Thinking:

Thinking in psychology is the process of consciously generating and manipulating thoughts and ideas in the mind.

Thinking is an essential process for humans. It allows us to solve problems, learn new information, understand concepts, and process our experiences. Thinking involves the entire process of learning, remembering, and organizing mentally to understand the information better and recall it later.

Types of Thinking

Creative Thinking

Creative thinking is the ability to generate innovative, unconventional, or useful ideas. You might think that only artists or writers use creative thinking. Actually, there are so many ways to use creative thinking skills in business, technology, and education. Pretty much everyone uses creative thinking!Research shows that creativity and intelligence are related to each other somehow, but there are also other factors involved in creativity. A person's imagination, environment, and personality can influence their creative thinking abilities.

divergent thinking 

When there are many possible answers to a solution, we rely on divergent thinking to help us choose the best solution, like trying to answer or solve an open-ended question. There are many things you could say in response, but you want to provide the best answer.

Example:

Children playing with blocks use divergent thinking skills to decide what and how to build. They can build many things with the blocks, but they have to decide what to make and which blocks they want to use. This is a very basic example of divergent thinking!

Symbolic thinking 

Symbolic thinking  is the ability to create mental representations of objects, places, events, or people in your mind.  Young children do this often when they engage in imaginative play. They turn toys and playhouses into symbols of real things. A baby doll becomes a real baby in the child's mind. A stuffed dog becomes a real dog!

Stages of creative thinking

Some of the stages of creativity thinking are: 

1. Preparation 2. Incubation 3. Illumination 4. Verification

This is also a controlled thinking in which the creative thinker whether artist, writer or a scientist is trying to create something new. It involves characteristics of both reasoning and imagination. Creative thinking is a process in which the individual generates an original, unusual and productive solution to a problem.

It is defined as personal, imaginative thinking which produces a new, novel and useful solution. Unlike ordinary solution to problems, creative solutions are the new one to the effect that other people have not thought before.

Creative thinking involves four stages:

1. Preparation:

In this stage the thinker formulates the problem and collects the facts and materials considered necessary for finding new solutions. Many times the problem cannot be solved even after days, weeks or months of concentrated efforts. Failing to solve the problem, the thinker turns away from it initiating next stage.

2. Incubation:

During this period some of the ideas that were interfering with the solution will tend to fade. The overt activity and sometimes even thinking about the problem is absent in this stage. But the unconscious thought process involved in creative thinking is at work during this period.

Apparently the thinker will be busy in other activities like reading literature or playing games, etc. Inspite of these activities the contemplation about finding a solution to problem will be going on in the mind.

3. Illumination:

Following the period of incubation the creative ideas occur suddenly. Consequently the obscure thing becomes clear. This sudden flash of solution is known as illumination and is similar to ‘aha (eureka)’ experience. For example, Archimedes found solution to the crown problem.

4. Verification:

Though the solution is found in illumination stage, it is necessary to verify whether that solution is correct or not. Hence in this last stage evaluation of the solution is done. If the solution is not satisfactory the thinker will go back to creative process from the beginning.

If it is satisfactory, the same will be accepted and if necessary, minor modification may also be made in solution.

Forgetting

The term forgetting refers to the loss of information already stored in long-term memory. It is also known as a passive mental process in which we can’t recall the experience or information we have already learned. It is a failure to retain what has been acquired.

Forgetting has both positive and negative consequences in life. Positive in the sense that, it saves us from painful memories, to enter into consciousness that makes our life miserable, it is also a convenient excuse to relieve us.

Negative in the sense that, failure to recall the material in an important event or examination, cause us to be embarrassed, and lose the opportunity. People want to remember their skills and knowledge, but want to forget unpleasant or painful experiences or memories.

According to Munn “Forgetting is the loss, permanent or temporary, of the ability to recall or recognize something learned earlier.”

Memory Impairments

Memory disorders are defined as suppressed cognition abilities leading to the deteriorated ability of reasoning and decision making. This will further create hindrance in communication skills, leaving the sufferer to forget the words an individual wanted to speak out. 

Causes of Memory Disorders

There are certain reasons which are linked to produce mild and severe memory disorders. Each particular reason may separately account for a certain deteriorative disorder or many of the causes get together to produce a certain condition within an individual. Key causes are listed below:

·        Age

·        Genetic inheritance - Inheriting genes for Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease

·        Trauma

·        Untreated metabolic disorders like diabetes

·        Vitamin deficiencies like B12

·        Cardiovascular diseases

·        Brain tumors

·        Unhealthy diet

Alzheimer’s disease:

Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.  It is one of the most common forms of dementia, a group of symptoms that lead to a decline in mental function severe enough to disrupt daily life. Alzheimer's disease causes problems with a person's memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily activities.

Alzheimer's Disease Symptoms

• Problems with short-term and long-term memory

• Problems with decision-making, problem solving and judgment

• Difficulty producing or understanding language

• Loss of ability to learn new information

• Confusion with time and place (getting lost in familiar places)

Korsakoff's syndrome

Korsakoff's syndrome is a disorder that primarily affects the memory system in the brain. It usually results from a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1), which may be caused by alcohol abuse, dietary deficiencies, prolonged vomiting, eating disorders, or the effects of chemotherapy.

Symptoms

Korsakoff syndrome causes problems learning new information, inability to remember recent events and long-term memory gaps. Memory difficulties may be strikingly severe while other thinking and social skills are relatively unaffected. For example, individuals may seem able to carry on a coherent conversation but moments later are unable to recall that the conversation took place or with whom they spoke.

Amnesia

Amnesia refers to the loss of memories, including facts, information and experiences. Amnesia can be caused by damage to areas of the brain that are vital for memory processing. Unlike a temporary episode of memory loss, called transient global amnesia, amnesia can be permanent.

There's no specific treatment for amnesia, but treatment can be directed at the underlying cause. Tips to help enhance memory and get support can help people with amnesia and their families cope.

Symptoms

The two main features of amnesia are:

·        Trouble learning new information.

·        Trouble remembering past events and previously familiar information.

Strategies to Improve Memory:

Organize the information

Start by outlining the information you will need to recall. Creating a detailed, but organized outline of the information allows you to highlight and focus on important concepts.

A useful organization strategy is the chunking method, which breaks down large amounts of information into smaller, logical units that are easy to understand. For example, when learning a foreign language, you can list vocabulary words in functional groups such as household items, animals, and occupations. Chunking is a valuable tool for memorization.

Make associations

Creating associations by drawing on existing knowledge is another helpful way to memorize information. You can create mental images and connect with sounds, smells, and tastes to help encode memories.

Use visual cues

Using visual tools such as concept maps, graphs, illustrations, and photos can be beneficial for learning. Graphs and charts also simplify information, making it easier to comprehend and later recall. 

This method can be beneficial to visual learners, meaning individuals who better conceptualize information they can see. 

Create mnemonics

Using mnemonic devices, such as acronyms, acrostics, and rhymes, is a good way to memorize information long-term. For example, do you remember what year Columbus landed in America? You likely do if you ever learned the rhyme, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” So if you need to remember a series of numbers for work, you might consider coming up with a creative rhyme. 

Rehearse

Practice really does make perfect. Rehearse information over and over, either by writing it down or reading it aloud.