Memory

I'm sure I've written about memory before, I think about it a lot! Maybe that is a reflection of my work in aging, memory is often the subject of research. Maybe it is a reflection of my experiences with individuals with Alzheimer's. Maybe it is a reflection of my own consideration of my memories.

I was listening to a program about memory and spirituality the other day on the NPR program Speaking of Faith (another one of my regular podcast downloads. I don't think of myself as a religious person, but someone who is interested in spirituality and the way in which we make sense of the world.) So, this program was asking "Is memory essential for a person's identity?" The interviews focused on using writing groups for people with early onset AD. (See my last entry for a tie-in!) Part of the discussion focused on the preservation of memory. Participants saw this as an opportunity to give their memories away, to pass them on to someone else for safekeeping. It is an interesting way to think about memory, that memories can be thought of as not having meaning if they are not shared and that they can live on after you through other people.

The other interesting ideas were that memory is a creative process. Recalling a memory means that different parts of the brain have to be activated. We remember words, sights, smells. In the recollection all of these are reconstituted to make "the memory." That is partly why we aren't very good reporters of events. Each reconstruction changes the memory slightly. The other interesting idea was that writing activates different parts of the brain, so that memories that are written are different from memories that are relayed verbally.