An Infinite Loop in the Brain | Hacker News Reader

An Infinite Loop in the Brain

spiegel.de

25 pointsnreece8 comments

Wow. If there were ever a person my opposite with regard to memory, it would be this woman. I can't recall what I had for dinner the day before yesterday (just ate left over pizza from last night so I'm not sure if that's cheating) and over the entirety of the rest of my life I probably only have about 20 memories I can recall with any accuracy, all of which are incredibly vague and almost entirely without a sense of time other than placing them "when I was younger" or "within the past 5 years."

If something happened in the past few years I can usually answer "yes" to the question, "Do you remember that time when...?" Although I'd be hard pressed to provide any details outside of those given to me and even providing the year it happened can get sketchy. Oh, and I'm left-handed, so either there's no correlation there or I'm an anomaly. I'm with her, though, it's a blessing and a curse either way.

Interestingly, I've also found the mirrored effect with regard to emotion; even if I can recall a traumatic event that happened I never actually feel the emotions associated with it. I just sort of recall the memory as if I were an indifferent bystander watching it unfold.

At least I can remember the important stuff, like programming languages ;)

I've got a hint of your problem, particularly when it comes to remembering the dates of events. I remember people pretty well, and I remember things that happened, but I have a real trouble with timing and sequence, even for things that only happened six months ago. The advent of email archives and iCal has been quite useful!

even if I can recall a traumatic event that happened I never actually feel the emotions associated with it.

As the article suggests, this is an understandable correlation. Emotionally-colored events are easier to remember. If you don't tend to have emotional color to your memories, that might make them less likely to stick around.

Honestly, I'm kind of happy to be leaning toward the forgetful side. Losing your memory can occasionally be traumatic, but compared to being constantly tortured by memories that won't go away...

Yeah, it sucks not being able to remember much from my childhood, but it's quite convenient to essentially be reborn every few years. The timing thing can become an issue...

Mom: "Well hello, stranger!" Me: "Come on, I just called you guys last week!" Mom: "That was 3 months ago, sweetie."

DAMN!

[new member]

I read a wonderful article about Price in National Geographic sometime last year. The most important feature of the NT article, which is overlooked here, is why Price's 'personal' memory is faultless while her memory, in general, is average.

One psychologist suggested it was because Price had an intimate and unrelentingly interest in herself, as her extensive diaries suggest. So, if you enthusiastically submerge yourself in an area of study memories come.

I think there's an important lesson here: above all else love what you do.

Of course, if I were compelled to remember every single event of my life in perfect detail I'd probably get really interested in myself, too. My own past would be everywhere. I'd never really be able to escape it. It would probably be hard to focus on much else.

So, as the title suggests, there's a feedback loop here.

I really feel for this woman -- this is a terrible condition. Perhaps the fact that she isn't completely crippled by PTSD is a tribute to her skill at self-analysis. It may be that she has had to become a conscious expert on herself just to be able to talk herself through the fear.

I find that hard to believe. There are plenty of self-absorbed people who don't have exceptional memory. If anything, it's the other way around: she's self-interested because she has perfect episodal memory.

For the life of me, I can't remember people.

Fuck.

ObBorges:

"Funes, The Memorious"

http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/borges.htm

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