Memories Are More Complex Than You Think!
This morning I watched “The Mind, Explained: Memory” on Netflix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d95dOH-7GHM (it’s also available to watch on YouTube!)
It explained the science of memories in 20 short minutes. Here are some surprising and important points I took away from this video;
- Memory is so incredibly important, and it is linked to imagination.
Henry Molaison is a man who had a brain surgery to help his epilepsy in 1953. The surgery removed his medial temporal lobes, which included his hippocampus and amygdala, two important parts of the brain for retaining memory. While he was reported to have no changes in behaviour, he suffered from memory loss.
There are two types of memories. Implicit memories, which are unconscious, habitual memories, and explicit memories, which are conscious memories. Explicit memories are divided into semantic and episodic memories. Semantic memories are memories such as facts, dates, numbers and words, while the latter are memories relating to an “episode” or event in someone’s life.
Henry retained his implicit memories, unconscious habits such as knowing how to ride a bike. He also retained some of his explicit (conscious) memories, and was able to recall the stock market crash of 1929. However, this was his limit. While he was able to remember historic events, or semantic memories, he was unable to recall episodic memories, and couldn’t form new memories. Henry couldn’t even navigate his own home.
The inability to recollect past events is linked to the ability to imagine possible outcomes in the future. Another patient in 1988 had suffered the same effects following a brain surgery, and was reported to be stuck in the present. He couldn’t answer simple questions like what he saw or planned to do in the future, and compared being asked about the future to being told to “go find a chair, and there’s nothing there.”
When people were put through a scanner and asked to think of both the past and the future, the same parts of their brain reacted in a similar manner, thus proving that there is a link between remembering and imagining. This is a distinct, unique characteristic of humans, allowing us to set goals and overcome obstacles.
2. Our memories are NOT reliable, and our brain is flexible, distorting our memories from outward influences.
Crazy, right? I admit I felt a bit betrayed and defensive when I learned that some of my most precious childhood memories aren’t as accurate as I thought.
Take Melanie Mignucci, for example. When asked to recover her memories of 9/11, she said that her mom had been working in the city, and recalls seeing smoke billowing over the Long Island Sound from her elementary school classroom. However, it is later revealed that her mom had been working in Connecticut at that time, her classroom windows didn’t look out over the water at all, she was 40 miles away from the World Trade Centre and the smoke had been drifting in the opposite direction!
How could this happen? Elizabeth Phelps, the neuroscientist present in this episode, claims that about 50% of the details of a memory change in a year, although most people are convinced that their memories are 100% right. Melanie’s memory of this event is probably the combined result of her seeing smoke on TV, and her assumption that her mom went to work in the city frequently — her brain taking bits and pieces to fill in the gaps of missing details.
Another similar study proved the effect of outward influences on our recollection of memory, where young adults were asked to recall false memories from a supposed crime they had committed during their youth. After interviews and many questions, 70% of these young adults admitted to committing the crime, and many came up with details of a crime that didn’t even happen!
I think I’ll be keeping a journal close by from now on…
3. So how CAN we improve our ability to memorize and retain information?
Yanjaa Wintersoul is a memory champion. She partakes in international competitions where competitors memorize a series of images, words, or numbers. She is given just 10 minutes to memorize 500 numbers, and she successfully completes this impressive feat!
Predictably, simply memorizing a long list of numbers is difficult, even for internationally acclaimed memory champions like Yanjaa. Her secret? Making connections. Yanjaa assigns sounds to specific numbers and effectively turns the numbers into a story, such as the sequence “539” to “SAG”. She eventually turns all of these sounds into similar-sounding words. She then uses the popular “memory palace” technique, imagining herself walking along a familiar route with different words and imagery (transformed number sequences) in different locations. This helps put the story, and the numbers attached, in order. For example, she imagines herself passing through a tunnel, which is a reef (478) filled with ravioli (468).
Yanjaa’s tactic may seem odd, but it works. Our brain is trained to memorize things more easily when it has an attached meaning or story to it, and this is the key to many memory champions’ successes. Methods like these help change the way our brain connects, and from my observations, many people already use similar strategies to make connections in our everyday lives without giving it a second thought. Who knows? Frequent usage of this and similar methods may help you survive that upcoming social studies test!
:)
