False Memories

[wardell]

I was just reading an article about your memory in it they said

"If*you trust your memory, we’ve got bad news for you. Our memories change every day depending on*our current emotional state. For instance, you went on*a*great trip with your best friend last year, but some time ago you argued and stopped seeing each other. Now, recalling the trip, you’ll feel it*wasn’t that great after all: your brain will find (or*even make*up) something bad about it*so*you don’t enjoy these memories or*come back to*them"

I personally do not believe it. there were some people in my life that I now that I hate but when we were friends we had some great times together. my hate for them now has not ever ruined my memory of the fun we once had.

or maybe I am just the exception what do you think? do you agree with their statement

 

[topdog]

That statement is true. As a matter of fact every time we remember something we are affecting the memory. The very act of recalling a memory alters it - it adds a new layer of meaning on top of it.

This research is currently affecting the legal system which for hundreds of years has considered the remembrances of eye witnesses as the gold standard of evidence. We now know that trust is not well placed.

One way that this happens is because we are always trying to find meaning in our memories. We connect memory A with memory B in the hope that it will tell us something about ourselves or the world. Those connections become a story, or something we believe to be true. Over time we drop the details that don't conform to the narrative we are telling our self.

For a simple example look at these two interpretations of the same events.

"I had a wonderful childhood - every year my father would take me out fishing on my birthday."

"I had a terrible childhood - my father would only take me out fishing once a year on my birthday."

So there are memories of an event, and then there is the story in which we embed them - and we have a hard time telling the difference between those two things.

Here's another kicker - we can rearrange the same memories to tell a different story about our past. I remember that I had terrible experiences in middle school and high school having to play football, basketball and baseball and being terrible at it. My story was that I am terrible at sports.

However when I add in the memories of being good at dance, gymnastics and track and I can change my story to I am good at individual sports but not team sports.

This process of changing the stories that surround our memories is called therapy.

 

[dragonscub]

Absolutely brilliant reply, topdog! :thumbs up:

This current theory also demonstrates "theres nothing new under the sun" - the author Jane Roberts pinned her entire philosophy thru a dozen books in the 1970s on exactly what you posted today. I try to apply these ideas to my own life, but it isn't always easy.

The key takeaway is "you get what you concentrate on". Whether remembering the past or projecting the future, we affect things with our attitudes and emotions. We re-write our own histories constantly, not always for the better, in a sense changing our own past by the mere act of recalling it with a bias. Our attitude toward the future works the same way: concentrate on drama and bullshit, you'll manifest drama and bullshit.

Its always best to keep at least SOME optimism in reserve, in both directions.

 

[Stonecold]

I agree that is some great insight topdog. I think age plays a role also. I know for me as a senior my mind now when it comes to memories that are bad it refuses to go there and it automatically goes blank on bad memories by switching to good ones.

 

[wardell]

I disagree. why would memories change? plus how does any outside person know if the persons memory is false? in my example I hate my cousin now I would even go so far as to say I despise him but we were bestfriends growing up we had fun playing together riding in his go-cart and playing Mario64 that is not false. my hate him now has not falsified or tainted my memories. another example back in 1999 one day my mom and I were on our way home and we saw I flying-craft(I don't know what they are called) but It was like a go-cart with a big fan on the back and a parachute on top it went right in front on us. and I know for a fact I have changed any detail of my memory because I can go back in my journal and look

 

[trencherman]

I agree that is some great insight topdog. I think age plays a role also. I know for me as a senior my mind now when it comes to memories that are bad it refuses to go there and it automatically goes blank on bad memories by switching to good ones.

You are fortunate for having successfully trained yourself to do that. I have been training myself to cast off negative thoughts for a long time with negative result so far.

 

[dragonscub]

Wardell, you tend to post a lot of questions that you expect to have black/white yes/no definitive answers: in most cases you've already made up your mind what you believe anyway, and sorta/kinda dispute the answers you get.

You are going thru a difficult period right now, with many hurdles seeming to block your way toward the life you want. Only very recently did you reveal the full extent of what you're dealing with: since we had no way of knowing until you told us, the answers you've received previously could not possibly account for your specific situation. So while you may have thought we were being obtuse or not "getting" you, it was only because you hadn't fully explained all the things you have to cope with. Now we know (at least those of us who saw your recent biographic post).

Putting that aside, this "memory" question involves aspects of both philosophy and biology. There is no definite answer to such inquiries, only evidence that provokes a subjective response or belief. The idea that our memories can become faulty, unreliable, inaccurate, etc is a nuanced topic. In the literal sense, yes: your specific memories about your cousin (for example) are not likely to change. It isn't the memories per se but the emotional attitude we have toward them that can give them undue power for good or ill effect on our lives. Topdog expressed this perfectly (and poetically) in his post above.

There is a school of thought that all time is actually simultaneous, past-present-future occurring as a three-dimensional interactive sphere of energy. Our human form can only interpret this as a linear progression, but our minds unconsciously access the true time source in a manner we don't fully comprehend. This ties in with the "memory is not static but a living changing process" theories now being studied.

Perhaps you've heard of the scientific notion that anything we observe or study will throw off some degree of inaccurate information, because the very act of observing and studying something (molecules, frogs, solar flares) alters the momentary nature of that thing. This is what that memory study you cited is trying to get at: memories are not exempt from this phenomenon. Each time we recall a memory (or conjecture the future) we are focusing the energy of our attention into it: cyclically, that energy aculates to where we make use of it in positive or negative, conscious or unconscious ways.

You're fairly young compared to some of us who respond to your posts, so its perfectly fine if you view such vague philosophy as annoying bullshit. Most people do: like you, they have more important day-to-day issues to think about. As you get older, and some of your immediate burdens lessen, you may be more inclined to consider such ideas as valid or interesting. Or maybe not: it doesn't matter unless you personally think it does.

The only indisputable point in the whole mess is that a positive attitude will eventually lead to better results than a negative attitude, whether in relation to memories or anything else. While we can't literally change the past or the future with only our thoughts, those thoughts can have a powerful enhancing or destructive effect on our lives moment to moment. It is jarring indeed when you fully realize those moments add up to years and decades faster and faster.

 

[Stonecold]

trencherman

You are fortunate for having successfully trained yourself to do that. I have been training myself to cast off negative thoughts for a long time with negative result so far.

Keep hope, it can happen.