How our Brains Make Memories, an article by the Smithsonian.com’s Greg Miller,
For those of us who cherish our memories and like to think they are an accurate record of our history, the idea that memory is fundamentally malleable is more than a little disturbing. Not all researchers believe Nader has proved that the process of remembering itself can alter memories. But if he is right, it may not be an entirely bad thing. It might even be possible to put the phenomenon to good use to reduce the suffering of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, who are plagued by recurring memories of events they wish they could put behind them.
I discovered this article on a site called Emerging Solutions Psychological, where I also found a lot of other interesting research, and although not specific to dementia, useful in life. Thank you Dr Johanna Saltis! As I continue to explore memory, and remembering, I find new perspectives fascinating.
“Remembering and Forgetting: Inquiries into the nature of memory” by Edmund Blair Bolles, Walker, NY, 1988.
Note the date – this guy was onto something that has now become much more widely accepted. You can’t get this book in Oz – try Amazon if you want it.
Best line “Remembering is an act of imagination”
Sorry I took so long to post this, I have been more than usually busy. xx
PS Many artists are very interested in Memory. Perhaps the above line gives a clue why?
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Thanks Sally, I will get onto Amazon for a copy. I like what you say is the best line too! And I hope the exhibition is coming along really well. xo
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It IS possible to change memories but for me it was done inadvertently ….. firstly – I have dementia so bad memory. I was unhappy about something then over time I started embelishing things and changing them but because I didn’t remember that they weren’t “reality” I ended up believing that they were true and ended up believing the wrong things ….. so I ended up “creating false memories” ….. believing the wrong things were true and actually believing that they happened.
Know what I mean?
So while my dementia isn’t progressing at the moment, and I’ve just got a very bad memory (very very bad)
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PS – the above was the cause of pretty regular and unhappy daily flashbacks for years and years and years antil I realised my problem
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Thanks for your 2 comments, and I’m sorry your memory is so bad. At least you understand more about it now, sometimes knowledge can be so empowering. xo
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Hello, the difference between mind and brain is mostly ignored by alzheimer’s
dementia writers/organizations/and most especially researchers. There is an obvious dark hole of knowledge between the two. There must be some computational language of thought but that’s still in the mechanics of the brain. How do our feelings impact the creation and retrieval of our memories? And how do all the plaques and tangles that keep researchers up at night impact our minds, and vise versa.
I don’t know! Do you? If you find out let me know.
Thanks, your friend Richard
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Ditto, and if you find out, please let me know! And just when I’ve been wondering if you are still there, you surprise me with a comment. Take care, your friend, Kate
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