Download Unit 3 Speech

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Drew Seitter
Ms. Selman
UNIV 111
19 November 2014
Marvels of Memory
Memories are powerful beyond belief. They are what connects us to our family, friends,
peers, and most importantly ourselves. They can give us an unimaginable connection to certain
places that may be invisible to others. In some cases, they can give us an extreme amount of
pride and love for where we were raised. In some unfortunate cases, they can give an
unexplainable hatred for people or places. No matter what the end result is, who we are as
humans is developed by our memories, whether personal or shared with others. I am one to
believe that our own brains are full of memories that we want to remember because we know
that it has affected who we are and how we act today. Whether the memory gives us joy beyond
belief or makes us tear up from the thought, these events have impacted us so greatly that we
would be complete different people if they had a different outcome. It is said that a short term
memory can last for maybe a minute. So what is it that makes a long term memory? What gives
us the capability to create these pictures in our mind that we can see so vividly whenever we
want to see them? And why am I able to visualize exactly what I was doing on a day 10 years
ago but not be able to remember where I was on a day two weeks ago? These are the questions I
would like to discuss with you today and they focus on what is known as declarative long-term
memory, which is long term memory that can be proven through facts.
So first off, let’s begin with what it is that makes a memory. There are three key steps to
forming a memory- encoding, consolidation, and retrieval (psych.stanford.edu). We begin with
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the encoding process, which takes place when the event is occurring. When you see, hear, touch,
or smell anything throughout the day, neural responses are sent to your brain. When you give a
certain sight or smell more attention than others, more neural responses are sent. These responses
are stored in a part of the brain known as the medial temporal lobe. The responses stay in the
medial temporal lobe and await whether or not they will move onto the next step in the memorymaking process- consolidation. Consolidation occurs over an extended amount of time and is
what makes us remember certain events so thoroughly. Whenever you recall a specific time, you
are consolidating the neural responses from that event. The more you consolidate an experience,
the longer you are able to retain that memory. Imagine a hammer and a nail. Every time you
recall an event, you are hammering the nail one more time. Eventually the nail becomes stuck in
the wall just like the memory becomes stuck in your brain. The goal of consolidation is to cause
these events to be able to exist without the assistance of the medial temporal lobe in your brain.
The last step in the memory-making process is the retrieval of the memory. For memories to be
retrieved, there must be cues sent to the brain to retrieve them. When something triggers you to
recall a past experience, it has sent a cue to your brain, therefore pulling the file out of the file
cabinet and right there in front of you.
So now for the specifics. What was so special that occurred on that specific day 10 years
ago that makes you view it so much clearer than all the other days? The answer lies with what
you want to remember. As stated by a specialist in the study of memory Edward Bolles, "We
remember what we understand; we understand only what we pay attention to; we pay attention to
what we want." (Keeley) What first occurred is that you cared so much about what was
happening and gave that event so much attention that you created a large amount of neural
signals to be encoded in the medial temporal lobe. It was the consolidation step, however, that
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makes it so engraved in your mind today. After the event occurred, you repeatedly ran the
experience in your mind- what happened, how it made you feel, and why it made you feel this
way. Repetitious consolidation caused this experience to exist in your brain outside the bounds
of the medial temporal lobe and now gives you the opportunity to view the sights of that day
whenever you want them. What makes these memories so vivid is the fact that you wanted them
to be remembered because you knew that they were important to you. It was this desire that
makes the image so easy to visualize today.
There are some factors that can cause a lack or gain of the ability to even begin the
memory making process. For instance, it has been proven that sleep can benefit the recall of
events in our brains (Bäuml). On the other hand, stress has been proven to restrict the ability to
recall some events. It was also shown that stress enhanced the ability to remember negative
occurrences (Wolf). One amazing finding was that of a 34 year old housewife who was able to
recall what occurred on every single day dating back to when she was 12. This woman was able
to provide information that could be proven for all sorts of dates that seemed humanly
impossible. It turns out that she is one of a select few that carry this magical ability (Sukel).
I would imagine that being able to remember everything that occurred in my life would
be cool but at the same time could be terrible because that would force you to remember the
negative things as well. As the woman with this ability stated, “My memory has ruled my life. It
has brought me great joy, but it has tormented me.” (Sukel) This is one downfall to our magical
memory abilities. Our capability to remember the best things in our lives comes at the cost that
we can also remember the worst things in our lives. However, this is not so bad because it is
these terrible events can teach us unthinkable things about ourselves. For instance, dreading the
loss of a loved one is awful to think about but at the same time, it can force you to realize to not
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take life for granted. The most horrible past experiences therefore can be the most special and
helpful learning experiences. This is why I have come to believe that we choose what
experiences we remember. Although it may be difficult to constantly reminisce on these
memories, we know that they have occurred to us in order to teach us a valuable lesson in the
recovery process.
The magical thing about our memories is that they are our own and no one else’s to
control. We all come from different pasts and the way we are different is through our own
personal stories. This memory ability in our brains is what creates these stories. I, for one, am
grateful for my ability to recall the best and worst experiences in my life. These thoughts are
what drives me to get out of bed in the morning. The knowledge that my life is able to change on
any given day force me to be thankful that I am able to do what I do every day. I encourage you
to think upon your own past and decide what it is that occurred that gave you the ability to be the
person you are today. I also encourage for you to be thankful for every day because you are
never able to guarantee that you will be the same person tomorrow. You can never tell when one
of those magical memories is going to happen so keep your eyes and ears open to make sure you
are able to send those neural signals to your brain whenever the time occurs.
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Works Cited
“Encoding and Retrieval for Long-Term Memory.”
pag. 192-238. psych.stanford.edu: Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Karl-Heinz Bäuml, Christoph Holterman, and Magdalena Abel. "Sleep Can Reduce the Testing
Effect: It Enhances Recall of Restudied Items but Can Leave Recall of Retrieved Items
Unaffected." Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory & Cognition.
40.6: pag.1568-581. Ebscohost.com. EBSCO Industries. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
Kayt Sukel. "The Amazing Memory Marvels." New Scientist
215.2878 (2012): pag. 34-37. Ebscohost.com. EBSCO Industries. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
Meg Keeley. “Memory and the Importance of Review.” The Basics of Effective Learning. Bucks
County Community College, 1997.
N. pag. faculty.bucks.edu: Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Oliver Wolf. "Immediate Recall Influences the Effects of Pre-encoding Stress on Emotional
Episodic Long-term Memory Consolidation in Healthy Young Men." Stress: The
International Journal on the Biology of Stress.
15.3 (2012): pag. 272-80. Ebscohost.com. EBSCO Industries. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.