Memory

I've always been interested in the memory process. I feel like I have a pretty good memory for most things, except names. I can remember things I've read especially well.

Over the last few days I've been busy reading grant proposals to the National Institutes of Health. The topics cover a wide range of issues around health and health care. One deals, in part, with the measurement of pain, well-being, and other subjective feelings. The researchers found that the perception of pain during a medical procedure might be quite different from the memory of that pain later. As a result, they argue "They [these results] suggest that the decisions that people make for the future are sometimes guided by erroneous evaluations of the past." So, we might decide not to have another mammogram based on our inaccurate memory of the pain or discomfort associated with it. Actually, this statement seems like it could apply to lots of issues in life. We might decide to take a certain job based on our erroneous evaluation of past job experiences, for instance.

Thinking more about memory, it occurred to me today that I may be, in fact most likely am, the only person who remembers some particular past event. Of course, events and feelings that I experienced alone and never shared would be one obvious example. But what about some shared event or encounter? I'm sure there are encounters of which I have no recall. In fact, I not infrequently will have someone approach me and carry on a vigorous discussion in which I have no idea who this person is, or how they know me. Sorry to say, students, this often happens with you. I may know your name for a semester, but often once I've handed in my grades, unless I have some further contact with you, I've forgotten who you are. So, on the flip side, there must be events and people that I recall and nobody else does. How would I even know which ones they are, and should I even care????