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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1970-10-01, Page 740. it oppocH fila 1 areiAR, THWWWP &Y mist BY G. MacLEOD, ROSS this consistently, day after day. But when the floor Is electrified, At a juncture in our history so . as to, shock the rat wheii it when ,we are nearing the end of alights, {even 24 hours after, the • yet another experiment in ret will not leave the platform. education, (one:: of many, of .late;, The rat has demonstrated years); When in essence, we have long-term memory . for the at last convinced o�irselves not , painful'. experience. When a to mention the "millions of second rat is taken and his unformed minds," that dollars short-term memory iittrfered • do not teach; That the sutn of a with by-passing a mild electric • currentacross his brain pupils learning isnot measured in dollars, and cents; When we immediately aftr he steps down, the rat will not recall theaide puzzled by the fact -that our .> children receive • so , , much foot -shock next ' day. If a long d schooling, but so little period -is -allowed him, between education When all this, has the , brain -shock and the emerged, pit is- something of a foot -shock, the rat will not step relief to listen to +pr. David down, thus proving that Krech, of the University of longterm memory had been, California, Berkeley, addressing established. - soma school administrators` at a There are parallels in human semlt'rar on innovation, on -the experiences, Stich s accidental subject of "The Chemistry of injury to the head, sufficient to, Learning."produce loss` of consciousness, * * * but no permanent damage to The validity of the brain tissue. ' The . patient will '0 ' experience- a -"gap'' in his assumption • that school administrators have something memory for events just prior to to a do with education Is not his accident. ,The theory is that completely self-evident to poor events "were, being carried• everyoner.but assuming they do, only by the short-term memory then they are involved in the and thatthe accident disrupted most awesome enterprise on this earth, for what they say' and do must intimately affect millions of unformed minds. Dr. Krech is the sort of doctor who "does no one any good". When he is the long-term processes. r , ANTIBIOTICS REPEL LONG-TERM.MEMORY Dr. Bernard Agaroff working at the University of Michigan untreated, -but but hereditarily rats were- trick) • re. uits in superior colleagues. - p4IpabJe, rneasureable, . HQre then we have, not only a deterioration -.of the animalrs chemical facilitator of learning, " brain. but one ,which acts as."Groat_. Now we must- return .to. Dr, Equalise" among hereditarilx Krech's initial assumption: That different groups. Dr. Krech does'. what is .good for the rat will be not ' say so, but a word of gpwd,forthe, child. We have -seen..., , warning should be injected here. that while the biochemist can The optimal Bose varies -greatly introduce chemical factors into with the individual, so'• that the brain by injection, the much experimentation would.be, educator -can - induce chemical • necessary to produce ' the factors by. a stimulating Roared." environment. The question But afore seriously, the which remains to be answered is: doctota fi::d they have available What educational experieneea a fairly a u.ensive crass' of drugs • will best reinforce th'e which car facilitate learning and biochemist's drugs? The " first memory in animals in different .,--,steps are being • taken by ways for different individuals. educators in the State of Some improve memory; some Michigan, where a program is learning, -'others p attentiveness being implemented, not with and persistence. Some act on the animals, but with children, to short-term lnei};ory, others on discover how much a Head-Starf the ioneerm.. ' Program serves to develop the brain. Medical School Ann Arbor .. zsupports he hypothesrsgthat.the.:- goes°_ toy. ' an unstimulati g as ' ' :.. Identifiedat.a.sockta j party --. " sychologi " his wife is quick .po ou e� tr w4h t ie 'martini -inspired urge to consult' him, that he is not THAT kind of psychologist. On the contrary he is a lab -bound experimental' .psychologisti-w.orse _still -.-he has -,never -worked or p rimente'dr- . with. people. _-.He is what is known .in the trade as a "rat man," and has spent all his years -of lucidity working on the brains of rats, analysing their chemical _� cotrtent. - He is quick to reassure the • hard b%tten,, including the twice bitten, realists, that he brings no naive theory from his lab which will unlock the mysteries of learning in children based on inaze-ruhning rats, - pecking pigeons or submersible goldfish: In fact, what he has to say " has very little. to do with psychological -learning theory. .-Mis theme.•iso-the Ghemistry f e Brain a ilze brae , - a % .-Dr.. sgrumeritr predicated on a statement of faith and belief, not on a demonstrated fact,. is that while the -brains of children are bigger and better than those of rats, nevertheless what is discovered about rat -brain chemistry does not. deviate greatly. from what will be � discovered eventually about human -brain chemistry: EFFECTS OF LACK QF EARLY EDUCATION What does this mean for the. Will ill he have to become . Pharmacist? The answer -is z: O! Let us look into the 15 -year. old work being done at Tolman Hall, Berkeley, by a team oT five. here one rat from each of a dozen pairs of male twins is chosen -to enter an . educationally acti•ve- environment, while the other longterm. -memory -process,. pis, �envJror merit :: The -first ..group. ''dependeii` > :., 'fr-A'1 eT` °Tiro --gves'"in--.a 3susy-well :light i ab together of proteins. in the brain. -where cages are' equipped with He argues that if we can prevent ladders, wheels, and other the formation of new proteins in creative rat toys. As they grow the.. brain, even • though the : older,. up t� 80 days, little ;...short erm -memory- is, ..-rot : earnin tasks are -__fou d—for... disrupted, • the long-term them and . rewards of sugar memory process will not be dispensed. established. Dr. Agaroff works Those in solitary with goldfish and his subject fish confinement, +v though fed the has to swim over a small barrier same food" in quantity and dividing _the tank�into trio halves within 20 seconds, after a light quality- as the -former-group; has been flashed on, otherwise never have any fun and games.. 'the fish receives a stiock. The At the end °of. 105 days comes fish is ' conditioned :~ until he the day of reckoning when the swims hell -beet -for -leather as . rats are sacrificed and their --soon as -the light is flashed. Most brains__ dissected and- chemically - fish learrr shock -avoidance quite analysed. The short answer to all easily and remember it over this is 'that the former group several days. But when Dr. , shows, as a result of this early Agaroff injects an antibiotic, . a rat -type . Head_ Start program, protein inhibitor, into the brain . that it is possible to create • of the fish- which preents the superior problem -solving Q "c orination of new roterns 'Tin he : animals,T1te lack oL fyeducatroo ,4ruS� �k^rt ` rY��'."J K:rft,e':cm"W?*einrii7*"onnilienir, M" �'f"3'y�'"iMstrmulat5,3, tarn; • tiie is s'iro.impairment of sh"no .'matter hfiv memory and refuses to 'eras the , good the food supply, or how barrier. However several days good the family (recall that the, later he has forgotten and -must • i be taught the_effect of the shock allover again. The deduction is that short-teiln memory, unlike - long-term, - is not dependent on the production of new proteins in the brain: Thus, with the • trbiotic em to ed - we have an P y • THE TWO-STAGE the -. first • chemical memory -MEMORY PROCESS _ eraser or rather a chemical One of :the major theories longterm memory -preventive. These resulis.<f'were further which guide his research. is as. .. •,_-'under: Eight,.four, eight, five, confirmed 'liy � experiment with four, five, three. If asked" to rats and mice. 'repeat these numbers INCREASING SHORT-TERM immediately, it is probable you ° would succeed, --since seven digits are well within die' "immediate • Dr. James" L. McGaugh of the memory" span of the non -senile • University ,of California, adult. But suppose we wait half Riverside, argues that •stimulants an hour before asking 'for a such as 'strychnine etc., should repetition-,.f,,the digits; most enhance, fortify and .extend people -would fail.. The 'test activity of the .short-term would have • become one of . process, thus - increasing the "long-term" ' memory, not ; probability of , initiating the' immediate -memory. The above long -tern` process. If his theory; represents the basic' behavioural holds, the injection of this- observations which lie behind stimulant before or after training the Two -Stage Memory Storage should i m proves -learning- the Process Theory, • performance. Immediately 'following every • Dr. McGaugh took eight experience, ' ' - a short-lived groups •o;f mice from two tluite electro -chemical process is set up , di f f a r- a n't hereditary in the brain. It is assumed that -backgrounds; the one bright and- this ndthis process isa psychologicalthe other stupid. He set them mechanism, which carries the the problem of learning a simple short-term memory; a process maze, after which each group which decays within a few was injected with .different seconds ' and disappears, Befote amounts of the central nervous doing so it triggers a second system stimulant. In the result, `"series of events in the brain. This . the bright strain of rats showed second process is chemical in hereditary superiority of nature and, without going into : learning over the. stupid one. scientific detail, induces higher Given the' proper dosage, the levels of ai;tivityin the .brain ' learning performance increased �eelli;: As such it is more enduring -• appreciably. In fact under than the former and 'serves as the optimal dosage, the animals physiological basis of long term showed a 40 per cent _..Axiemo, _ improvement. Better still, the Dr. Murray Jarvik of the , 'stupid strain, when suitably; Albert Einstein Medical School dosed, showed a better in New York has d'vised a performance " thin r their step-down procedure which tests the. two -'stage memory storage . proc+ ss. Suppo§e a rat is placed Some of the ne'ua- wonder drugs on a small platform, a few inches are so powerful, you can only above the :floor. It will step take them if you are in perfect - down immediately and will do • health. MEMORY — 4 & d There is a further role or the educator of the future: That of Applied Education, wherein' he will collaborate with the biochemist to .combine skills to ensure the intellectual and educational development of the child. `Rachel needs an attention -span_ stretcher; Richard , needs an immediate memory 'stimulator; Joan needs to have her ' mental processes slowed down, while Bill remembers too many details , and gets lost. Will ::t{re= _. Educator become the to mewuc2ai .. �• • rti,' t .'. biochemist? If so it will involve our • teachers in some new disciplines. Dr. Krech means all this quite literally. The "- ork-Session'' i- f today concerns itself with the Hardware of Education; the , computer assisted instruction; 8 mm cartridge loading projectors; micro -transparencies. Dr. Krech, on the other hand, introduces the 'Chemware'�' of Education; enzyme assisted instruction; protein memory consolidators; antibiotic repellers etc. Today these themes may be shamefully speculative, but in the year 2000 these are the kinds of things with which Educators will be concerned. •[ Based ' on a paper given by, Dr. David Krech' at .tbe .Charles,, ;Kettering Foundation ,•-and the cited States Office of Education three ' National Seminars . on Innovation at Honolulu, 21/.7/67 j m 7D KINGSTON -STREET STREET BESIDE THE AUTO WASH 1 3:3P.M. Ron Malloch, operator of the Koffee Kart, is pleased to announce the'opening of the new Burger -Bar Drive -In under the " management of Chris Knetsch of Seaforth, and cordially invites you to drop in and say hello! .WITH ANY PURCHASE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 .BALL00R5 . 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