De We Remember Absolutely Everything?

[Jabberwocky]

I was reading a blog the other day about growing up on Parson cross (Bushbabys blog) and a lot of the events that were told happened in much the same time that I lived there - in fact I could have been just around the corner or on the next field on several occasions and it brought back a lot of old memories.

 

 

Some of the memories were of big things like breaking my arm or being beaten senseless by a local nutter but I also remembered little insignificant things like Bits of broken milk bottle in the dried mud with moss growing in it and a friend saying it was "Frankensteins hand!" in a terrified voice. (we were five at the time)

 

It got me thinking...

 

Do we remember absolutely everything that happens to us all through our lives?

 

I hear of hypnotists dragging information from people from decades ago that they were sure they had long forgotten and I`m always remembering pointless little things from my childhood and onwards.

 

I can remember things that can have no value or use in later years - I mean its all well and good remembering important stuff like `Stay away from Deerlands close when Skippys around cos he`s a loony` and `Dont lick the moving traffic!` because theyre survival things, things that are important.

 

But what about the trivial stuff? What about Holding a privet leaf or a blade of grass between your thumbs to blow into to make a squeaking sound? Or pulling the legs off flys and dropping them onto ants nests to watch them torn to bits- whats the point of remembering stuff like that ?

 

DISCUSS!! OR I`LL....

 

God I cant remember now.

[HeadingNorth]

As far as anyone can tell, the brain - unless it's physically damaged, by birth defect or incurring an injury - does remember absolutely everything, every tiny little detail, that ever happens, everything you ever read, everything you're ever told.

 

The ability to recall what is remembered varies widely - almost everyone can think of a time when they had some fact or event "on the tip of my tongue" but couldn't bring the correct details to mind. "I know I know this! Grrr...."

 

It's also possible for recall to doubly fail, in that not only can you not recall certain information, you don't even retain awareness that it ever was known - ie. you forget it completely. It's still there, so it's at least theoretically possible that hypnotism or some other method might be able to draw it out.

 

I've known one or two people with effectively perfect recall, and they were not happy people. Nobody gets through life without bad things happening, and it's nice to be able to forget most of them.

[rubydazzler]

Funny you should bring this topic up now, J. Some lifelong friends and I were talking about this recently. As we're getting older, surprisingly, we're finding that we're starting to remember more about our childhood and youth. Things that we'd totally forgotten about.

 

As you say silly little things, and the clarity of the flashes of memory is startling. I even remember the feelings I had at the time, whatever they happened to be. Elation, embarrassment, fear, joy. The wonderful aroma as Mother cut into a meat and 'tato pie, even the steam from it was to die for! My mouth's watering even as I type.

 

It's quite strange, really, because you'd think that you'd gradually lose the earliest memories, but it doesn't seem to work like that, does it?

[Suffragette1]

I don't know, I can't remember . . .

[Mr_Squirrel]

Some people with conditions like Autism have been known to do amazing things with their memories like drawing landscapes etc in perfect detail having only ever seen the actual scene maybe once many years beforehand.

 

I wonder if its less a case of people wishing to remember or subconsciously choosing to forget.

 

God, thats deep......

 

Im going to lie down in a ..... erm......

 

Vat of custard.

[Jabberwocky]

Funny you should bring this topic up now, J. Some lifelong friends and I were talking about this recently. As we're getting older, surprisingly, we're finding that we're starting to remember more about our childhood and youth. Things that we'd totally forgotten about.

 

As you say silly little things, and the clarity of the flashes of memory is startling. I even remember the feelings I had at the time, whatever they happened to be. Elation, embarrassment, fear, joy. The wonderful aroma as Mother cut into a meat and 'tato pie, even the steam from it was to die for! My mouth's watering even as I type.

 

It's quite strange, really, because you'd think that you'd gradually lose the earliest memories, but it doesn't seem to work like that, does it?

 

Do you ever get... this is hard to explain but its happened to me more and more over the past decade or so, but do you ever think youre back there? I mean in the 70s or early 80s? The memory is so engrossing and clear that for a second or two you actually think youre back there and the memory is something that just happened?

 

Its a bit of a shock to realise that its now and not then.

[Jabberwocky]

I wonder why though? Why do we need to store every little thing...? I bet there are memories in our bonces that we never get to recall but theyre there nevertheless.

 

Unless its all saved up for the last moment of our life when, as we`re dying our life flashes before our eyes.

[Tess]

I always wonder why, although I can remember lyrics to a million and one songs, I still struggle to remember people's names? I assume it must be different parts of the brain, same as there are things last week I can't remember saying but I also remember stuff from when I was a matter of months old - I remember falling down the stairs in my grandad's arms on the day of my christening and I was only 10 months old!

[Dave650]

Depends on the brain I believe, your short term memory has a clear out within a stupidly short amount of time minute or so, maybe less? If it you don't remember it after then, then it's forgotten.

And as such, being thick as pig **** I remember very few things. I'll struggle to tell you what or when I last ate but could tell you the size of each nut on a vehicle I've worked on.

If it's something you note for what ever reason, if you have an interest in broken bits of milk bottles or found what your friend said funny then you'll remember it even if it does seem trivial...

[Jabberwocky]

I`ve had the same landline number for almost 5 years now and I`m damned if I can remember it. I even had it written on the back of my hand- I had it there for four months, re writing it every day and I STILL cant remember it!

 

Yet I can remember my mobile phone number... not my current mobile phone number, oh no, its not as simple as that, I can remember the number of the mobile phone I had in 1997.