another ImAgiNArY conversation with Eric kandel by (me!) Sandra, tvgp
"...and Rick says to me, 'you better write that down or you'll forget.' and I look write him, and I go, 'I won't forget that.". -and I KNEW I WOULDN'T forget that (where the light switches were) because it had to do with -place. And I stopped for a sec and was like... Isn't that kind of wild how I KNOW IN ADVANCE what things I will and will not remember. Almost with 100% accuracy I know what I do and do not need to write down in order to remember things. And there are three main categories. 1. What I can and will remember. 2. What I'm sure I will forget. 3. What I can and do remember, but won't come out organized unless I write. It is stuck/tangled vs. Forgotten. EXAMPLES. 1. Kerry told me only 1 time what colors she liked... Locked in my memory for good, and I can without mentioning it for years, repeat it back to you now or 5 years from now, etc. -and by the way, there was no big emotional event tied to this memory. The whole 'fire together/wire together' thing is true, but doesn't come remotely close to explaining the other 99% of things we remember from day to day life. I've always been fascinated also with how I always remembered how to say the alphabet backwards. Again, no big emotional event tied to this occasion. My uncle taught me as a child.. It was not something I repeated often or thought about with any frequency, but only once or twice a year maybe, and sometimes less frequently than that, it would somehow come up in conversation... And without practice or struggle I could still, and can still, say the alphabet backwards. 2. I know IN ADVANCE I need to write down anything number related. Letters stick. Numbers slip. So when Rick rattled off a cost and a MSRP, even though they were short digit numbers and prices, like, 20.00 and 9.99.. Because it was going to be a few minutes and I might get a customer before I could make the tag, I KNEW to write that down because those numbers would be gone... Not tangled or stuck; forgotten. Gone. -this is my internal experience. Of course maybe they are still in there somewhere write? But it feels like they're gone. VS.! 3. Things I read.. Eat, pray, love, for example. A masterpiece memoir! It is in me! Not forgotten. -but no way I could, or can write now, reiterate verbally what I read. I'm happy a video exists of me verbally discussing this memoir. Because in order to verbalize it, I first had to do A LOT of writing and rewriting trying to find a way to organize my summary of this huge masterpiece and organize it in a way I could remember... Once I was able to divide it into two separate journeys: physical/geographic travels AND spiritual travel.. The rest fell into place, but that sure did take some doing. Anyway... Tell me your birthday; gone. Tell me your favorite color; cemented. -interesting. I think this is true for a lot of people... We know in advance what we can and can't remember.. Which brings me back to my favorite question of all: "how do we know -we know?" And close with how, for the life of me, I can't remember which it is on this one street.. Am I heading north or south when I drive toward the hills? I've been told a million times.. I tried to lock it in with a variety of those memory association tricks.. But even write now if you asked me.. I would be GUESSING if I'm write or not; I don't KNOW.. it's another very slippery one..."
posted by SHE @ 8:48 AM
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