What is a memory? A memory in simple words is the process of taking in information from the world around us. Our minds process it, store it and later on recall that information. Everyone has memories; good ones, bad ones, sad ones, etc. I hate when I remember the bad ones and sometimes I even wish that I can erase good ones in the past that make me sad now but having these memories is what connects us to our emotions. It’s a part of us and it’s something we will always have.
In the movie, Majorie Prime, Majorie is starting to experience the first few symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Her daughter, Tess and her son-in-law, Jon, hire this service called Prime. This service is designed to assist Alzheimer patients that create a holographic projection of deceased family members. These projections are filled with memories of the patient’s so they can repeat these memories back to the patients when they are being forgetful. Majorie receives a hologram of her late husband Walter. She starts talking to him and enjoys her time with her “husband” but her daughter is still skeptical. I think this matches the Remembering emotions from this weeks’ slides because we experience emotions as we remember. Both the memory itself and how we feel about the memory; in the movie when Majorie was reminiscing with her “husband” about good times and little things they did, she expressed a lot of happiness. However, in one scene when she starts to say she wants Walter but not the Hologram Walter, she seems angry because that is not the memory she has of him in that moment. Memories have such an impact on our emotions because it’s like we are trying to remember how we felt in that moment and remembering a certain thing can trigger any type of emotion within us.
In the Star Trek episode, “The Measure of a Man”, Commander Maddox wants to better understand Commander Data’s brain and wants to transfer the contents of Data’s memory to the star base mainframe computer. Maddox promises he will restore Data’s memories and they will stay intact but Data is concerned that Maddox isn’t telling the full truth. A trial begins and Data begins to explain how the experiment that Maddox wants to conduct, can cost him his life. I think this episode pertains to the Affective Dimension of Memory slides that we discussed because the Affective Dimension of Memory influences what we perceive and attend to and Maddox argues that Data is not a sentient being, however, if Data is already feeling nervousness about the experiment, that already makes him sentient. He is able to feel something based on that alone.
4 thoughts on “Do you remember your first memory?”
Hi Brianna,
It is worth noting that memory is more complex that simply storing and retrieving information. Rather, work in cognitive science suggests that memories are actively constructed.
Good discussion of the role of emotions and memory. As you note, Marjorie seems very happy talking with Walter Prime, particularly when she is remembering pleasant moments from their life together. The emotion that Marjorie feels is not just the emotion she remembers feeling at the time, but also the feeling she has looking back on these moments of their lives together. Imagine, for example, if she and Walter had gone through a bitter divorce. She might still remember her joy at his proposal, but would probably feel very different about it in retrospect. We might think about how this relates to her avoiding any mention of her son who committed suicide. She does not want to relive that grief or the feelings of sadness that her memory of him might bring up.
I love your point about how Data’s desire not to have the experiment performed on him is evidence of his sentience—and his emotions. Part of why he objects is that he fears that he will lose the autobiographical self that he has constructed through his memories.
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Brianna,
I like how you explained the connection between memories and emotions in the scenes from Marjorie Prime. I also like how you differentiate the emotions people can feel from remembering a moment versus what they actually felt in the moment. For instance, when Marjorie is angry that she is reminiscing with the Hologram Walter rather than actually being with Walter. Although remembering moments that she shared with Walter in the past may have triggered happiness at that time, she is now feeling anger for remembering them with the Hologram Walter. This is a wonderful example of how memories may trigger different emotions as we recall them compared to the emotions we actually experienced in that moment. You’ve also done a great job in explaining how Data is sentient for how he feels about the preservation of his memories and what they mean to him. Great work!
Anthony Aromolo
I think it’s really interesting how you mentioned that you wish you could erase your bad memories. Essentially, Tess and Marjorie try and erase Damien’s entire existence from their memory altogether. If Jon hadn’t said something to Walter Prime then they would have essentially erased him from existence. It’s similar to the Casablanca story that Marjorie makes up to Walter Prime, in the last scene when all the primes are talking that becomes the “true” story of how they met that will continue to be passed down to generations. If Jon hadn’t spoken about Damien to Walter Prime, he never would have been able to pass along the story to the other primes and he would have been erased from existence, all because talking about him was too hard of a memory to deal with for his family.
nperalta
Totally seconding what Nicole said because it was the first thing I thought about when I read your post. Something else that struck me was how Tess had so many negative feelings about her mother and their relationship, therefore she pushed her perceptions of her mother onto Marjorie prime. For example, she kept telling Marjorie prime that she shouldn’t be smiling so much because her mother didn’t smile often. However we see her smiling plenty when she’s around Walter. I think the emotions Tess had were so heavily tied to her memories that they are now tainted by negative feelings
arbuonaiuto