Our magical memory

When we say that we recall, I guess that we take for granted that memories are like goods in our warehouse, and when we recall a memory, it’s like our brains go and grab those memories in the warehouse. But as we can see from research (again, see the book Brainrules for some references) every time we access a memory, we change it. Sometimes slightly and sometimes very much. And when you think more about it, it do make sense.

My husband and I met 20 years ago and some of the memories one of us tell someone, they get to hear over and over again when we meet new people. What has is some instances happened is that the memory has been shared so many times that the main caracter change. Just this summer I heard my husband share an old memory not once but twice with some new friends. The problem was that it was not his memory but mine. Over the years, the story has become as much part of his history as mine. It is almost like our memory works like a whispering game where the story changes for each person who’s ears the story goes through.

It is also so strange what sticks to our memories. I’ve a good memory for odd details (pestering my friends with weird facts all the time) and numbers. I can still recall my grand mothers phone number even if she’s been dead for many years. My husband and my son share the habit of not remembering names of people but it’s so strange. My son can have known someone for years and still don’t recall their names but he knows all the names of all the Bayblades and he can even recognize a recognize and know the name of a Bayblade in the store. Some things are probably more interesting to remember than other.

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