Remember the Alamo

A researcher explores the mechanics of memory.

Nicole Dudukovic is a memory researcher and lecturer in the Program in Human Biology at Stanford University. See full bio

Comments on "Remember the Alamo? Not really."

Remember the Alamo? Not really.

By Nicole Dudukovic, Ph.D. on July 3, 2008 in Remember the Alamo

Although the name of my Psychology Today blog is Remember the Alamo (a name not chosen but approved by me), I recently realized that I didn't remember much at all about the Alamo. I knew it involved a famous battle in Texas with an outcome that was memorable, at least to some people, but that's about all I could have told you. Luckily, a quick search on Wikipedia helped me fill in the rest of the details. Read More

Changing Educational Values?

Submitted by masten on July 5, 2008 - 10:56am.

You might feel better about yourself if you had more ready answers about history, but would you necessarily be any better off? Your statement shows that, although our education has a totally different focus from our parents' education, the values we respect are about the same. We don't expect kids to memorize all the presidents anymore, but we feel bad about ourselves that we don't know all the presidents. Maybe by the time our kids are educated, the value system will have shifted and we'll respect critical thinking more than rote memorization. Then we won't be as impressed that somebody can name all the presidents as we are that somebody can intelligently discuss the causes of the Civil War.