Extended Reading: “It’s Magical. It’s Malleable. It’s Memory”

What is the relationship between memory and selfhood?

Selfhood directly relates to memory as a sense of self stands firmly upon memory. Since our birth, we gathered information and put them in memory. Based on the memory of our experiences, we construct our feeling and our thoughts of who we are. Before Loftus’ understanding of this bond, we believed that selfhood comes from experience. Through experience, we formed a concept of who we are. Loftus argues that memory is not a bedrock, upon which selfhood rests, but shifting sands. She discovers that false memory can powerfully alter our sense of self.

What new discovery about memory do you find most interesting?

What I as the most interesting discovery about memory is that imagery and perception triggers the brain very similarly. From the article, a Harvard Psychologist, Stephen Kossyln did an experiment that shows the relationship between imagery and perception. "PET studies. have shown that, when subjects close their eyes and form visual images, the same areas are activated as if they were actually seeing." This line from the article suggests that the same part of the brain activates when we actually see an object, perceive, and when we see that same object in our imagination, imagery. This discovery concludes the same thing in the study of memory. It is that our memory is both what we perceive and what we imagine.

What is the homunculus crisis?

The “homunculus crisis” stated by Gerald Edelman is a mystery saying that there is a part of us that activates the work of neurons. The word “homunculus” means a diminutive person, which Edelman believed that it lives under our conscious, controlling our memory. Sitting in a car and memory of the past suddenly and automatically rush into the mind is an example of homunculus crisis. Edelman said that we do not have the control of triggering memory, but what and who is the question.

Which theory of dreams finds support in the experiments by Lynch?

Lynch’s experimnent follows the cognitive theory of dreams by Winson. Winson proposed that we dream to remember. Dreams are replay of daily experiences and dreams help us learn and consolidate information. In the experiment, a rat was planted electrodes in its hippocampus. The rat then explored a box. After that the rat slept, and during its rest, the rat fired the same cells that were activated during the learning process of the box.

How can some memories become indelible?

Memories that become indelible are those associated with strong emotions. When faced with an emotional event, our cells will be flooded with two hormones, adrenaline and noradrenaline, which triggers the amygdala. When another similar event occur, the same hormones will be released and follow the same neural path, tightening the memory until it becomes indelible. Although indelible memory will disturb you forever, it also helps us survive because when faced with another situation, the mind will differentiate between traumatic events and normal events.

How can amnesia and repression be explained?

According to Daniel Siegel, both amnesia and repression are due to the malfucntion of hippocampus. Amnesia is a lost of memory because the memory was never encoded into long-term memory, while repression is a lost of memory for a period of time and eventually the memory be retrieved. The hippocampus process the recall of explicit memory, so when it is impaired, the brain encounters a problem in retrieving explicit memory. Since other parts of the brain are still functional, implicit memory can be encoded. This explains why person with either amnesia or repression can still learn because implicit memory does not require conscious awareness.

Explain the following statement: "Memory is more reconstructive than reproductive."

“Memory is more reconstructive than reproductive” suggests that when a memory is to be recalled, some parts of it will be reconstructed because memory can not hold all the details. As time passes, details like time, date, and place will fade. So, when asked to retrieve the memory, the person recalls the main plot and reconstructs the less important details to complete the story. This is why memory recall is not totally a reproduction, but rather reproduction and reconstruction.

What new paradigm of memory is now emerging?

"We now have a new paradigm of memory," notes Loftus, "where memories are understood as creative blendings of fact and fiction, where images are alchemized by experience and emotion into memories." The new paradigm of memory declares that memory is the mixture of fact and fiction, reality and imagination. Memory of each person is created differently by his/her own perspective of the event with the aid of experinece and emotion. The article ingeniously compares the creation of memory to when two sticks rub and create fire. One stick is fact, what really happened and the other is imagination, what we perceived as an individual with unique background and emotion.

After reading this artice, what conclusions can you make about memory?

“Memory is malleable --- and so are we.” The last sentence in the article “It’s magical. It’s malleable. It’s memory.” sums up my conclusion. After reading the article, my interpretation of memory changed. I found out that I should not rely on memory too much for it is always shifting. Memory creates uniqueness. Two people facing the same situation will have different memory of the event. This is because memory is a combination of both reality and individual imagination. The last sentence also connects memory with selfhood. Without memory, we can not be who we are. Based on memory of the past, we construct our feeling and our thought of who we are. Memory is essential for it is a tool that enables us to use the past for the future.