How Memories Crowd Themselves Out Of The Public Sphere Of Remembrance

In the article You Have No Idea What Happened by Maria Konnikorva there is a quote near the end of the reading that really sums up human memory. Lila Davachi, a N.Y.U. neuroscientist who performed an experiment on emotional memories said that “the goal of memory isn’t to keep the details. It’s to be able to generalize from what you know so that you are more confident in acting on it.” This experiment was to test people’s memory after getting an electric shock to images. The results showed that people’s memory of the images tied with the shocks were enhanced as well as similar images from a test before without any shocks. Davachi was not just referring exclusively of the people that participated in the experiment, but to humankind as a whole.

It is said that there are many different versions to a story. There is one persons story, then there is an other person’s story, and then, there is the truth. “Our memories change each time they are recalled. What we recall is only a facsimile of things gone by.” Dobrin, Arthur. "Your Memory Isn't What You Think It Is." (online magazine). Psychology Today. July 16, 2013. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201307/your-memory-isnt-what-you-think-it-is. Every time a story is told, it changes. From Disney movies to books, to what we tell our friends and colleagues. Sometimes the different sides to the story challenge the

Throughout our lives, we definitely have gone through a lot of experiences and made memories. Some of the memories are easily forgotten, while some others are remembered distinctively, vividly and can be recollected confidently. This is called the flashbulb memory. Flashbulb memory is like a very clear picture of a particularly impactful event which had caused one to be affected emotionally. For example, I remember this performance that my school choir was performing. It was during Christmas season and we decided to spray bubble foam to portray fake snow. However, the plan backfired when the wind blew at our direction and all the foam flew back to us. This was remembered very clearly because I was embarrassed and had experienced something so

Memory is the process of encoding, storing and retrieving information in the brain. It plays an import role in our daily life. Without memory, we cannot reserve past experience, learn new things and plan for the future. Human memory is usually analogous to computer memory. While unlike computer memory, human memory is a cognitive system. It does not encode and store everything correctly as we want. As suggested by Zimbardo, Johnson and Weber (2006), human memory takes information and selectively converts it into meaningful patterns. When remembering, we reconstruct the incident as we think it was (p. 263). Sometimes our memory performance is incredibly accurate and reliable. But errors and mistakes are more commonly happen, because we do

Memory is the retention of information over time and it changes through our lifespan, from infancy through adulthood (Santrock 218). There are two types of memory, explicit and implicit.

Throughout time, history has been recorded from the perspective of the victors. It is this bias within the archives that shape the views and motives of the groups involved. As a result of this influence the general way of thinking, and recollection of historical events has been altered to a certain degree to conform to the conqueror’s ideals. Society turns a blind eye to the horrors of the past, preferring to plead ignorance than to face the reality of the cruelty humans are capable of. There are parts in history that conversely cannot be ignored, such as the genocide in Rwanda, 9-11, Terror in Paris and the most historical, the holocaust in World War II, where the true extent of human vindictiveness came to light. In spite

Messages become shorter when passed from one person to the next. Memories can be modified to fit one’s personal social experiences (i.e., conventionalization). Memory is unreliable, sensory stimuli are not stored as is but are actively transformed by the brain for storage depending on individual factors such as personal relevance and expectations. The most essential information is better remembered, but what is considered “most essential” may depend on an individual’s experiences. This suggests memory does not function as a video recording, but is a highly complex process that is influenced by an individual’s levels of attention, motivation, expectations, experiences, emotional state, etc. It also suggests that memory is an active process that involves constructing narratives out of events rather than passively recording

When humanity commits atrocious acts, it is the job of the survivors to ensure that these events are remembered and the victims honored. The construction of memory through various methods of remembrance – whether it be memoirs, films or museums – is a delicate art as perceptions can be easily skewed. A biased perspective has the capacity to completely alter the way an event is viewed. The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh about the Vietnam War for example is more propaganda than history and dishonors the memory of the brutal time. Likewise, when constructing the memory of the Cambodian Genocide, one must strive to portray an honest representation and approach it from many sides. Only by receiving a story from various sources can such an important

Memory – what it is, how it works, and how it might be manipulated – has long been a subject of curious fascination. Remembering, the mind-boggling ability in which the human brain can conjure up very specific, very lucid, long-gone episodes from any given point on the timeline of our lives, is an astounding feat. Yet, along with our brain’s ability of remembrance comes also the concept of forgetting: interruptions of memory or “an inability of consciousness to make present to itself what it wants” (Honold, 1994, p. 2). There is a very close relationship between remembering and forgetting; in fact, the two come hand-in-hand. A close reading of Joshua Foer’s essay, “The End of Remembering”, and Susan Griffin’s piece, “Our Secret”, directs us

Inscribed in the very study of history - is memory. Orienting our every action in this realm, whether consciously or subconsciously, it is our memory that each human clings to. As humans establish groups, groups form collectives, and collectives constitute institutions, memories are legitimated, solidified, or erased entirely. While reading an individual memoir often reveals the depth of human sentimentality, studying collective memory often illuminates the fundamental relationship between powerful institutions and the knowledge it immortalizes or obfuscates. Examining sites of memory and erasure on Willamette’s Campus, the LARC grant proposed by Professor Eisenberg, provides an excellent opportunity to form a case-study of this relationship.

As our brain records memories, it is run through different filters. You pass it through cognitive filters and emotional ones and the memory will be stored based on your interpretation of an event and your assumptions. This is why several people can witness the same event but have entirely different recollections of how it occurred.

How can one little object mean so much? Why do we obtain such objects to remember a horrible moment? Some say it can help you remember your fondest memories as well as your darkest memories. Death is like a step into another world, we will see them later. Until then we decide to remember them in ways that help cope with the loss. Embracing new ideas to reminisce on old memories to either cry or simply get a good laugh. We buy things that we have to look at every day so we won’t forget that loved one. Which is crazy, like we could really forget someone that meant so much to us. But I once read, “The labor of remembrance requires more than memory”. As simple as something to touch or wear gives us so much purpose. It matters to have something

The building blocks of the collective memory, are personal memories of the individuals who experienced the same moment. Like when creating a three dimensional image, multiple shots are required to render it, similar to how personal memories relate to the collective vision. In our own personal memory, we have the power to choose what we want to remember. What matters to us, not the collective. Both can exist and be accepted as truth, but it all depends on perspective. Because of this, variations in personal memories cause what our minds capture to build our own coexisting reality, interpretations and opinions of a single moment. In his article, C.A.Conrad believes that both collective and personal memories are true, but because of the existence of the collective, lesser known histories made by personal memory are overclouded and seemingly forgotten.

Memory makes us. It is, to an extent, a collection of unique and personal experiences that we, as individuals, have amassed over our lifetime. It is what connects us to our past and what shapes our present and the future. If we are unable remember the what, when, where, and who of our everyday lives, our level of functioning would be greatly impacted. Memory is defined as or recognized as the “sum or total of what we remember.” Memory provides us the ability to learn and adjust to or from prior experiences. In addition, memory or our ability to remember plays an integral role in the building and sustaining of relationships. Additionally, memory is also a process; it is how we internalize and store our external environment and experiences. It entails the capacity to remember past experiences, and the process of recalling previous experiences, information, impressions, habits and skills to awareness. It is the storage of materials learned and/or retained from our experiences. This fact is demonstrated by the modification, adjustment and/or adaptation of structure or behavior. Furthermore, we as individuals, envision thoughts and ideas of the present through short-term memory, or in our working memory, we warehouse past experiences and learned values in long-term memory, also referred to as episodic or semantic memory. Most importantly, memory is malleable and it is intimately linked to our sense of identity and where we believe we belong in the world.

Memory facilitates necessary functions in daily life activities, but it is not a perfect mechanism in operation. Goldstein (2011) states that memory is, “…the process involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present” (p.116). There are many adaptive functions within the complexities of the human memory system and the interlinked constructs between each function leave room for doubt in the accuracy of recollection. Study of the human mind has opened avenues of discovery on the inner workings of our brains and the resulting knowledge suggests that humans are prone to creating false memories and even remembering things that never actually happened. A great deal of information has been written explaining the nature of memory errors and within the following pages a real-life case offers a glimpse into how recall distortions and memory errors can wield unpleasant consequences. Memory errors can be avoided with a significant effort, but the truth remains that no one is perfect and memories are subject to individual bias.