r and a telephone pole? After all, both have "branches" and in the winter neither one has leaves (Abu Mostata and Psaltis 92).
From the difficulties experienced trying to describe a tree in precise terms, it seems clear that people don't use a conventional computer's method of problem solving. People can identify trees with or without leaves with little difficulty, and distinguish trees from other objects like telephone poles that possess many tree like characteristics. A completely different method of problem solving that involves what scientists consider the key to random problem solving, or associative memory, is not needed (Abu Mostata and Psaltis 92). While the workings of associative memory are still a mystery for neuroscientists, their existence is undeniable; it is used in nearly every moment of life. Stated simply, this phenomenon is what occurs when, for instance, a picture of home is viewed and immediate associations of family, dog, and friends are thought of. When this occurs, there is an association of many other events and objects, ranging from the arrangement of bedroom furniture to a climbing tree in the backyard, that are somehow linked in the mind to the original event, a viewing of the picture of home ("Mimicking" 50).
If this doesn't seem logical at first, consider the following: if faces were identified using algorithms, the more faces known, the slower people would be recognized ("Mimicking" 52). This would happen because the algorithmic method of recognition requires the sorting through all of faces stored in memory until an exact match is found. Since "Mom" is not recognized more slowly with age, a different method must be used.
This ability explains how scientists believe people attack problems in their lives; they store a vast amount of information throughout a lifespan and use associative abilities to recognize the underlying similarities and patterns in objects to somehow use this stored know...