Some notes on memory
December 13th 2006 07:47
But we often know, on being presented with a suggestion, what it wasn't. So maybe I can look at a line-up and say he was none of these men.
This could be explained in terms of, for whatever reason, positively remembering negatives -- that he wasn't medium height or black-haired...
Or it could be that the visual information is currently inaccessible, and needs the right key to unlock it.
Or it could be recognition of responses. We've failed to record the outside world, but maybe we're better in touch with the inner. And we know what doesn't trigger those same feelings. And this knowledge, like visual memory, would be guaranteed by a complex of relationships with other certainties and half-certainties, extending to the present moment.
"I couldn't tell you now, but I'll know it when I see it..."
***
Eyes detect light, and somewhere along the causal line a subjective experience comes into play.
Silver halide reacts to patterns of light. And when our eyes see the film, a causal line is initiated, and subjective experience comes into play.
But you'll never know if other animals experience as you do -- if, for them, the effects of film are comparable to the effects of reality.
**
My own sight is dark. I couldn't sketch my mother's face. And when I close my eyes, I see nothing.
Are our brains like silver halide? Certainly, perceptual information marks the brain, imprints the neurons. But do patterns of light get imprinted, or something else? Is memory like photography?
Wikipedia bluntly declares: "There is also no supportive evidence for photographic memory."
Even chess masters -- who can play multiple games blindfold -- fare little better at most memory tests than anyone else. They're just experts at organizing particular sorts of information, not at retaining images in general.
Perhaps brains aren't boxes of photos, but are Star Trek replicators: what's stored is blueprints and data, and every summoned image is recreated from them.
***
A roll is called, and someone asks, "Are you sure you didn't hear your name?"
You could say:
-- "There was a moment when I was distracted. I might have missed it."
-- Or, "There was one sound I didn't hear clearly, and it might have been my name."
-- Or, "I heard every word. I've always done this reliably in the past. I'm sure of myself, so I'm sure of my memory."
But perhaps there's no distractions that you remember, and you can't appeal to your track record (maybe the person doesn't know you well enough). And worse still, perhaps the question makes you doubt yourself.
You're now at a loss. You think you listened faithfully, but how can you know? Asking whether you didn't hear isn't the same as asking whether you did. You won't find a positive memory of not hearing, you don't have something to call to mind to assess as to its vividness and reality. And you probably can't mentally replay, and double check the footage frame by frame.
So there might be no way to be sure -- but is there a way to be unsure either? Does certainty in this situation even make sense? What if such questions only arise with the possibility of an error-checking method -- like going back through each step of your maths solution, or going off to perform an empirical test.
It might be that the only proper response is repetition: "I tell you now I didn’t hear my name. Can't say much more than that."
***
Further info on photographic memory:
-- Slate
-- Washington Times
-- Straight dope
Further info on memory techniques:
-- Slate (and the article's author went on to win the American championships in 2006)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Memory.
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Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
Another one that gets me is that if you look at your watch to see what time it is, and 30 seconds later somebody asks you the time, you invariably end up looking at your watch again because in that 30 seconds you've already forgotten.
Comment by LaurenD
The existence of forgetting has never been proved: We only know that some things don't come to mind when we want them.
--Friedrich Nietzsche
Now, what was I just doing?
LaurenD
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
I was told once that a poor memory is the sign of a good imagination.
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
I run it through until I get a feeling or a pause at a letter.
Sometimes I feel that it's more likely to start with a letter in the second half of the alphabet, so I focus there.
Never do I dwell too much on one letter for too long.
If it's an Australian name, I might go through the National cricket team to see if I get that feeling or pause.
I believe that if I've had a sensory experience then there should be a trace of it somewhere.
There's so much data though.
I've got a vague memory that there is only so much room up there and old material is deleted or something...hold on..
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
Health Focus
Poetry Lighthouse
MS Paint Art
It has been demonstrated scientifically that forgetting is as important as remembering.
There was a case where someone wasn't able to forget things and this affected his functioning.
Now, what was it you said again?
Sorry, Lauren, we've moved on from Nietsche. And Damo, we always look for excuses.
katyzzz
Comment by Manjula
Wait a minute, you expect me to actually remember something all by myself in my mind ?
Now, why would I waste my mind doing that? Iisn't that the job my cellphone and PalmPilot are supposed to do??
Comment by Jane D
What propels me to convert instance into long term memory and is it conscious?
I can't remember my PIN, which I use every day, yet can remember exactly what coat my partner was wearing when I met him and what he had for dinner the first time we went out.
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
What exactly makes anyone remember? Dunno what it is exactly... People phrase the answer, very generally, as "the more meaningful it is, the more likely you'll remember", which is hopelessly vague...
A more fundamental question is simply, "What is memory?" -- Can tables have memories, if you mark them, leave a trace? For that's all, basically, that's happening with brains. And not all that we call "memory" has a subjective experience component -- there is also habitual memory...