Krish Patel - Week #13 - Can we trust our memories?
It is unusual to think about but the truth is that humans are just organic robots whose brains work similarly to a CPU. I mean what is the difference between the two? Both use electrical impulses and have control over the entire machine or person. Similarly to computers, humans also have issues with their memories. Remember that one time that you thought that you saved a file or an online homework assignment; well, chances are you did, but the computer did not recognize the command or had some sort of internal issues. This is also why many people (including me) double check to make sure something is saved or unconsciously double click the save button.
The same thing happens with humans. Since electrical impulses are based on emotions, we remember things that have happened to us in different ways. For example, we all have the memory of not getting ice cream on the trip when we were younger or being jealous of a toy that another kid had. See look, the image that just came to your mind probably made you recall the negative emotions that you felt at that time, and psychology shows that our emotions are deeply connected to us as people.
Anyways back to the point. We all have had a test that we have failed in the past even though we felt so confident that we did well. In a couple years or even now, when that memory is triggered again, you will most probably incorrectly assume or “remember” that you passed that test with flying colors because your brain remembers the emotion that you felt better than what actually happened. I want you to recall a funny joke or something funny that you experienced and try to remember every single feeling and thing that happened during those 5-10 minutes.
You probably found yourself smiling right now because your brain remembers the emotion you felt instead of the actual events. You just felt an unconscious wave of happiness but had to actually think of the events leading up to it or the specific details (if you have a good memory). However, you probably had gaps in your memory that you noticed or, worse, your brain filled in the gaps of your memory automatically. This proves that memories can’t be fully trusted because even you don’t know if what you are remembering actually happened. Only thing that can be certain is the emotions that you experienced during the event.
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/partial-recall-why-we-cant-trust-our-own-memories
Hey Krish! I really enjoyed reading your blog this week. It was interesting to see how you compared humans to computers, and it does make sense based off of how you compared the two. Our memory can also influence what we do consciously and subconsciously. The double-clicking for the save button is something that I never even realized that I did, but now that you pointed it out, I noticed that I do that. Another thing I do subconsciously is pressing the lock button for my car twice. Just to double-check that I actually locked it. The emotions you mentioned and how they relate to our memory is really interesting to me. How did you come up with this? I tried what you told me to do, and was accurate to what you guessed I would do. Something funny that happened was my friend tumbling down the stairs because he was on his phone, which made me smile but did not actually relate to the actual event of him falling down the stairs. Thankfully he was okay. Anyways, it was intriguing to read your blog this week!
ReplyDelete-Colin
Hey Krish, I had a similar blog post topic although I primarily had an anecdotal approach rather than scientific so it was genuinely interesting to read. I did not know about the electrical impulses in our brains being based on emotions. I liked your style of talking directly to the reader and I did do everything you expected might happen; I did feel that wave of happiness when thinking about a joke. It's weird how our brain essentially gaslights us, not to necessarily trick us, but because of the prioritization of emotions over the actual moment. I have definitely had those moments where I swore I remembered an event correctly, only to realize I was just thinking about how I felt in that specific moment. For the computer analogy, I find myself also double clicking the save button but not because I felt the computer didn't do it; instead I feel like I, myself, did not click the button previously. I think that this too relates to how we tend to second-guess our memories. Overall, you had a really interesting blog and approach. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteHi Krish,
ReplyDeleteYour blog post was truly quite fascinating because it made me ponder about a lot of incidents that I’ve had in the past that have a similar description to what you stated regarding how some memories can be fabricated by our minds. I’ve definitely had tests (similar to how you describe) in which I genuinely thought I did really good with my mind assuring me that I did good, just to end up getting a score much lower than I would’ve expected. Although it definitely does not happen that often, it is quite unsettling and the fact that I can’t even trust my own mind is pretty frightening. One thing I’ve definitely started doing to prevent this from happening often is to subconsciously train myself to not remember the emotions associated with a certain memory, but instead the true events that occurred in an objective manner. For example, if I had just finished a test and wanted to recall it from my memory in order to personally assess how I did, I would think exactly about the questions on the test, what answers I put, and the quality of the work that I submitted rather than the emotions I felt during the test. I think that the action of turning in a test itself causes a slight dopamine spike for anyone due to the sense of satisfaction and completion with finishing a big objective. This might tamper with the perception of the test later on.
-Ritwik