Exploring the mystery of memories

[bobcat]

Our brain doesn't store memories like videos.
Memories are encoded in engram cells that are scattered throughout the brain, and brought together and assembled as we recall them.
They are then pieced together based on our understanding of how things work, but also mixed with our current state of mind (Including beliefs), and also any enhancements that make for good storytelling.

The problem is that each time a memory is recalled, it often gets altered slightly (Similar to the telephone game), and then when it is stored back into memory, it can be slightly different each time, almost always without our notice. So the next time it is recalled, the slightly revised version has been contaminated, and since we often have no way to check it for accuracy, it becomes the reality of what actually happened. However, it's like making a copy of a copy of a copy, and each time it loses a little something that, unfortunately, gets confabulated by our brain to help it make sense to us.

There have been hundreds of studies that show how fragile our memories are, either because they were encoded incorrectly to begin with (Meaning our perception was off), or details get mixed up with other memories, or our beliefs and mindset in the present color or contaminate the previous state of the memory.

That being said, how much should we rely on our memories that we cling to as reality?

 

[chic]

Our brain doesn't store memories like videos. There simply isn't room in the brain for that to happen.
Memories are encoded in engram cells that are scattered throughout the brain, and brought together and assembled as we recall them.
They are then pieced together based on our understanding of how things work, but also mixed with our current state of mind (Including beliefs), and also any enhancements that make for good storytelling.

The problem is that each time a memory is recalled, it often gets altered slightly (Similar to the telephone game), and then when it is stored back into memory, it can be slightly different each time, almost always without our notice. So the next time it is recalled, the slightly revised version has been contaminated, and since we often have no way to check it for accuracy, it becomes the reality of what actually happened. However, it's like making a copy of a copy of a copy, and each time it loses a little something that, unfortunately, gets confabulated by our brain to help it make sense to us.

There have been hundreds of studies that show how fragile our memories are, either because they were encoded incorrectly to begin with (Meaning our perception was off), or details get mixed up with other memories, or our beliefs and mindset in the present color or contaminate the previous state of the memory.

That being said, how much should we rely on our memories that we cling to as reality?

For me it's the why and that is important. So if I remember something being marginally better it will make me feel better in the present and that's most important to me.

 

[Mr. Ed]

I believe we check out memories as in a library database. Sometimes the chemical messages used to check out certain memories are faulty and thus the message becomes misconstrued, distorted or warped.

The problem with recalling thoughts creates added thought mass to the brain and thereby needs releasing. Fortunately, the brain is equipped a fowarding notion used to project random thoughts to designated receivers such as smart tv’s, smart phones and cranium covered aluminum atenneas that are perched slightly right side of the left temporal lobe.

 

[dilettante]

Memories of events are like some kind of multimedia hologram that at best has gaps and holes. Sights, sounds, smell, taste, touch, can all be recalled. But it often isn't possible to "turn your head" within them very far or look down, etc.

Even so they seem far better than a written journal, even one with photos inserted into it. The advantage there is probably avoiding the cumulative error introduced into memory over time.

 

[Paco Dennis]

For legal matters, critical decisions, or historical accuracy, relying solely on memory is risky. Cross-checking with external evidence, seeking corroborating accounts, and acknowledging the possibility of bias is crucial.

For everyday experiences and emotional connections, memories remain valuable as snapshots of our subjective past. Recognizing their potential for inaccuracies doesn't negate their meaning or emotional resonance.

 

[bobcat]

For legal matters, critical decisions, or historical accuracy, relying solely on memory is risky. Cross-checking with external evidence, seeking corroborating accounts, and acknowledging the possibility of bias is crucial.

For everyday experiences and emotional connections, memories remain valuable as snapshots of our subjective past. Recognizing their potential for inaccuracies doesn't negate their meaning or emotional resonance.

Yeah, eyewitness accounts have been relied upon in the past as damning evidence, but over time, that has resulted in many cases to be overturned with DNA evidence proving otherwise, sadly after someone spending a significant amount of time behind bars.

Evolution didn't equip us with faultless memory, just enough to get by and survive. It is interesting though how much memory is so much a part of who we are, and perhaps all that we are cognitively. If you were to wipe out a person's memory at the end of every day, they would wake up the next morning not even knowing who they were. They wouldn't even know what a sink or car or a lamp is. Fortunately, that very seldom happens, but it still brings to light the matter of memory's influence on who we are, and if the memories we hold are inaccurate, then perhaps our perception of self is a bit askew as well.

 

[Wes]

Personally, I don't like to dwell on memories. Seems a strange thing to say, maybe, for a senior. But, they just cloud my todays and influence my tomorrows. I remember as it was as a child. Each day held a new discovery. That's the best frame of mind, I think. I'll recount my yesterdays when I am dead.

 

[ArnoldC]

I bring up memories from my days in the 60s constantly. I haven't noticed any shift in how and what I remember in events. They are, to me, as they were.

 

[Paco Dennis]

white snowball harvested directly from the dog yard

Yeah, eyewitness accounts have been relied upon in the past as damning evidence, but over time, that has resulted in many cases to be overturned with DNA evidence proving otherwise, sadly after someone spending a significant amount of time behind bars.

Evolution didn't equip us with faultless memory, just enough to get by and survive. It is interesting though how much memory is so much a part of who we are, and perhaps all that we are cognitively. If you were to wipe out a person's memory at the end of every day, they would wake up the next morning not even knowing who they were. They wouldn't even know what a sink or car or a lamp is. Fortunately, that very seldom happens, but it still brings to light the matter of memory's influence on who we are, and if the memories we hold are inaccurate, then perhaps our perception of self is a bit askew as well.

While inaccurate memories can impact our self-perception, it's crucial to remember that identity is multifaceted. While memories contribute significantly, our sense of self also arises from ongoing experiences, interactions, and how we interpret the world around us. Even with imperfect memories, we constantly update and adapt our self-perception based on present realities.

 

[bobcat]

I bring up memories from my days in the 60s constantly. I haven't noticed any shift in how and what I remember in events. They are, to me, as they were.

That's the fascinating thing about it, we don't notice the little changes that occur each time we recall something, and to us it seems consistent because that's the way it was the last time we stored the memory away. You may find this article interesting, although there are many others on this subject.
Are memories reliable? Expert explains how they change more than we realise

 

[Aunt Mavis]

My memory is great. The problem is things that aren’t interesting or funny go to the trash bin in my brain. Remembering to take out the garbage on time is one example, safety meetings is another. Right into the trash.

 

[bobcat]

While inaccurate memories can impact our self-perception, it's crucial to remember that identity is multifaceted. While memories contribute significantly, our sense of self also arises from ongoing experiences, interactions, and how we interpret the world around us. Even with imperfect memories, we constantly update and adapt our self-perception based on present realities.

Exactly. All the things you mentioned are memory related. Our experiences, interactions, and perceptions are all stored there. Without a stored memory, we are a blank slate. Even if we remember something from 5 minutes ago, it is stored in memory and susceptible to distortion and ultimately our sense of self.

 

[Paco Dennis]

Exactly. All the things you mentioned are memory related. Our experiences, interactions, and perceptions are all stored there. Without a stored memory, we are a blank slate. Even if we remember something from 5 minutes ago, it is stored in memory and susceptible to distortion and ultimately our sense of self.

It makes me feel like I am living in the song "Row, row, row your boat...life is but a dream".

 

[Grampa Don]

I know some of my memories are false. I have a definite memory of going to an auto show with a friend and seeing Jay North who played Dennis the Menace on TV. He was this pitiful looking little kid. I looked up the years when Dennis the Menace was on and found that it was much later than when I had lost all contact with this friend. So, either I went with someone else, or I didn't really see Jay North. Never the less, the memory is very vivid.

The thing I wonder about is why I remember so many trivial things and have forgotten so much more. What caused me to make the selections.
I walked to school from elementary through high school. So, I know I must have walked in the rain some times. But, I have no memory of ever doing that. I lived on a sub for two years. I remember a lot of moments, but I can't remember ever taking a shower, other than one time I went over to the tender to shower. But, I do remember that while on patrol we were allowed a shower every 4 days. At least I think I remember that.

I wish now that I had kept a journal during my life. The written word is better than the best memory.

 

[Beezer]

I wonder what most people remember more...an insult or a compliment.

 

[Tish]

I tend to remove bad memories, if I have taken a lesson from them I don't need them anymore.
I much prefer to fill my internal map of the universe with wonderful memories that make me smile.

 

[Mr. Ed]

I am having difficulty with short-term memory loss. Dr prescribed four types of stimulants, psych and mood disorder medications. On three separate occasions I literally lost my mind from psychosis, wiped clean. I had to relearn everything as if I was a new born child.

Who said living is easy when you cannot depend on memories or your mind? If humans came with a dependable hard-drive to reboot your system and all is as it should be.

Who can argue when life screwy, life is not as it should be?

 

[fuzzybuddy]

We all have great memories. We know exactly what happened when. Last year, I was talking to an old Navy buddy about stuff the happened in 1969. He got the stories all mixed up. And he actually thought he said the funny lines. The poor guy, his memory was shot.

 

[Vida May]

Our brain doesn't store memories like videos.
Memories are encoded in engram cells that are scattered throughout the brain, and brought together and assembled as we recall them.
They are then pieced together based on our understanding of how things work, but also mixed with our current state of mind (Including beliefs), and also any enhancements that make for good storytelling.

The problem is that each time a memory is recalled, it often gets altered slightly (Similar to the telephone game), and then when it is stored back into memory, it can be slightly different each time, almost always without our notice. So the next time it is recalled, the slightly revised version has been contaminated, and since we often have no way to check it for accuracy, it becomes the reality of what actually happened. However, it's like making a copy of a copy of a copy, and each time it loses a little something that, unfortunately, gets confabulated by our brain to help it make sense to us.

There have been hundreds of studies that show how fragile our memories are, either because they were encoded incorrectly to begin with (Meaning our perception was off), or details get mixed up with other memories, or our beliefs and mindset in the present color or contaminate the previous state of the memory.

That being said, how much should we rely on our memories that we cling to as reality?

That is a very interesting subject. I went through a spell of multiple personalities and turned to a therapist who does what I could call mind magic. He regressed me to the moment of trauma that was in my memory and helped me rewrite the story of that moment, resulting in me returning to one person having different thoughts and feelings instead of several personalities.

Several things had to happen to get to the point of resolving the problem.
1. My mother had told me I was put in a body cast for a year when I was one.
2. I did Est and when we were led to think of a time in our past, the memory of being aware of my body being encased in cement came up as a baby experiencing chaotic terror.
3. I saw an explanation of post-trauma syndrome in a veterans services office and was startled to realize I had all the symptoms. There was a name and description of what I was experiencing.
4. I found a book about traumatized children and at the end of the book, the author questioned what the trauma experience would be for preverbal children.

I can answer that question. Without words, the memory is not recorded as a verbal story of what happened. It is recorded as an emotional experience. As we go through life that memory can be triggered and come up as inappropriate emotions and behavior and for me, a long period of stress led to a personality breakdown. Thankfully by then, I had enough information to get the help I needed. I had an established relationship with a therapist but until I had all the necessary information, the PTS event was unknown and could not be resolved.

 

[Vida May]

I am having difficulty with short-term memory loss. Dr prescribed four types of stimulants, psych and mood disorder medications. On three separate occasions I literally lost my mind from psychosis, wiped clean. I had to relearn everything as if I was a new born child.

Who said living is easy when you cannot depend on memories or your mind? If humans came with a dependable hard-drive to reboot your system and all is as it should be.

Who can argue when life screwy, life is not as it should be?

Darling, you might focus on living in the now and hold it as a Zen virtue to stay in the moment. That is what I do. I smile a lot because I don't have a clue what is happening and I don't want anyone to know that. But I never had a great memory. I never memorized the states of the US or the multiplication table, or anything to do with numbers. I could not learn to read with the sight and say method because I didn't have a good memory and always needed to labor over figuring things out one step at a time.

Of course, as I age I worry much more about the difficulty of remembering things, and I have notes and rituals to keep my life in order. I never did that before and it didn't matter to me back in the day, so why should I fuss too much about my memory now? My sister who has also noticed a change in her thinking encourages me to take full advantage of my phone which is a very useful tool.

 

[bobcat]

I know some of my memories are false. I have a definite memory of going to an auto show with a friend and seeing Jay North who played Dennis the Menace on TV. He was this pitiful looking little kid. I looked up the years when Dennis the Menace was on and found that it was much later than when I had lost all contact with this friend. So, either I went with someone else, or I didn't really see Jay North. Never the less, the memory is very vivid.

The thing I wonder about is why I remember so many trivial things and have forgotten so much more. What caused me to make the selections.
I walked to school from elementary through high school. So, I know I must have walked in the rain some times. But, I have no memory of ever doing that. I lived on a sub for two years. I remember a lot of moments, but I can't remember ever taking a shower, other than one time I went over to the tender to shower. But, I do remember that while on patrol we were allowed a shower every 4 days. At least I think I remember that.

I wish now that I had kept a journal during my life. The written word is better than the best memory.

Memory can be altered by numerous things. You may have gone to the auto show as you remember, but perhaps later you had a dream where you met Jay North at the auto show, and as dreams so often do, they can seem quite real. Our mind doesn't know the difference. We may encode parts of the dream in memory without even knowing it. Perhaps you were watching a Dennis The Menace TV show, and when you dreamed that night, it got included in the dream, along with the car show.

Sometimes we can even daydream about things, and they get encoded (Depending on how vivid our imagination is). Sometimes memories get mixed together, even though the actual events were totally separate. Our mind just confuses them because elements of those different memories are stored in the same place.

As for the showers, they aren't typically things that we would remember because our mind is usually somewhere else when we are doing it. Just like driving in a car. We may not remember any part of driving. We are just on auto pilot.

 

[bobcat]

That is a very interesting subject. I went through a spell of multiple personalities and turned to a therapist who does what I could call mind magic. He regressed me to the moment of trauma that was in my memory and helped me rewrite the story of that moment, resulting in me returning to one person having different thoughts and feelings instead of several personalities.

Several things had to happen to get to the point of resolving the problem.
1. My mother had told me I was put in a body cast for a year when I was one.
2. I did Est and when we were led to think of a time in our past, the memory of being aware of my body being encased in cement came up as a baby experiencing chaotic terror.
3. I saw an explanation of post-trauma syndrome in a veterans services office and was startled to realize I had all the symptoms. There was a name and description of what I was experiencing.
4. I found a book about traumatized children and at the end of the book, the author questioned what the trauma experience would be for preverbal children.

I can answer that question. Without words, the memory is not recorded as a verbal story of what happened. It is recorded as an emotional experience. As we go through life that memory can be triggered and come up as inappropriate emotions and behavior and for me, a long period of stress led to a personality breakdown. Thankfully by then, I had enough information to get the help I needed. I had an established relationship with a therapist but until I had all the necessary information, the PTS event was unknown and could not be resolved.

That is fascinating. I'm sure this was a very confusing and unsettling thing to go through in your life, and it demonstrates how fragile our mind can be when events happen that our mind simply can't deal with at the time. Fortunately you were able to find the help, and more importantly, the right help to unify the split that resulted from the trauma. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Vida May]

That is fascinating. I'm sure this was a very confusing and unsettling thing to go through in your life, and it demonstrates how fragile our mind can be when events happen that our mind simply can't deal with at the time. Fortunately you were able to find the help, and more importantly, the right help to unify the split that resulted from the trauma. Thank you for sharing.

My story is about specific events that were separate from our ordinary lives, however, I have some books that explain what our past has to do with our present that are about ordinary experiences. One is titled "Giving the Love that Heals- A Guide for Parents" by Harville Hendrix and Helen Hunt, which explains what our own childhood has to do with how we react to our children today and Informs us how we might grow and improve our parenting skills.

Also, I have "The Body Keeps The Score- Brain, Mind, and Body In the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. "In The Body Keeps Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both the body and brain, compromising suffers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments- from neurofeedback and mediation to sports, drama, and yoga- that off new paths to recovery by activating the brain's natural neuroplasticity. and that of other leading." I feel strongly that our memories are in our bodies not just our brains.

Rolfing, a message method, is one way to get in touch with stored up emotions in the body and release their energy. Another alternative is learning of Chi and acupuncture. In the West, there can be strong objections to this alternative medicine but I think if we drop our prejudices we might find how people have talked about the same thing but from different perspectives/cultures.

 

[bobcat]

My story is about specific events that were separate from our ordinary lives, however, I have some books that explain what our past has to do with our present that are about ordinary experiences. One is titled "Giving the Love that Heals- A Guide for Parents" by Harville Hendrix and Helen Hunt, which explains what our own childhood has to do with how we react to our children today and Informs us how we might grow and improve our parenting skills.

Also, I have "The Body Keeps The Score- Brain, Mind, and Body In the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. "In The Body Keeps Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both the body and brain, compromising suffers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments- from neurofeedback and mediation to sports, drama, and yoga- that off new paths to recovery by activating the brain's natural neuroplasticity. and that of other leading." I feel strongly that our memories are in our bodies not just our brains.

Rolfing, a message method, is one way to get in touch with stored up emotions in the body and release their energy. Another alternative is learning of Chi and acupuncture. In the West, there can be strong objections to this alternative medicine but I think if we drop our prejudices we might find how people have talked about the same thing but from different perspectives/cultures.

I am always interested in matters of the brain (How it works, how it copes, how it thinks, and how it remembers). I have enjoyed many books on the subject as well as informative articles. Here is an interesting interview done by Med Circle that I watched a while back with a DID individual. It's about an hour long, so when you have time, grab a cup, sit back and I think you will enjoy it. It is very informative from a first-person perspective.

 

[Mr. Ed]

I had TMS transcranial magnetic stimulation, in 2021 that helped me with lost childhood memories. It is time for more treatment but in addition to TMS they offer Ketamine intravenous and drip iv method. The drip iv takes up to 40 minutes and the plain IV gets in your system faster with more intense hallucinations.