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learning due to lack of attention or interest. An impression has never really been made on the mind. Weinland and others think there may be evidence that nothing experienced is ever completely forgotten, unless there is a brain injury or atrophy. The explanation that forgetting is the result of fading of the trace is contradicted by the recovery of many forgotten memories in the course of psychotherapy, by association, and also in hypnotherapy, where patients have been 'regressed' and, under hypnosis, even speak and write like a child of the age desired, with emotions and experiences to match, unchanged by what happened later in the subject's life. It has also been found that recall of meaningful materials is as much as 50% better under hypnosis. Recall is also better in other states characterized by relaxation —abstraction, free association, "twilight sleep," and simple relaxation. Brain injuries sometimes result in loss of memory, but not always. Often there is no noticeable amnesia, or it is temporary. The location in the brain of the injury (or of surgery) makes a difference in the effect on memory. Certain diseases may result in amnesia, for instance, syphilis, epilepsy and Korsakoff's disease (a result of alcoholism). Serious lack of oxygen or blockage of blood circulation through the brain can have permanent destructive effects on the brain and therefore on aspects of memory. Deterioration of memory with the years may be part physiological, and part psychological, Weinland says. It is physiological when an old person forgets things he wants to remember, but it is psychological when he for- |
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