Bloggin Time - Chapter 8

Memory is an inexplicably important asset to who we are as human beings. Who would we be if, like Clive Waring, we could not remember more than 20 seconds into our pasts? No one. We would practically be non-existent if we, in fact, could not REMEMBER our existence. Would we know or remember how to make and raise children? would we remember to eat enough to stay alive, or forget we ate so much that we die of obesity? Would the human race even remain?! Life would be unimagineably difficult. We would be unable to learn the traits of survival and likely become extinct. What a terrible world it would be if we didn't have our precious memories.

This chapter was really interesting because it brought up some confrontational points, such as: is my memory as good as I think it is? Can I, just like many other researchers and ordinary people, fabricate my own memories or fill in the pieces that were never really there to the point where I believe them? Yes, because there are many ways in which memory works with and against us. The 7 sins of memory gives perfect examples of many of these mind operations.

The concept of memory repression (or lack thereof) interested and surprised me. We hear about traumatized people repressing tragic memories in the news, magazine interviews, and often we even know someone who seems to do this is their mind. What was intruiging about this concept in the text was that an increasing number of memory researchers think repression rarely, IF EVER, occurs. People often succeed at intentionally forgetting certain material, but not when the material deals with emotions. Trying to forget emotional material actually leads to intrusion of memory, creating persistant replays of a traumatic event.