True and false.
Yes, everything goes in and doesn’t come back out, but…
What did you have for breakfast on December 2nd, 1974? What were you doing when you heard the news that Kennedy had been shot? What was the color of the shirt the student who sat in front of (or behind) you in 3rd grade (on any day)? When is your birthday? Why can we remember certain things but not others? Why can a smell or sound trigger a memory we hadn’t remembered in years? Why can some people remember much of their life in detail, yet can’t remember where they laid their car keys 5 minutes ago? Why can you recite the lyrics of a song from 1972, but can’t remember your anniversary date? Why does the smell of apples (say) suddenly elicit a super-clear memory of your childhood?
Memory. The human brain is, fundamentally, an extremely complex computer that operates on a just a few watts of power (14-20). It’s thought that the average human brain has the ability to store roughly 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes) of data. By contrast, a “real” computer with the same memory and processing power would require 1 gigawatt of power. How big is a memory? A byte? A Megabyte? No one really knows. Certain memories involve more details and thus take up more space; other memories are forgotten and thus free up space. Additionally, some information is just not worth remembering in the first place. In other words, it’s almost impossible to quantify the amount of information in the human brain, in part because it consists of so much more information than we’re consciously aware of; not only facts and faces and measurable skills but basic functions like how to speak and move and higher order ones like how to feel and express emotions. We take in much more information from the world than ‘what do I remember from yesterday’.
Does that mean there’s a limit to what can be retained? Our brain “compresses” memories so they take up less room. It also “truncates” memories; leaving out certain parts that it can access elsewhere and inset as needed. Why keep 50 copies of something when 1 will suffice? The brain also “adlibs”, painting in parts of a memory so they seem real. That smell-triggered memory you had of your childhood might not be all there. The blue sky (for example) may just seem blue, as that’s what you’d expect. In reality, the brain truncated that part long ago to save space. Some memories you think are real, are false. The brain truncated so much and then filled it back in that what you have is a false memory – even though you swear it was accurate. The brain also does this to save power.
Even though we think there is a limit to the amount of data the brain can hold, it is doubtful that anyone would ever reach that “limit”. That’s because our storage process is slower than our experience of the world. We can’t process everything that is constantly going on around us. If we did, it would overwhelm us (data overload).
Our brains are extremely complicated!
I have always had a super good memory... almost eidetic.
The earliest memory I have is of me inside a playpen beside our old shed as my mom was hanging up the laundry. I wasn’t quite 2 at the time. (and they say people can’t remember things before they were 3).
I too have strange memories. I remember a girl from my kindergarten class who, on the first day of school, wore a white dress with an orange carrot on the lower front. Her name was Karen Lobinger. I referred to her as “carrot dress”. Why on earth do I remember that?
I just recall that one time seeing that girl. I don't recall ever seeing her after kindergarten. I’m not even sure if she stayed the entire school year. Perhaps she moved. I have no idea why I remember her (I can describe her as well as hear her voice – even though I have no memory of her actually talking to me). Weird.
Yes, that’s called eidetic memory. It’s not very common.
Yes, I remember bad memories as well (ones I wish I could forget). I try not to focus on them, as they elicit unwanted emotions.
Shuhak 