And, no, that problem is not senility! I think I have a good memory although I have also met people who claim that their memory has worsened with age. Whatever I, or other people, say, it is highly likely that ones memory probably isn’t as good as one thinks it is - and this is not necessarily due to age. Consider, for a moment, how important memory is. How often do you depend on memory to share stories about your upbringing or past experiences? How often do you begin these stories with words like, when I was a boy or before I got married or let me tell you about the first time I kissed a person. Clearly, we rely on our memories not only for sharing stories about past events but also for important things like creating our sense of identity. Despite this, there is plenty of evidence to show that our memory is not as accurate as we think it is. Worse than this, we humans are apt to change facts or add false details and we don't even know we are doing it.
Look at the pic on the left. It shows the author and his best friend in Thames Ditton school playground in the cold winter of 1963 (or was it 1962?). I tell myself that I remember the occasion well and other memories tag along with this one, for example: memories of icy slides, snowball fights, forcing snow down someone's back, and a warm open fire on my return home. But evidence suggests that although I might think that I remember the event (and its aftermath) recorded in this photo, the very presence of the photo, and having it to hand, has probably already triggered a sense of disengagement with the actual moment so that the brain has encoded the moment less deeply. And the events that tag along with the original event, the slides and the snowball fights, for example, probably belong to another place, another time or to imagination.
And that is not all! Consider for a moment the game of Chinese whispers. In the game, one person quietly whispers a message to the person beside them, who then passes it on to the next person in line, and so on. Each time the message is relayed, some parts might be misheard or misunderstood, others might get innocently altered, improved, or forgotten. Over time the message can become very different from the original. Well, the same thing often or usually happens with memory. For one reason or another, mistakes or additions happen every time we recall past events. These may range from what we believe to be facts or wish to be facts, to what we were told about the past event or what we want the audience to think about us. The point is that whenever these changes occur, they can have a long-term effect on that memory in the future.
For the writer working on his/her autobiography, artistic license might well be used to create a slightly a different story from the original in order to suit the impression needed or to please the intended reader. The writer may ask him/herself whether it’s vital to get the facts straight in the first place. Perhaps the writer wants to change details to suit his intended readers' attitudes or political leaning. Research indicates that when we describe our memories differently to different audiences it isn’t only the message that changes, but sometimes it is also the memory itself.
Comments