Memory

[our_mutual_friend]

What is memory? And is it possible to remember everything that has ever happened to you? Is human memory like a glass, and when it is full it can only overflow as more is poured into it? A sieve even (as metaphor dictates)? And is it actually physically possible to remember everything that has ever happened to you? (Would you even want to?) Have you ever experienced a photographic memory?

What are your thoughts?

I think that every memory is there somewhere, or that it leaves an impression, and then certain things might trigger a stronger outline of a shadow. I'd like to think that we can remember everything, but that's not true as memories often get 'misplaced'. I think that it's best to remember things, even if we don't want to, so that we can learn from them. And often it's things that we don't want to remember that we do remember, that only lessen with time, or are repressed.

Any comments ... ?

[which doctor]

What is memory?

Memory is what you have remembered so far in your life. It is what you can easily recall from your brain.


And is it possible to remember everything that has ever happened to you?

I would have to say yes, in theory, but no in reality. OFf course you would have to define everything. WOuld it be the ability for a 60 year old to remember every answer he put down on his math test in sixth grade? That would be near impossible. IT is just too much information for people to put in their minds and easily recall.


Is human memory like a glass, and when it is full it can only overflow as more is poured into it?

No, the mind has no definite shape. I believe that everything you think, hear, see, touch, taste is put into your mind and it never leaves. But with all of these little things many of them get lost in your mind. Your mind is not able to recall everything in your mind.


I think that every memory is there somewhere, or that it leaves an impression, and then certain things might trigger a stronger outline of a shadow.

Things that are most important you are much easily remembered than things that were of very little importance to you. However it is strange some of the things that I can specifically remember. For example, I remember this one occasion in third grade when we were coloring sunflowers, then we were going to cut them out. I got made fun of because I was not coloring inside the lines, but since we were going to cut them out coloring inside the lines didn't matter. I started crying and this girl, Kelsey E., comforted me. I also remember in second grade when everyday we had to do these long subtraction worksheets. I hated them and one day I threw a fit and tore my worksheet up. I also took the teahers extras and threw them in the garbage. I started crying and yelling at the teacher. I was usaully very quiet and mild-tempered, but not that day.


I'd like to think that we can remember everything, but that's not true as memories often get 'misplaced'.

Being able to remember everything would be very strange. I would think it would put too much stress on my mind.


I think that it's best to remember things, even if we don't want to, so that we can learn from them. And often it's things that we don't want to remember that we do remember, that only lessen with time, or are repressed.

The things that we don't want to remember, we often remember the most. It's because it can often be a bad experience that we never want to relive again. We spend so much time thinking about it and how not too repeat it that it just gets stuck in out mind. I think things like this help us learn from our mistakes.

[Bannockburn]

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/04...lse_memory.html (http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/041101_False_memory.html)

pretty interesting article.

[our_mutual_friend]

That's very true. Unfortunately it makes it all the more confusing - there are things I thought I remembered, but it turned out it was just a photograph, but Im not sure whether I remember it because of seeing the photograph or if its an actual memory.
And Ive dreamt things before like my mum calling me and I woke up very confused and was not sure whether it had happened the day before or was just a dream.
Ive dreamt being in places and picturing things that I saw when I was 2, but I cant remember if it was a dream or not!!
When a dream becomes a memory and your memory fails to tell you what it was ... now that's when it gets the most confusing.
So memory isnt just experience, (but dreams could be seen as experience ?)

[Dimokratia]

I like Nietzsche's answer to this particular question.

(Paraprhased)

Memory is the space in your mind that the collective pain of your life has carved out.

I wonder what I that says about education...

[Tommy-K]

With regards to education rather than personal memories, I think they say if you learn something three of four times it gets stuck in your long term memory, rather than the short term. Everyone has a long term and a short term memory. It depends what the event is (whether it is 'memorable' or not) that determines what goes in the long term or the short term.

[redchrisfalling]

quite frankly my memory has been blown to shit. I cant remember what i had for breakfast. What i doo remember are fellings often tied to sound. Songs such as wish you were hear by pink floyd remind me of my girlfriend. But not any particular moment, but how i felt around her over all.

It probably has something to do with me being a druged up hippy.

P.S. I do not consider myself a hippy, they are not ambitious enough. Even a pacafist has to be agressive.

P.P.S. I have also being clean of all drugs for 6 months.

[Janus]

Memory is the ability to remember the things we have experienced, imagined, and learned.

It is impossible to remember everything that passes through our sensory registers simply because information disappears rapidly from them.

The first step towards remebering a piece of information is selecting that incoming information through attention. After this selection, we process these signals further as we work to recognize and understand them. This information that we attend to enters our short-term memory or working memory. However, short-term memory can only hold so much information, research shows that it can hold as much information as can be repeated or rehearsed in 1.5-2 seconds. The loss of information from short-term memory is explained by the decay theory and the interference theory.

Information from short-term memory is transferred to long-term memory through elaborative rehearsal. Long-term memory is further divided into semantic memory, filled with general facts and information, and episodic memory, consisting of specific events that have personal meaning for us. Interference can alos occur with LTM as well such as retroactive intereference and proactive intereference.

So far I have discussed explicit memory or memory that is intentionally committed to memory. But sometimes, we remember things without really intending to. This is called implicit memory and the reason why it's important is that by picking up facts about the context in which learning is taking place can help one retrieve the information from explicit memory later on.

The most popular memory topic that many people discuss is "photographic memory" a type of extraordinary memory. This pheneomenon is called eidetic memory, the ability to reproduce unusually sharp and detailed images of something one has seen, and is mainly common in children. Strangely, children who have eidetic memories perform no better than noneidentic children on other tests of memory.

Contrary to public opinion, people with exceptional memories are not born with a special gift for remembering things. They have simply mastered a memory techinique for retrieving information. For example, a Russian newspaper reporter named Shereshevski (S') could recall tons of senseless trivia as well as detailed formulas and complex arrays of numbers. He could easily repeat lists of up to 70 words after having seen them only once. Researchers discovered that the reason for S's extraodinary memory was that he formed a graphic image for every item. As these images became more numerous and complex, he would find a way of distributing them in a mental sequence. His technique technique involved coding verbal material visually in a way that allowed him to see various complexities and relationships. For example, when reading a long list of words, he might visualize a street, specifically associating each word with some object along the way. When asked to recite the lists of words, he would just mentally walk down the street, recalling each object and the word associated with it. People like S are called mnemonists and it takes time and effort in order to become one. Therefore, simply trying to memorize a list of unfamiliar terms will do you no good, you have to make connections between it and information already stored in your LTM in order to transfer it to LTM.

[Organic Revolution]

i think you do remeber everything, but your mind blocks things out untill you need to remember it or just blocks it out completley.