Your Best Brain Ever by Michael S. Sweeney

Author:Michael S. Sweeney [Sweeney, Michael S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 978-1-4262-1324-3
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Published: 2013-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Instant Replay

Mastering the art of remembering

When you picture yourself, you’re drawing upon memory.

Just as your body and brain construct themselves out of the food you eat, your concept of self emerges from your memories. Your likes and dislikes, your feelings about family, friends, politics, school, religion, and so on arise from your brain’s processing of experiences. What you remember equals who you are.

Memory was once conceptualized as a mechanical process. Scientists formerly thought that memories were filed in networks of neurons like papers in a cabinet or videos in a DVD library. When you wanted to recall something, the brain opened the file or library, found the memory it sought, and played it on the viewing screen or read it on the table of your mind. Memories that faded were like lost files or locked library rooms to which the brain lost the key.

These ideas have received widespread acceptance among the public. A nationwide survey in 2011 found that two-thirds of Americans bought into the video camera metaphor of memory, and half believed that once a memory had been encoded, it would never change. Nearly 40 percent said the testimony of a single confident eyewitness should be sufficient for criminal conviction. Yet the first two statements are demonstrably false: A host of variables affects the encoding of memories, often causing distortions, and memories change over time. As for the third statement, confident witnesses are wrong about 30 percent of the time.

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