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December 9, 2024
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TABC Scholars Explore Psychology of Memory

TABC scholars participated in an enriching learning session with TABC psychology teacher and YU professor Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Schnall in honor of Adar entitled, “Ad d’Lo Yada: Lot and the Psychology of Memory.” In advance of the lecture, students read a study led and written by Dr. Schnall himself titled, “The First Case of Drug-Dependent Memory: The Biblical Lot in Talmudic and Midrashic Exegesis,” which was published in the “Journal of the History of the Neurosciences.” The students learned fascinating concepts related to optimal memory retention with state-dependent and context-dependent conditions and connected them to the story of Lot and his daughters. The alcohol consumed by Lot helped lend insight into why the Torah says that Lot remembered nothing in one case, and in another case that he remembered everything. The psychology surrounding state-dependent memory retention underscores how the alcohol that Lot consumed allowed him to remember what transpired only when under the influence of alcohol again. The students found the session captivating and propellant for further interest in other topics in psychology and Torah.

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