For long now, I have been pondering what memories are, and how they are stored. I like to extrapolate from what I know already-- Yes, I am aware of how inaccurate my conclusions might end up being. But still, something in me makes me want to believe that knowing and understanding the purpose of memory and how it works can be deduced from introspection only, as it is a vital part of the human condition and makes us who we are.
Memory is the collection of past sensory feelings and emotions one has already experienced. The mind recreates past instances using this information and imagination, which fills in the gaps and lapses. Imagination is given shape by us as we gradually, throughout the process of growing up and growing old, restrain our perspective in order to bring it closer to the assumed ineffable truth of everything we feel. Memory is a process and can be divided into two parts: Storing and Retrieving.
Storing the memory involves associating the memory with ones which are quite prominent and strong in the person's psyche and easily retrievable. What are these strong memories now? These are the ones which a person forms early in the childhood, or after some traumatic event. Sometimes, the traumatic event causes the person to forget the older strong memories they might have formed earlier, in their childhood. So according to me, if one is in the know of which memories are the strong ones--the ones to which their mind always gets attracted to-- they can connect the new ones with these older ones by finding a common ground between them. These strong memories are characterized by peculiar feelings evoked upon seeing the object of the memory. Usually, more than one sensory feeling is evoked.
Retrieving memories has always been difficult for me. Retrieval is an act of willpower that requires one to be attentive to the subtle cues offered by the subconscious. These cues might be in the form of mental images or sounds.
Memories are usually stored in the form of a network, one memory connected to multiple others. All these connected memories have a common aspect-- on the basis of intention, context, or form of the object of the memory.
Memory is the collection of past sensory feelings and emotions one has already experienced. The mind recreates past instances using this information and imagination, which fills in the gaps and lapses. Imagination is given shape by us as we gradually, throughout the process of growing up and growing old, restrain our perspective in order to bring it closer to the assumed ineffable truth of everything we feel. Memory is a process and can be divided into two parts: Storing and Retrieving.
Storing the memory involves associating the memory with ones which are quite prominent and strong in the person's psyche and easily retrievable. What are these strong memories now? These are the ones which a person forms early in the childhood, or after some traumatic event. Sometimes, the traumatic event causes the person to forget the older strong memories they might have formed earlier, in their childhood. So according to me, if one is in the know of which memories are the strong ones--the ones to which their mind always gets attracted to-- they can connect the new ones with these older ones by finding a common ground between them. These strong memories are characterized by peculiar feelings evoked upon seeing the object of the memory. Usually, more than one sensory feeling is evoked.
Retrieving memories has always been difficult for me. Retrieval is an act of willpower that requires one to be attentive to the subtle cues offered by the subconscious. These cues might be in the form of mental images or sounds.
Memories are usually stored in the form of a network, one memory connected to multiple others. All these connected memories have a common aspect-- on the basis of intention, context, or form of the object of the memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment