The nature of memory
Apr. 21st, 2012 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foliumnondefluetThis morning I was dreaming about elementary school. (This was slightly surprizing, as there didn't seem any reason to dream of THAT)
It fascinates me how a dream can give the impression that you still accurately remember something from 25 years ago. I think though, that such memories are "impressionistic", that they are putting in focus a few things I do remember, and keep everything else a little blurry. What you don't really remember, you also won't notice to be wrong, right?
So this morning, in the state between dream and awakeness, I pondered exactly how much I do remember about elementary school. Not surprisingly for a place I spent the bulk of my life for six years, I remember quite a bit accurately - the general layout of the castle (yes, my elementary school was a castle), that the moat had ducks, that I surreptiously explored thedungeons attics during recess, how we played in the portcullis, etc. While this was going on, I became aware of how this actually works: the memory throws impressions at you, but when you try to focus on it in detail, it quickly distracts you with another impression.
It went something like this:
Me: "let's try something specific, like who were my classmates in the 4th year"
Memory: "of course you remember your classmates, there was this big guy, Peter, for instance - see, you remember him. By the way you also remember that the stone stairs were made of speckled granite. And when you looked up on a sunny day, the sky was blue..."
Me (much later): "waaait a minute! The big guy in 4th year you showed me wasn't Peter! Peter was another big guy I was in class with in a different year!"
Memory: "fooled you, didn't I?"
Me: "so who was I sitting next to in 4th year? Or the 5th? Or the 3rd?"
Memory: "hmmmm mumble mumble Hey! do you remember that time when they all ganged up on you and pushed you into the garbage barrel?"
etc.
It's really quite devious, my memory. ^_^
It fascinates me how a dream can give the impression that you still accurately remember something from 25 years ago. I think though, that such memories are "impressionistic", that they are putting in focus a few things I do remember, and keep everything else a little blurry. What you don't really remember, you also won't notice to be wrong, right?
So this morning, in the state between dream and awakeness, I pondered exactly how much I do remember about elementary school. Not surprisingly for a place I spent the bulk of my life for six years, I remember quite a bit accurately - the general layout of the castle (yes, my elementary school was a castle), that the moat had ducks, that I surreptiously explored the
It went something like this:
Me: "let's try something specific, like who were my classmates in the 4th year"
Memory: "of course you remember your classmates, there was this big guy, Peter, for instance - see, you remember him. By the way you also remember that the stone stairs were made of speckled granite. And when you looked up on a sunny day, the sky was blue..."
Me (much later): "waaait a minute! The big guy in 4th year you showed me wasn't Peter! Peter was another big guy I was in class with in a different year!"
Memory: "fooled you, didn't I?"
Me: "so who was I sitting next to in 4th year? Or the 5th? Or the 3rd?"
Memory: "hmmmm mumble mumble Hey! do you remember that time when they all ganged up on you and pushed you into the garbage barrel?"
etc.
It's really quite devious, my memory. ^_^
