The Brain has the Same Problems that Databases Do
What can the human brain learn from how a database works?
There is a battle going on in every database and the same battle in every human brain. The battle is simply Memory vs. CPU (processing). We either rely on indexes to recall data or we count on the CPU to calculate the resulting data.
Some basics regarding relational databases, they are not as complicated a concept as one might think. It’s quite basic, if you have a telephone book, you have a database (or a table). If you then have another book (like a medical record list from the hospital) you can relate the two. Why is that important? If you relate the two, you can determine if a certain area code in the phone book has more allergy related illnesses. Finding out that more people who live next to high-power lines in your phone book have some form of cancer. Relating data is a very powerful thing, the human brain’s incredible recall abilities are directly related to it’s ability to “relate” data. We store color in one area, and shape in another. Smells in one area and happy thoughts in another! The details are obviously still very sketchy, but you get the idea.
A balance in the design of the tables that store the data in a database must be struck. The theory is that the human brain works in much the same way, the problem is Database Administrators and Developers alike constantly strive to increase the performance of the database. We humans do not make specific efforts to strike the same balance within the inner tables of our brains database.
Databases are optimized in many, many ways. Two of the most common ways are:
Large tables are broken down to store data in multiple related tables.
Indexes are created and used to retrieve the vital links between these tables.
An index is just that. You’ve seen an index in you local phone book. In the front it tells you where in this massive book to find people in a certain city, or where to find businesses of certain types. Or where to find only those with the last name that starts with a Y. Databases do the same thing; internally the index is stored in memory for quick retrieval when a query for data retrieval is executed. Simply put, someone asked the database for data and the database used an index to help it find that information quicker.
We have indexes in our brains just as the databases do. Case in point, I don’t know the words to a certain song (I mean I just don’t know them) until someone starts the song; then suddenly I can continue to sing every word, that person that started the song “Hit an index” in my brain. I don’t have to “Remember” the entire song, just the index. This means the entire song is not “In Memory” but rather “On Disk”. The index is in memory and is readily available to me when needed. We all have indexes for many other items “On Disk” in our brains. Sometimes you lose the index, and the entire song is gone.
Where is the ” Battle “, the battle is in Recalling or Figuring it out. I don’t have to memorize my address, I know where I live. If I instead memorize my cities address scheme I can calculate my address (19 blocks west of Central is 19th Ave . etc.). This is where database administrators and developers alike are constantly running their technical balancing act. The decision to calculate the result, or recall the result! Should I memorize all the data and count on indexes, or should I memorize the formula and count on calculation to retrieve the data.
Can people benefit, I think we can! I find myself naturally counting more on “Calculating” the result then I do memorizing. It works ok because I’m a logical thinker and it comes naturally. I get left behind far too often though. The problem is in remembering to do many things, or remembering whether I did something at all. Important dates, even vacations go by the way side. My memory recall is all but shot because I count on logic as a crutch. In a pinch I can pull it off but it takes a lot more effort for me to Recall then it does to deduce. If I were to optimize my inner-indexes and work on utilizing my recall more often, just as DBA’s do, it might very well be of great benefit to many.
Could I increase my ability to recall? In the database there is a concept called re-indexing. It’s basically forcing the database to recreate it’s index. The more often it does this the more current and fresh the index is. Should I be doing the same thing for myself? If I were to go over and over and over a specific item (Such as what I had to do in grade school for the Preamble to the Constitution) I will insure it is stored and it’s index is strong. But do I need to go over the entire text over and over. If I already have the data (I’ve already experienced the vacation) and simply don’t want to lose it, I should re-index weekly (maybe monthly). This should insure I do not lose the data and could increase my reliance on memory, in hopes of striking a balance.
There are others around me who count on recall as a crutch and have deductive reasoning fall by the way side. I think they are in the same boat on the opposite end. In the database we either increase the CPU (brain exercises) or we decrease the amount of CPU required by normalizing the data in a logical way (break down the tables). This simply forces the system to rely on memory instead of over burdening the processor. What could one do to decrease their reliance on memory?
Coming soon… 
What mountains could we move if even a small percentage of us had a balance of Memory and CPU.
Adam Yax is CTO of http://www.phoenixsynergy.com, which provides IT services in Phoenix, AZ.
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