It's Magical, It's Malleable- It's MEMORY
What is the relationship between memory and selfhood?
As described in the article written by Jill Neimark, the most solid part of selfhood are our emotions and experiences which these two are both parts of our memories. Memories are like the stored information of our experience which usually is attached by emotions. However, some memories can also be created by our imaginations in which the article referred to as “creativity blending and reblending the experience and emotion”. Without these memories, we will not be who we are today and therefore, there is an effect to selfhood but with the misconceptions of memories, we can also become someone we are actually not. Memories are not always the reliable source of information.
What new discovery about memory do you find most interesting?
The new discovery that interests me most is concerning memories and senses in relation. Our brain can record memory even before it records the senses. In other words, we can remember things even before realizing it. Amazing how the memory part of our brain works but yet no one seems to be able to figure out how it actually works.
What is the homunculus crisis?
The homunculus crisis is the idea introduced by Gerald Edelmen; it is the mystery state of confusion of where and how some memories are suddenly reminded in our minds. The issue is simply who and how these memories are suddenly activated into our brains causing these memories.
Which theory of dreams finds support in the experiments by Lynch?
“Lynch is known for his inspiring, if slightly mad, brilliance. His laboratory found that LTP is strongest when stimulation is delivered to the hippocampus in a frequency that corresponds to the slow rhythms of theta, of deep relaxation.” (5) LTD refers to consolidation of memories during the most relaxed state of the human brain, simply when we’re sleeping. Researches prove that humans obtain more information if getting enough sleep. Lynch’s experiment proves how information can be better restored during sleeping state, particularly, REM sleep.
How can some memories become indelible?
The term “fight-or-flight” refers to the reaction of the body in a traumatic event. When faced with trouble or dangerous situations, the body chooses to either fight, meaning react back or flight, meaning run away. During “fight-or-flight”, the body releases hormones, particularly stress hormones which gives human the strength to do things beyond its normal capacity. When faced with a traumatic event, the information gets stored much deeper than normal events; this is because the body needs this essential information in times of need, like facing similar situations, the body can take prior precautions. However, the brain does not know its limit. The memory can be too deeply stored and will most likely haunt you without going away.
How can amnesia and repression be explained?
Amnesia and repression are two diverse ideas. Amnesia is when a person lost his or her memories because the memories were never encoded since the first place whereas repression is when memories are retrieved. Amnesia may be cause by one accident while repression may be caused by a repeated number of bad experiences. Siegel suspected that the causation of these two ideas is due to the malfunction of the hippocampus. Sometimes memories detach because of a continuous traumatic events, so the explicit memories are forgotten but the implicit memories remain.
Explain the following statement: “Memory is more reconstructive than reproductive.”
Human can remember most events well but all the details are miscalculated. “Memory is more reconstructive than reproductive.”- Memories can be encoded, retrieved and even encoded back or with added information but it’s not useful because all the little details are overlooked and forgotten; therefore, not reproductive.
What new paradigm of memory is now emerging?
The new paradigm of memory is that is can be seen as a combination of facts, what really happens and our own imaginations. Sometimes people remember things that did not actually happen, all because of his or her own creativity and imaginations. This mixture is synergized with experience and emotions into creating memories.
After reading this article, what conclusions can you make about memory?
Memories can not be easily understood. Not all of its happenings can be explained with theories and experiments. Some believe that memories shape up a person’s character and being but memories can be delusive or fantasized. It can be created and at the same time destroyed. In simple words, it is as fragile as the egg’s shell when you don’t want it to be and sometimes can be as tough as bricks and bones. We cannot really choose which memories we want to remember and which ones to forget. It seems as if memories are controlling us instead of us controlling it.
posted by Tat S. @ 8:46 AM
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