Analysis #5 – Memories Are Weird

In this week’s module we went over memory. I think memory is one of the most intriguing topics out of all the topics we discussed this semester, as I find myself thinking about memory and talking about it quite often in my day to day life. I could never really understand it, but I feel like my memory is weak when thinking about moments of the past at any given moment. It’s like if I just try to think about random moments without being prompted to think about anything specific, I can’t really remember much. It’s kinda weird because I feel like it should be easier to just remember things. I think this goes along with the slide we had in our video lecture of “Good Remembering.” It’s as if there is an an unfaithful feeling to the past if you cannot remember it well.

Marjorie Prime

Expanding on this idea of “good remembering,” we see ample examples of how Alzheimer’s disease affects Marjorie’s memory. Having watched the movie, it actually reminded me of my grandmother and her experience with a similar neurocognitive disease she faced the last couple of years leading up to her death. The movie does an incredible job of depicting how Marjorie experiences the memories she has with her husband through a hologram of her late husband, Walter. I found this interesting because my grandmother recalled memories of my grandfather while she was experiencing the affects of the disease; however, she could not recall simple tasks she had done throughout the day. The quote that stood out to me the most in the movie was from Marjorie’s daughter, Tess. She states, “Memory is not like a well that you dip into or a filing cabinet. When you remember something, you remember the memory. You remember the last time you remembered it, not the source. So it’s always getting fuzzier, like a photocopy of a photocopy.” This quote is a wonderful example of the idea of good remembering. As the video lecture states, “memories change over time as we construct and think about them through different contexts and from different perspectives.” So the idea of memory not being like a well or filing cabinet is true. I believe some ideas like to think of memory as like saving things on a computer. If you save a picture on a computer, every time you open the picture, it will essentially appear the same. However, we know that our memories don’t work that way, as every time we remember something, we are remembering the last time we remembered it, not the event or occurrence as it may have actually happened. This pretty much sums up to me why I can’t remember many memories from the past well. I guess if you don’t think about events of the past often, or if you often think about events of the past in different contexts and emotions, then they’re bound to change. And that’s ok. Everything seems to change in retrospect.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

After watching this episode, it represents my analogy to the mind not being like a computer very well. In the scene where Data is looking at his memories afraid that he will lose them and their meaning, I thought about how memories can change and still be accurate. I feel more alright with the idea that memories change over time and that they aren’t direct recollections of what actually happened but rather how we are thinking about them and how we remember the last time we remember them. Again, the idea that everything changes in retrospect is so interesting because I often find myself thinking of a moment, a certain time, or phase in my life and perhaps thinking of it as a good time when in reality I probably wasn’t as happy as I think I was. I find this to be a beautiful aspect of memory because, as our lecture states, memory is influenced by context, emotion, and environment and is not meant to be stored in perfect order like a computer saves files.

It’s been a pleasure being a part of this class during the summer semester. I wish everyone the best of luck in their future endeavors!