The bike example is interesting because I remember learning how to ride a bike. I remember lots of details which others can confirm. But my perspective is external to my past self and I’m free to meander about in the memory, pause it, etc. It’s not particularly movie-like. I have a difficult time dipping into a first person perspective. And despite the article’s suggestion, even though I remember a spill in some detail (although in that case it’s more like a first-person snapshot than a movie) and although I know there was pain, I don’t remember the pain, just the fact of it. I do remember the feeling of anger and frustration as a result of the fall.

Anyway, anyone who found the article interesting might be interested in Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Anything by Joshua Foer. In the book, Foer talks about his experiences with memory championships and fills that in with information about then-current understanding of human memory.

The place I learned to ride a bike is a place I know very well and I’ve used it as a memory palace. I wonder if doing that has somehow modified the perspective on that particular memory. I certainly have other memories which are episodic. Or maybe it’s just so far back in my past and I’ve reconstructed it enough times that it’s not quite as personal or visceral.