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Saturday, January 20, 2007 ~ The first conclusion for "Memories"

And so I am choosen to blog the first conclusion for this topic: "Memories" , before our thinkers move on to our next topic. I remember that I mentioned something about "fake memories" before in my previous entry, and so now, I shall blog a little more about it, and also how memories work in the eyes of researchers today.

Some false memories are formed through rehearsal, or repetition, of an event that has been confirmed as fantastic: after repeatedly thinking about and visualizing an event, a person may begin to “remember” it as if it had actually occurred. Upon questioning, such a person might confidently recall the event when in fact it is merely previous visualizations that make it seem familiar.-Quote from wikipedia-

Therefore, it is possible for people to have memories of things that weren't facts. Also, some researchers suggested that memories involves more than just recalling, as it invloves reconstructing as well. Using an example from wikipedia:

A child remembers standing beside a fence overlooking an eerie looking valley. As an adult, the real eerieness of the valley may be falsely remembered as containing a dead body, when in fact the child witnessed a homeless man sleeping under the trees.

This represents an inacurrate reconstruction of the memory.

Therefore, what can we say about memory? Can we still trust what we remember? If you are having doubts now, then just take this advice: Remember to forget.

-Ck

Ck was thinking at 1:31 PM

Monday, January 01, 2007

Okay haha I'm the last one to blog. My mates made a good start in 2006 and I'll bring the discussion across the threshold of the year. Going to raise more questions for ponder than detailed discussion as an introduction first, coz unlike my buddies, I'm more an 'idea' person than 'elaboration' sort=p

I have always felt memory is like a pandora's box, from which layers of fear and happiness fly out upon opening. Yet how do we decide which pieces of memory to retain in the clarity of our mind, and which to leave in the more unreachable deep subconsciousness? When we preserve certain memories, is it inevitable that we'll unconsciously modify or refine them, that the good would become better, and the bad an even darker shade? Old folks always talk of the Golden Age, yet if we could go back and live it all through again, how 'golden' would our rationality judge it to be? Is it not possible that their impression of the Golden Age could have been tinged by their own bright, fond, colourful emotions? This raises my first point, does how memories turn out have to do with how our emotions steer and mould them into?

Link to a neat summary of memory in the psychological perspective below. Can refer to it for enrichment if you want.

http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/memory/

At this point of time, one of the more eye-catching topics regarding memory will be the six main reasons for forgetting: ineffective encoding, decay, interference, retrieval failure, motivated forgetting, and physical injury or trauma.

Motivated Forgetting & Physical Trauma I find especially interesting, for in a way they all stem from a fear & unwillingness to face the actual happenings, and lead to repression in a nutshell. Yet people may even repress memories without themselves really knowing so, nor being aware of how this process is actually performed. So what stimulates certain parts of the brain to automatically initiate this 'memory quarantine' process without even the owner of the brain giving an explicit command? Is repression a mechanism of the mind that automatically protects/shields us, or does it just suspend us in a more naive world in which the intolerable elements are deleted only leaving the acceptable ones sound?

More importantly, under what situations would you choose to repress certain memories? (This reminds me of what my fellow philosopher and I have talked about: pressing the DELETE button on memories--is this simply a metamorphosised form of memory repression?) And on a deeper level, does memory repression really enable one to 越过界限？

The matter gets more intricate when ethical grounds are trod. Is repression necessarily a cowardly act, because the person can't face the really unackowledgeable horrors or, even worse, shames? Can we argue that memory repression is a way for the repressor to sustain more dignity as a person?

The last point I want to bring to our readers' attention is on Distortion of Memories. Okay so memories become modified not only due to emotions as I've suggested before; it may also happen due to innate systems of beliefs (Schemas) and hindsight bias, apart from other factors such as overconfidence. So it is possible for our own stout perspectives to distort things that actually happened. Personally this reminds me of some conflicts I have witnessed/heard of. Some people may insist on others having done unacceptable things to them, and in their narration may present/remember happenings in certain lights that leave listeners with a firm impression that the ones being spoken of really acted disappointingly. However, (not judging whether this is right or wrong), it is indisputable that people just have particular ways of interpreting and remembering events such that it fits with their beliefs/conscience. And, saddeningly, misunderstandings may arise from it. Personally I'm always inclined to the opinion that Memory is subjective rather than objective, just like Truth. There can be relative Truths & Memories, but no absolute ones. Perhaps unconsciously we have been bound by our own unique beliefs, inclinations and interpretations to ever be really objective (which is perhaps why sometimes even classics like Bible allude to a phenomenon such as our 'eye' being shaded; in this case I feel the 'eye' mentioned directly relates to our mind).

Yup so far I've raised all my instinctual questions. Welcomes to my fellow thinkers and other interested commentors to pick points for further enriching discussion. At this time of the night, this entry is pretty rushed, and begotten from a refined draft of mine, so please pardon any possible mistake/not in-depth thought, and do feel free to generously point out flaws in arguments, coz this is a Thinker's Blog after all=)

Lastly, happy new year to all budding and full-fledged thinkers in the world! Time has just smiled at you again.

--Pannie

Pannie was thinking at 12:41 AM