Memory is an extremely interesting topic and an important function of the brain. When I think back on my memories it intrigues me to see what moments in time I remember, compared to the ones solely based off a photograph or home video. People who review their childhood pictures help restore their forgotten memories; this serves as a form of rehearsal. In families, reviewing pictures can serve as a scaffold that enables conversations about the past, and strengthen both memory and relationships. Although we may not be able to recall exactly where and when each one was taken, every photo triggers a story. Memories of our experiences connect with one another and they are the basis of who we are as individuals. Memories of our experiences are called autobiographical memories and they rely on a brain region called the hippocampus. The photos we take store information of what, where and when. In this regard, a photograph is very much like a memory of a life event. Images may be more of an accurate analogy to memory. For this project I have revisited sights of photographs taken during my childhood and rephotographed them capturing the change in time.

This image displays a park that is near my house, but I do not remember ever using. When revisiting this park to take this photo I was shocked to see how small it was, as a child I thought it was huge. I have no memory of using this structure, but because of this picture I can tell I did in fact go there at least once.

This is another image from the same park but a fews years later. Again, I do not have a clear memory of this day. I found the added graffiti to only add onto the fact of us growing up and the times changing. I drive past this playground to go to work, yet I have no memory of ever going inside. My mom was the one to inform me where this was taken.

This photograph was taken in October of 2000, I was only born four months before this was taken. I find myself repeatedly thanking my parents for taking so many photos of my sisters and I. Without them I would have no idea how I looked as a baby. These next few images are taken at my own house. The same house that I have lived in for my entire life. I find myself struggling to remember events that happened five years ago. Although, that doesn’t mean that taking photos is always the best way to remember a moment.

I think it is reasonable to say that every child plays in the snow. I have clear memories of this day only because my mom has a home video recording. She captures how my two older sisters hold my hands as I struggle to walk in the snow. Showing how the multiple layers of clothing bundled on me makes me waddle.

There are many photos capturing birthdays with grandchildren surrounding our grandparents. This image displays my Omi celebrating her 72nd birthday. I enjoy looking back on these shots because she got to live and amazing 89 years. I miss her dearly and wish to have more time with her. These photographs are a reminder to me that she had so many great years watching over me. She always told us her stories of leaving Hungary after WWII and coming to America for a better life. She was the kindest woman, and I am so happy to have these pictures to keep our memories in my mind alive.

Henkel, a psychologist at Fairfield University, suggested that taking a photo of something actually served as a trigger for people to forget it. Once people realized they could rely on the photograph rather than their brains, they no longer needed to mentally save the information for later. As I continued to collect photos for this project, I realized how much I relied on these photographs. I feel that if they disappeared, that memory would as well. Although these pictures are taken at an age where I would most likely not remember them anyway.

Photographing our experiences does not outsource our memory so much as it focuses it, funneling out attention toward visual aspects of our experiences and away from others. As a kid every Halloween is exciting. You get to dress up, go to strangers doors and get candy. This year I was a horseback rider. I loved horses at the time and was so excited when my mom put this costume together. Most Halloweens we complied outfits together to make costumes instead of buying a costume that wouldn’t fit me the next year. Years later my mom told me she actually made that helmet I am wearing, I had no clue back then. Back then I was just too excited to be a horseback rider, I think she did a great job.

This last image was taken in my kitchen. Thinking back to this experience I imagine the joy we must have had by just being able to sit somewhere that we aren’t normally allowed in. When retaking this photo I was amazed to see how easily the cabinets matched up, even if it was years later. It is soothing for me to look back at my childhood like this, but at the same time I feel as if I am observing someone else. I know those people in the photos, like my Aunts and Uncles, but I look at myself at a time where I don’t truly remember on my own. In a way it feels creepy, my parents tell me that the kid in the photo is me, but I don’t remember looking like that.

Research

“Why Don’t We Remember Our Early Childhoods?”

• An article published by Psychology Today, Author: Berit Brogaard D.M.Sci.,Ph.D

Setting in around age seven, childhood amnesia involves the sudden deletion of previous memories. It was hitherto thought that childhood amnesia occurred because the brains of young children couldn’t form lasting memories of specific events.

“…recorded children at the age of three talking to a parent about events, such as going to Six Flags or on a vacation to the US Virgin Islands. At the age of seven, these children could still recall more than 60 percent of the recorded events, but children who were just a year older remembered only about 40 percent. Age seven seems to mark the onset of childhood amnesia”.

The reason childhood amnesia sets in around that time has to do with pruning, the main purpose of which is to get rid of unused or ineffective brain connections. Pruning is a process that changes the neural structure by reducing the overall number of synapses, or brain connections. This results in more efficient synaptic configurations. Pruning is governed primarily by environmental factors, particularly learning.

The brain can also change its wiring in a different way. In the pruning process, neurons don’t die off. They simply retract axons from synaptic connections that are not useful. But the brain can also rewire itself by killing off its neurons in a process that is called apoptosis, which is a form of programmed neuronal death that is different from the kind of killing of neurons that occur in brain injuries. In apoptosis the neuron is killed and all connections associated with the neuron are also trimmed away.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201502/why-dont-we-remember-our-early-childhoods

“Memories, Photographs, and the Human Brain”

• An article published by Petal Pixel, Author: Joshua Sarinana

Memories of our experiences connect with one another and they are the basis of who we are as individuals. Memories of our experiences are called autobiographical memories and they rely on a brain region called the hippocampus.

If the hippocampus were to be taken out of your brain right now, you would be stuck in time and memories of new experiences would rapidly fade away. The hippocampus functions to create a seamless story of the self.