“ Picture your twenty-first birthday. Did you have a party? If so, do you remember who was there? Now step back: how clear are those memories? Is there a chance that you’re remembering incorrectly? And where have the many details you can no longer recall gone? Are they hidden somewhere in your brain, or are they gone forever ? ”
wrote Alison Winter wrote in her book about the fragments of memory.
Is everything we hear, see, smell, feel—in short, everything we experience—being recorded and stored somewhere ? Where is this place ? How is it that we remember or don’t remember ?
Sometimes we ponder such mystical questions.
Memory forms the core of our being and character by connecting all parts of our mental, psychological, and spiritual faculties. It enables learning, making connections, and putting what we learn into practice. It integrates fragments of the past with our present experiences, giving them meaning and thus writes the story of our being. This story which flows across time and space, actually defines us as human beings. It describes our characteristics, our actions, and the pursuit of our life. It is the awareness of our humanity, the affirmation and reassurance of our existence. Thus, as the heroes of the story, we seek to establish a consistent, continuous, and perpetual place for ourselves amidst the past, present, and future. In the absence of a consistent self-narrative, or when there are ruptures in its flow, the “self ” is fragmented.
Daniel Schacter, professor of psychology at Harvard University known with his research in “memory” discusses the memory games that give way to the discrepancy between what was actually experienced and what is remembered. In his famous book, The Seven Sins of Memory, he explains that a person can construct his memories differently due to psychological causes that are conscious or unconscious. Moreover, he elaborates that some of these methods are used to manipulate and control collective memories in service of authoritative power and materialistic ends.
He counts the seven sins of memory as follows :
- Transience : Temporary memories that haven’t left a sharp mark in memory records and have faded over time, eventually being forgotten.
- Absentmindedness : Things that remain dormant in the background and cannot be recalled due to lack of attention.
- Locked-in : Like “at the tip of my tongue” experience, things we know but can’t quite bring to mind.
- Inculcated : During the recall process, presuming things that didn’t happen as if they did.
- Biased : Memories tainted by our prejudices, and therefore distorted from the truth.
- Persistent : Things we want to forget but can’t, like past traumas.
- False attribution : Presenting something as if it were true, treating something that didn’t happen as if it did, and something that did happen as if it didn’t. A method used to conceal or distort the truth.
Probably we’ve all experienced memory games similar to these “seven sins”. Some memories are encoded and preserved for certain; others fade away into the dust of our minds. Sometimes, a forgotten memory unexpectedly resurfaces, making us exclaim, “ Where did that come from now ? ” Although it may seem forgotten, it is actually hidden in our unconscious.
“ Do memories disappear ? Are they erased ? ” Science answers this question :
No, memories neither disappear nor are erased. In fact, it has been found that memories are recorded and retained even during the prenatal period.
Then, one asks “ Where is memory located ? Is it limited only to the physical brain ? If everything that happens or experienced is recorded in the transcendent memory of the soul, or in meta-memory, how is it possible to access these records ? ”
It remains to be seen how the truths revealed by research will serve humanity…
Duygu Bruce
