative hypothesis, cultural life script hypothesis, reminiscence bump, autobiographical memory, field perspective, observer perspective.
There were quite a few facets of memory my text discussed that I was able to associate with Franco's story. Among the primary ideas were that of very long-term memory (VLTM), memory for pictures, and Autobiographical memory.
The fact that memory declines rapidly at first and then levels off is something I believe we can all generally agree with. There are experiences from 5, 10, 20 years ago that I remember as much now as I did a year or so after they happened. I had actually never discovered the concept of VLTM until reading it in this text. Memory for pictures was interesting as well. My text discusses a study yielding overwhelming short-term memory strength for retaining images. However, it is hypothesized that new images replace these other ones after about four months. Autobiographical memories are simply our memories of our own past experiences. These, obviously, are generally quite good. Though, there is no basis for comparison considering we are the "experts" of our own experiences as nobody lives an existence parallel to your own!
This chapter was my least favorite so far. While I felt as though the author was providing his typical amount of information, I was unable to develop as prominent of an image and understanding of the story as in the previous chapters. A very interesting story once again though.
Franco's intense passion and recollection of such a distant memory was my favorite part of the chapter. His memory of Pontito was quite astonishing and clearly had a valid channel for it in his paintings. His intense infatuation became an illness even which the author referred to as potentially "Dostoevsky Syndrome".
Whhile this may be a vast exaggeration, this chapter made me think about the link between emotional responses and logical thought. We all know of the common stereotype that men use logical thinking to make decisions and that women generally act based on emotion. Personally, I am more like the female stereotype myself and let my emotions dictate my decisions all to often. How I tie this into the chapter regarding Franco is how emotionally engrained he must've been with his past experiences with Pontito. Like a fool in love, how much control can you have over these emotions and how are they influenced by our brain and the logical thinking processes? While I know there are answers out there, everyones brain and heart are different. As necessary as they are, I am not a fan of generalizations, especially in regard to human behavior and decision making processes.
All of the chapters have related to one another in the mere idea of their uniqueness. These are stories of people we do not hear about everyday and that most of us never meet in a lifetime. Again, I avoid generalizations when at all possible and that is one of my favorite aspects of this book. These are very unique stories that are extreme outliers.
I did not like the overload of description and information again. I answer the "what did I dislike" question the same everytime. I can never think of anything in partiicular other than the authors writing style and the fact that the chaper could seemingly be much shorter.
Terms: Very Long-Term Memory (VLTM), Memory for pictures, Autobiographical memory, Short-term memory, Dostoevsky Syndrome
Reading about Franco’s memory issues led me to read the chapter in my textbook called distortions of memory. I was able to relate this chapter to the AOM reading because both dealt with memory abnormalities. What caught my attention in my textbook was the term reconstructive retrieval. This term refers to how expectations guide and construct episodic memory to be either altered or distorted. Episodic memory is defined just how it sounds, it is memory of past episodes in your life. After reading about Franco, it is safe to assume he had very little trouble remembering his episodic memories correctly. Normally, it is hard for adults to remember vivid childhood memories as detailed as Franco experienced his. An adult may use reconstructive retrieval to form a memory based on his or her expectations. My textbook covered three ways in which memories may be reconstructed in error. One way is known as leveling. Leveling relates to the loss of details that occur while forming memories. For example, if I were to tell a description of a vacation I took when I was seven I probably will be unable to explain it in vivid details. I may not remember how many times we switched planes or what the person’s name was who sat by me on the plane ride. This is how Franco differed from others. He had such vivid memories of what Pontito was like. He was able to remember every stone and every color that made up Pontito. My textbook also described what assimilation means. Assimilation deals with assumptions made about a memory. An example could be that an adult man remembers breaking his arm when he was little, and adds to his memory that his parents rushed him to the hospital even though he does not specifically remember his parents doing this. He assumes it was part of the memory because of his personal rationalizations. I also learned from my textbook how sharpening affects memory. Sharpening uses general knowledge to remember details that weren’t specifically stated (Kellogg 2003). For example, a mother might remember her son having bruises as a child only because she assumes her son played roughly and sometimes had injuries. The important part to understand is she might not remember a specific incidence when her son had bruises but with her knowledge of how boys play when they are young it’s a pretty good chance her son had some bruises when he was a child. After learning about these terms I was able to understand that Franco had none of these normal memory problems.
Overall, I felt that this specific AOM chapter was very boring to read. I felt it embellished too much on unimportant details instead of explaining more about his memory enhancement. It barely focused on the cognitive issues at hand and instead focused on information like where he was living, what his house looked like, and other unimportant issues. Although I felt the reading was dull, I will remember reading about how Franco almost experienced seizures in the sense that at surprising moments he would feel as if he was in Pontito when in fact he wasn’t. I recall that his memory was so detailed that he found it difficult to compare his fantasy Pontito to the real Pontito. I also remember reading that not only could Franco visibly see Pontito through memory, but he could experience Pontito through his other senses. At times he was able to hear the sounds of Pontito and smell the scents of Pontito. One thing I liked about this reading was seeing that even though Franco suffered emotionally and mentally he was able to work through some problems with art. It was inspiring to actually be able to compare his paintings to the real life pictures and see how identical both scenes were. One thing I disliked about this chapter was how it branched off and tried to explain his problems through a Freudian perspective. I felt this was way off subject and had little importance when explaining Franco’s memory abilities.
From this reading I was able to gain a perspective on how different a world view may seem through the eyes of a person with such incredible memory abilities. I have learned how memory can be distorted and altered, but I have also learned that in rare cases some people can have such enhanced memories. I don’t feel I learned much about the brain because this reading did not focus on what physical differences Franco had compared to someone with normal memory capabilities. It also ignored explaining how the brain may have caused Franco’s fantasy 3D world to become almost a reality. Since it lacked in these areas I would like to understand how the brain creates memory in specific cases like Franco’s. This reading could relate back to other readings like, “To See and Not See,” because in a way after Franco revisited Pontito he had to relearn what Pontito looked like now instead of how he saw it in his childhood.
Terms: Reconstructive retrieval, episodic memory, leveling, assimilation, sharpening
There were many areas in my textbook that related and used terms for what Franco may have been experiencing - or certain neurological process that he may have been using. The area in my book that I looked at most closely were those dealing with memory. I found it very interesting how vivid Franco’s memories were after so many years. Yet he had no new input about the place that he was painting from - he was referencing strictly his own memories/dreams. I have taken a number of art and studio classes. It is very difficult to work from memory. Mainly because our minds will generalize what we are seeing the images we produce will be void of accurate detail. But, this was not the case for Franco - what he can do is fascinating.
Franco had very strong episodic memory where he could remember what took place during his childhood in his home town. In other words episodic memory is when one can recall what happened at specific times and place in their past. This is the exactly what Franco was going through. However, most of his images were lifeless - once he visited Pontito full memories came rushing to him ( I will discuss this again later). Through strictly his painting Franco depicted Pantito exactly has he remembered it as a child.
Franco’s paintings were considered very accurate. There were some inaccuracies but those can be attributed to information processes. When Franco was lasting seeing Pantito he was a child. The buildings would seem farther apart and the streets wider than they actually were. These memories were encoded by a child - meaning that different stimuli would be used to retrieve such memories than if he had been remembering Plantito as an adult. Encoding specificity is when how we perceive something determines what stimuli and process will be used to retrieve that information later. The book talks about this when they are attributing Franc’s memories to epileptic issues. I think that idea makes a lot of sense. Otherwise, there may have been certain things happening to him that would have brought back these childhood memories.
Depths of processing is defined as memory superiority for events attentively processed at a semantic level as compared with sensory level. But, in Franco’s work he has a great deal of semantic memory. He has great knowledge of he concepts of that world as he saw it - paradise. However, by definition semantic memory is free from personal reference - in that respect Franco would be far from having these memories. All his work was extremely personal. Franco had a lot of sensory information to put into his work as well. His depth of processing must have great as a child.
It is interesting that Franco’s work would be so detailed. That he would be able to have memories that would even have the shadow of the rocks preserved. This must by attributed his photographic memory that was common in his family (mom and one of his sisters).
Franco’s memories first came to him while he was in an asylum. While dreaming he would have images of Pantito. These sounded like flashbulb memories based on their description and narrative from his past. By definition a flashbulb memory is a vivid recollection of some autobiographical event that carries with it strong emotional reactions. This definition also fits for all of Franco’s memories however, they stay longer and longer until he can get them recorded - so he can remember / see them for long periods of time. Is this a result of some condition that these memories can be tapped or is a process of how Franoc’s photographic memory worked?
Later when Franco visits Plantito there are few s that happened as a result. The first time he goes back his receive new memory input about Plantito. After returning home Franco says that he can not work. He can not use the images that are in his head because now there are two conflicting images - the old and the new Plantito. This sounds like an issue of distinctiveness. The new information that is being seen is different from the information that is already in the brain. I am not sure if this term is referring to different information like sight to smell or different information like conflicting ideas? Either way - what Franco saw on his visit was processed and stored in the same realm as the fantasy Plantito. I was not sure if they would even be processed the same - one as a child and one as an adult.
There are many things I will remember about this chapter. I will remember how Sacks suggests Freudian theory after Franco’s father is killed and his new relationship with his mother. Though I was under the impression that the Oedipus theory like much of Freud’s work was basically discredited - this does seem to fit that idea perfectly. I will also remember and wonder if Franco’s photographic memory had anything to do with his ability to recall such perfect detail. Or, and thirdly, when Franco is recalling a memory in a seizure-like state does that allow the memory with such detail? Or is the general memory brought about by the “seizure” and then is the extent of that memory determined by Franco’s photographic memory?
One thing that I liked about this chapter was the over all story about how Franco had what seemed like an episode or collapse so that he ended up in an asylum where we had this new experience that later had control over his entire life. Were these reoccurring experience a result of post traumatic stress disorder, seizures? There are many questions to be answered. One thing I did not like was toward the end of the reading. While Franco is on his second trip. Maybe I am interpreting it wrong but instead of being a town hero - it seemed like Franco viewed himself as the town god. Also in my book I read about Self-reference effect. This is when information is processed in relation to your own self concept and the idea that you are superior. I wonder if in the next thousands of pieces that Franco develops will he start to include himself with this mentality and memory of what he is to Plantito? He does seem a little unstable - with the relationship to his mother, and time in an asylum… This chapter has made me think about he brain in an entirely new way. The A o M reading referred to inducing seizures in certain areas of the brain to recollect memories. That is crazy! To what extant can we open up the brain? To what extant is that sort of research ethical or necessary?
This reading relates to earlier chapters in a number of ways. The first way is how Franco’s identity is wrapped up in his memories of his childhood - it’s as if he really can’t leave it or grow out of it. Which makes me think of he last hippie. Here are two men who stuck in their own pasts. Overall, I enjoyed reading this chapter.
Terms: Episodic memory, Semantic memory, Depths of processing, Self-reference effect, Distinctiveness, Flashbulb memory and, Encoding specificity.
Reading Assignment –Week #5
The Landscape of his Dreams
This week’s reading focused a lot on the concept of memory. My book had a lot of material relating to the subject and therefore I decided to research the topic in depth. Since the reading was focused on Franco’s memories I decided to talk more about short term memories. Short term memories can be different by distinguishing as primary memories and secondary memories. Primary Memories consists of information remaining in consciousness after it has been perceived and formed in part of the “psychological present”. Secondary Memories contain information about events that have left the consciousness and are therefore part of our psychological past. Trying to remember a telephone number for a few seconds is an example of our short term memory. Two main points that makes this able for us to store in our short term memories is the fact that the information is very limited (seven digits can be remembered). And secondly, any distractions can cause us to forget the information.
Compared to the other chapters in this book, I didn’t like this one quite as much. The other chapters kept my interest and I found myself somewhat enjoying the stories about the rare conditions. I enjoyed these stories because they were things that I had never heard of being possible and seeing how each find a way to excel in their struggles is inspiring.
One thing that stuck out was that Franco refused to go back to his village. I wonder why. He consistently paints these paintings of the village that he grew up in and yet doesn’t want to go back. Wouldn’t he want to know if anything had changed that he should make a note of in his future paintings? Doesn’t he want to know if there are any of the Magnanis still alive that he would know? Another thing that I found somewhat interesting about the reading was the fact that Franco had a “photographic” memory. He could remember what a whole page of something said after reading it or a single message of church and be able to recall the words after hearing them just once. This was very interesting. Another thing that I will remember about this chapter is the bizarre experiences Franco had after he became homesick. Franco began experiencing a different kind of memory where images would dart into his mind. He mentioned that these images were sudden and flash-like. Finally, Franco started having very vivid dreams as he was on his way to America. He dreamed of his hometown, and each dream had lots of detail. I’m twenty-two and I probably couldn’t recreate the town that I grew up and have lived all my life in hardly any detail, so this was fascinating. It would almost be like a hallucination (which I think Franco was probably experiencing during these dreams because he said they almost spoke to him).
This chapter helped make it clear how our short term memories work. How we go about storing information and why certain information gets stored into our short term memory versus our long term memories. A also learned the difference between primary and secondary memories and the purpose for each. This chapter relates to the previous one in distinguishing something that we use on a daily basis unconsciously. It gives us the information to make sense out of what we are doing unconsciously so when asked to explain how we remember this or that, or perhaps, don’t remember this or that, we know why.
Terms: Primary Memories, Secondary Memories, Short Term Memory, unconscious, Psychological Present/Past
This is such a fascinating case! And I know I keep saying that, but this particular case intrigued me in a different way.
In most of the other cases, something was terribly wrong with the individual. The colorblind painter lost his ability to see or remember colors, the last Hippie had a terrible tumor and Virgil had trouble seeing. To me, something was also wrong with Dr. Bennett but his Tourette's had become too much a part of him and he did not think of it as a defect. The thing with Franco is that he has such a terrific memory! I know that it gets complicated with him but a good memory is what everyone wants.
That being said, he is still very troubled. I absolutely agree with Oliver Sacks in his analysis. This does look like Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. But it could be so much more. The thing with a seizure on the temporal lobe is that it gives you a sense of purpose or a God-given task. This is clearly seen in Franco. He has a task that he wants to fulfill. He sincerely believes that his purpose in life is to make the memory of Pontito permanent. He is aware that this obsession stared following a serious breakdown and he is unwilling to really understand what his illness did to him because he now has a purpose. He might even internally be thinking that he was given this talent during his illness so that he may fulfill his task. Really, all this is typical.
But here is the thing. He has dreams of Pontito and these dreams are vivid and unmistakable. I realize that I am absolutely not qualified to make a judgment like this but this tells me that something is working overtime in his temporal lobe. When you go to sleep, your brain does not simply die, it has pulses going through it and we register some of it in the form of dreams. But the dreams are clearly dreams, we've learned to distinguish them.
With Franco, something got messed up. He wakes up from these dreams and sometimes he has the feeling that he is still asleep. So something is clearly wrong. It could just be a seizure that happens waking or sleeping. Or it could be an inability to wake up. Or (this is just off the top of my head) it could be that that part of his brain is not going to sleep. (However, I did not read anything about sleep deficiencies so I think it is safe to say that Franco's problems are not sleep problems).
I did think that this was a memory issue. I really thought that some area in his brain kept recalling Pontito and making it impossible for him to forget Pontito. But I have changed my mind. Clearly, something is happening based on memory--he is having detailed memories of Pontito, both as a location and as the home of numerous child hood events--however so much of it is spatial, that I have decided that his problem might just be a very confused cognitive map.
Consider, when he has his visions/seizures he has a picture perfect pontito--as he remembers it--before him and this model is so perfect and so real that if he turns his head, he changes his perspective in the model as if he is literally there. This is all about "if I were standing here and looked this way, this is what I would see and if I looked at it from here, this is what it would look like." I really do not think that this is a hallucination (although I wish Sacks had done something to verify that it is not, maybe he could have persuaded him to do an fMRI?) or an activation of areas involved in memory. Since there is no account of him having flown over Pontito, he would not have a recurring, compulsive vision of Pontito from fifty feet in the air if it had been as simple as a memory issue.
What he is doing is a very elaborate and ongoing mental rotation task. And somehow the temporal lobe is involved. I think it is quite well settled that he is having a type of seizure. Here is the thing that troubles me though. When he is having this seizure, he is also having an intense visual experience which means his occipital lobe is also involved. This means that his seizures are generally focused in his temporal lobe but quickly spread to his occipital lobe (so why is he not having other visual experiences!) and somehow, this seizure that spreads to his occipital lobe does not spread to other lobes (although some of the tactile experiences might indicate activity in the parietal lobe). It puzzles me and makes me wish I knew more about this stuff.
Certainly, Franco lends support to Kosslyn's idea that mentally imagining something is very similar to actually seeing it (The functional equivolancy hypothesis). This would suggest that they occur at the same location in the brain and that would be wherever it is that Franco is having his seizures (I have my fingers crossed that it is in the temporal love). All this is, of course, assuming that he does not have some brain damage that might have caused some functional areas to shift in his brain.
Terms: I am so sorry, I don't think I used any terms...
My textbook had a lengthy chapter about long-term memory, including the topics of autobiographical memory, vintage memories, and a portion discussing the permanence of memory. The chapter used the example of eyewitness testimony in courtrooms to explain how memory is not permanent, a topic discussed in some detail in the chapter of AAoM. The textbook, however, also discussed vintage memories and how elderly people are able to recall specifics of their visual memory. These specifics usually pertained to events they found extremely important in their lives. In AAoM, Pontito was obviously a major part of Franco's life because he grew up there and so much of his family history surrounded the town (especially significant is the fact Franco told his mother he would recreate the town for her)
This chapter allowed me to gain a completely new perspective on the past; however, it was somewhat depressing reading about Franco and his life that is centered on a place that no longer exists in respect to time. I'm sure all of us have at one time or another heard someone say “don't live in the past” or some variation of the phrase. In the Landscape of His Dreams, a man named Franco is basically consumed day and night by these mental images of Pontito, a small town in Italy where he grew up. His visions, possibly caused by seizures resulting from temporal lobe epilepsy, are constantly present, and, as a result, he feels it is his obligation to document them by painting. At the beginning of the chapter I found this very interesting, rarely do people think about the details of a place at a specific time and all the other factors that go with that thought. The combination of our limited memory capabilities and our busy lives doesn't really allow us to appreciate the past at the level Franco does. After reading the chapter, I thought deeply about my own past and realized how useless I would be in trying to preserve even the smallest of memories to the extent discussed in AAoM. As I reflected more and more I began thinking about how so much in the world is forgotten and constantly changing. I found myself more interested in Franco's obsession of preservation rather than the incredible occurrences taking place neurologically. I liked this chapter for that very reason. For a species that studies and stresses the importance our own history as much as we do, we'll never be be able to come close to capturing the full experience of any moment in time, individually or as a group.
The first part of the chapter I will remember dealt with autobiographical memory which can be split into two different perspectives: field and observer. The field perspective is basically seeing a situation from your own eyes, while the observer perspective is seeing it as if you were an outsider. The observer perspective of autobiographical memory had a significant contribution to Franco's ability to paint Pontito from the impossible angles unobtainable to people. I found it interesting that these autobiographical memories are linked to the temporal lobe, and, every time the temporal lobe had a supposed seizure, Franco experienced Pontito sensually and almost emotionally in addition to just seeing it.
Another thing from the chapter I will remember is the part explaining how past psychologists thought memories worked in the brain. Sacks mentioned Freud, Proust, Edelman, and Bartlett. Following along the progressions in thought makes you realize some ideas, while wrong, still make sense at some level of understanding and made sense why some believed what they did. The idea that there isn't a pure view of the past unaffected by the present and that the brain is a “ubiquitously active system” only makes it more complex to think about.
The last thing I will remember from this chapter is how Sacks explained why there were differences between Franco's paintings and other photographs of Pontito. Franco's visual memories of his hometown were created when he was a child; therefore, he's seeing the town from a different perspective, one in which everything is much bigger in comparison to him.
I disliked the story for a similar reason that I liked the story. Franco's epileptic reminiscence never stopped, creating a life of constant distractions in the present. I was shocked when I heard he had a wife because Sacks portrayed him as pretty much permanently engrossed in his work. Everything about the story has amazing written all over it except that Franco essentially devoted his life to preserving a particular time in his past. Sacks didn't really go into much extra detail about his personal life, but the images that appear to Franco and his need to get them down immediately had to have had a dramatic effect on everything else.
From this chapter I got a new perspective on how memories work in our brains and how the present will affect the past (even in Franco who Sacks mentioned did incorporate a few new additions to his paintings after revisiting Pontito). I knew about the field perspective of autobiographical memory but hadn't put much thought into the details of the observer perspective. This chapter, like the others, brings up new issues surrounding the human brain and how special it is. When I first started reading the chapter I thought “oh great, another chapter about a painter.” Each chapter sheds a new light on a different process of the brain.
Terms: autobiographical memory, epileptic reminiscence, temporal lobe, visual memory
Cognitive Psychology (6th ed.) by Robert L. Solso
Landscape of his Dreams:
This case study in AoM, in short, was about a man who suffered from an illness (undetermined what exactly the illness was) and seizures and after his illness had passed he had compulsively started painting pictures of his hometown (easily over 1000 paintings at the time of interview). The interesting part about this is that he hasn't seen his hometown in over thirty years and his paintings are accurate in the regards that the hometown looks as it did when he was a child. Sometime after Franco moved from his hometown of Pontito it became a German occupied area and changed greatly from the town that Franco once knew.
There are a few things that could have resulted in Franco remembering his hometown accurately enough to paint it detail for detail. One potential scenario includes photographic memory. My text states that photographic memory is not uncommon in artists because they perceive and remember the world and save that information for the purpose of putting it on canvas. Another possible scenario includes the epileptic reminiscence of Franco. More specifically, after becoming ill Franco became obsessed with his hometown. It was all he could think about, paint about, and even talk about with others.
Something else that occurred in Franco's life that is important is when he first started having these memories of his hometown. He had his first visions while he was detained in a mental health institution. The way his visions are described it makes me feel as if his memories are flashbulb memories. According to the text, flashbulb memories are vivid recollections of autobiographical events that are tied to a very strong emotion.
After reading what I've been writing I feel like Franco went through a process of developing his compulsion. I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to say that Franco started by having his flashbulb memories of his hometown while in the hospital, then entertained his compulsions of rebuilding his hometown for his mother by making countless paintings of his hometown, and after indulging himself in that compulsion every day for a large stretch of time it became a part of his long-term memory and every day life.
One thing I really like about Oliver Sachs is that he works with case studies. These are very rare cases of people that lose a very important part of their cognitive functioning, but even though the cases are so rare they show us something very important about the necessity of the senses people take for granted.
Another thing I really liked and hated all at the same time was that Franco doesn't really adjust to his problem at all. There isn't really a "cure" for his compulsive urges to paint his hometown to rebuild it and once he revisited his hometown so many years after it changed so much he's got more work to be done. I feel that there is no real closure for Franco, at least not yet, and that in itself is kind of a let down to those reading the case study.
Terms: long-term memory, flashbulb memory, photographic memory, compulsion, obsession, emotion
Landscape of his Dreams:
This case study in AoM, in short, was about a man who suffered from an illness (undetermined what exactly the illness was) and seizures and after his illness had passed he had compulsively started painting pictures of his hometown (easily over 1000 paintings at the time of interview). The interesting part about this is that he hasn't seen his hometown in over thirty years and his paintings are accurate in the regards that the hometown looks as it did when he was a child. Sometime after Franco moved from his hometown of Pontito it became a German occupied area and changed greatly from the town that Franco once knew.
There are a few things that could have resulted in Franco remembering his hometown accurately enough to paint it detail for detail. One potential scenario includes photographic memory. My text states that photographic memory is not uncommon in artists because they perceive and remember the world and save that information for the purpose of putting it on canvas. Another possible scenario includes the epileptic reminiscence of Franco. More specifically, after becoming ill Franco became obsessed with his hometown. It was all he could think about, paint about, and even talk about with others.
Something else that occurred in Franco's life that is important is when he first started having these memories of his hometown. He had his first visions while he was detained in a mental health institution. The way his visions are described it makes me feel as if his memories are flashbulb memories. According to the text, flashbulb memories are vivid recollections of autobiographical events that are tied to a very strong emotion.
After reading what I've been writing I feel like Franco went through a process of developing his compulsion. I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to say that Franco started by having his flashbulb memories of his hometown while in the hospital, then entertained his compulsions of rebuilding his hometown for his mother by making countless paintings of his hometown, and after indulging himself in that compulsion every day for a large stretch of time it became a part of his long-term memory and every day life.
One thing I really like about Oliver Sachs is that he works with case studies. These are very rare cases of people that lose a very important part of their cognitive functioning, but even though the cases are so rare they show us something very important about the necessity of the senses people take for granted.
Another thing I really liked and hated all at the same time was that Franco doesn't really adjust to his problem at all. There isn't really a "cure" for his compulsive urges to paint his hometown to rebuild it and once he revisited his hometown so many years after it changed so much he's got more work to be done. I feel that there is no real closure for Franco, at least not yet, and that in itself is kind of a let down to those reading the case study.
I feel like I keep learning more about the limitations that the brain doesn't have. I started out reading the book with the understanding that "our brain can do these things" and little by little each chapter expands a little bit more on what I accept as truth and learn a little bit more about the unique processes of our brain only to find that the limitations are seemingly non-existent.
Terms: long-term memory, flashbulb memory, photographic memory, compulsion, obsession, emotion
Like many others I found this particular reading rather difficult to get through for its lack of point. It was somewhat lacking in comparison to other chapters we have read. This was difficult to then derive a sense of what I should look up in my text book. Memory is such a complicated topic so I am just going to give a general idea of it and how it related to the chapter.
According to Tulving there are two types of memory systems. Episodic memory holds that we recall memories of specific events that we have participated in. The other system is Semantic memory, which is memory that has been processed by our general knowledge base. Most to any of the information that is recalled from semantic memory will be general and generic. This relates to the chapter because Franco had an abstract version of episodic memory with a lack of personal projections to the situation. Usually with memory, one cannot fully trust what they are seeing. Because of schema’s we may fill in the blanks to fit our sense of reality. This was not the case with Franco. He was able to have a completely objective image of what he recalled.
What was interesting however was when he transitioned from being objective to subjective. When the image of Pontito no longer fit his, the contrast was too much and left him unable to work for some time. He later on pushes out the new image of Pontito and continues to draw the old. This is rather intriguing because he is participating in late selection. It is as if he is faced with a dichotic visual task (rather than listening) and must attempt to choose which message to properly shadow. And like dichotic listening one can only shadow one message. This for Franco occurred at a later time I felt. That these two images juxtaposed next to one another was this sensory cognitive over load. In which he later chose to go with his old image of Pontito because it fit his sense of the world, his episodic memories, and worked with his schemas.
The biggest thing that stood out to me in this chapter was the psychic seizures. I think that psychic seizures have had common place throughout history in people’s lives. And it also removes the sense of mysticism behind the world of art. Looking at Franco’s behavior and his uncanny ability that in reality did not have much to do with him, I finally got an idea of what artists mean when they say well the image just came to me. Often times the world of art is flooded with this spiritual mysticism that they hold this divine like gift. It was nice that Sacks notes that often times what occurs is epileptic activity on the temporal lobes causing such occurrences.
Another thing that stood out to me was interictal personality syndrome. These ideas that not only can these psychic seizures give way to episodes of enlightenment. But they also have a huge impact on someone’s personality. I rather enjoyed the discussion of how the effect on someone’s temporal lobe can lead them to increased concerns with philosophical, religious, and cosmic, matters. It brings to mind those who suffer from developmental disorders and become savants. What I didn’t like was about this chapter was that no one seemed to be bother with the fact that Franco had PTSD. It is apparent with his obsession with Pontito and wanting to rebuild through his art, that he has some issues that have not been touched. I think that people enable him rather than helping him.
I really didn’t learn anything new about the brain. What occurred for me was just a reiteration of how big of an impact the brain has on the way we function. Would appear obvious, but what I mean is how a disorder at the end of the day can be a catalyst for a flood of creativity.
Like many others I found this particular reading rather difficult to get through for its lack of point. It was somewhat lacking in comparison to other chapters we have read. This was difficult to then derive a sense of what I should look up in my text book. Memory is such a complicated topic so I am just going to give a general idea of it and how it related to the chapter.
According to Tulving there are two types of memory systems. Episodic memory holds that we recall memories of specific events that we have participated in. The other system is Semantic memory, which is memory that has been processed by our general knowledge base. Most to any of the information that is recalled from semantic memory will be general and generic. This relates to the chapter because Franco had an abstract version of episodic memory with a lack of personal projections to the situation. Usually with memory, one cannot fully trust what they are seeing. Because of schema’s we may fill in the blanks to fit our sense of reality. This was not the case with Franco. He was able to have a completely objective image of what he recalled.
What was interesting however was when he transitioned from being objective to subjective. When the image of Pontito no longer fit his, the contrast was too much and left him unable to work for some time. He later on pushes out the new image of Pontito and continues to draw the old. This is rather intriguing because he is participating in late selection. It is as if he is faced with a dichotic visual task (rather than listening) and must attempt to choose which message to properly shadow. And like dichotic listening one can only shadow one message. This for Franco occurred at a later time I felt. That these two images juxtaposed next to one another was this sensory cognitive over load. In which he later chose to go with his old image of Pontito because it fit his sense of the world, his episodic memories, and worked with his schemas.
The biggest thing that stood out to me in this chapter was the psychic seizures. I think that psychic seizures have had common place throughout history in people’s lives. And it also removes the sense of mysticism behind the world of art. Looking at Franco’s behavior and his uncanny ability that in reality did not have much to do with him, I finally got an idea of what artists mean when they say well the image just came to me. Often times the world of art is flooded with this spiritual mysticism that they hold this divine like gift. It was nice that Sacks notes that often times what occurs is epileptic activity on the temporal lobes causing such occurrences.
Another thing that stood out to me was interictal personality syndrome. These ideas that not only can these psychic seizures give way to episodes of enlightenment. But they also have a huge impact on someone’s personality. I rather enjoyed the discussion of how the effect on someone’s temporal lobe can lead them to increased concerns with philosophical, religious, and cosmic, matters. It brings to mind those who suffer from developmental disorders and become savants. What I didn’t like was about this chapter was that no one seemed to be bother with the fact that Franco had PTSD. It is apparent with his obsession with Pontito and wanting to rebuild through his art, that he has some issues that have not been touched. I think that people enable him rather than helping him.
I really didn’t learn anything new about the brain. What occurred for me was just a reiteration of how big of an impact the brain has on the way we function. Would appear obvious, but what I mean is how a disorder at the end of the day can be a catalyst for a flood of creativity.
The most relevant information I could find in the text that has to do with the Landscape of His Dreams from AoM was in Chapter 7: Forgetting and Remembering. Here the text explained a few cases of people who have experienced an “advanced” memory in once fashion or another. It may have been because the person could use synesthesia (condition which sensory information from one modality evokes a sensation in another modality) or mnemonics (a technique that enhances the storage and recall of information in the memory), or that they had very good LTM (long term memory), or because they had eidetic imagery (a better name for photographic memory).
Many parts of this chapter were interesting and captured my imagination and wonder I did not find it as interesting as the other chapters. I think this is because it didn’t involve the brain as much or as directly as the previous chapters have done. It always seemed like I was waiting for the wow factor, or something more. I don’t mean that it wasn’t fascinating that this person has devoted their entire life to recreate an almost perfect replica of their home town by memory; just that it wasn’t as thought provoking as other chapters. I couldn’t connect as I have before with this book.
The three things I will remember from this chapter is that he could recreate the scene of his childhood (from many years before) with almost perfect accuracy; down to the finest detail because I find it amazing that he can do this. When I was very little I liked to think I could do this and when I closed my eyes I could remember small details of the scene I had just closed out. But even if I could I could not retain the image for long. The second thing I will remember from this chapter is that he could imagine a scene and rotate the picture around to gather the whole including all the details from every angle. This reminds me of a video game, the kind that makes me sick to my stomach. I think if I could accomplish this at all it would take a lot of time and concentration just to be able to do this for a very short time period. The third thing I will remember from this chapter is how he fantasized his return to Pontito would be. The walk into town (cross on his back), maybe even dying before making it, or making into town where his childhood dog welcomes him home and then lays down to rest for eternity. I think I will remember this because it seems as though one way or another we can all relate to this feelings. The feeling of wanting to be remembered, needed, noble, loyal, or special in some way. It was also interesting that there were no people in his paintings.
The one thing I really liked about this chapter was that Sacks was very good at showing or emphasizing the importance, passion, and dedication Franco had toward his painting, Pontito, and toward his family. The one thing I disliked was that other than the mentions of seizures and how Franco had these images, there wasn’t a lot of related material with the brain and I kept waiting for more that never came.
The biggest thing that had me thinking about the brain with this chapter was the effects seizures can have on the brain and I didn’t know about this images that a person can apparently have right before/during a seizure. I don’t see a lot of connections to earlier chapters except for that more than on e person in the book has been a painter. Also a lot, if not all chapters so far has dealt with seeing or images one way or another.
Terms: Memory, Synesthesia, Modality, Mnemonic, LTM (Long Term Memory), Eidetic Imagery/Photographic Memory, Seizures