What does your memory look like?

Discussion in 'Philosophy' started by Postal Blowfish, Dec 24, 2010.

  1. #1 Postal Blowfish, Dec 24, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 24, 2010
    Another thread got me thinking about the quality of memories, and the phenomena of how in many cases no two witnesses to an event will remember exactly the same things. It got me wondering how I stack up with others regarding how my memory assists my thinking. I hope some of you will be willing to spend a moment or two to answer a few questions of mine and give me some insight to your memory.

    I wanted this to be a poll, but I don't know how to create a poll (specifically, a checkbox poll and not a bullet poll), but if you just reply it will give me more information anyway. If anyone knows an easy way for me to pollify this, I'll do it.

    Answer on a scale of 0.0 to 10.0, according to the quality of this aspect of memory:

    Images - you remember images (still or moving)
    Audio - you remember sounds (do you remember only the primary sounds, or also background?)
    Smells - you remember smells (is a comparison to a present smell necessary?)
    Tastes - you remember taste (is a comparison to a present taste necessary?)
    Sensations - you remember the touch sensation (heat perception seems an obvious one, what about air stillness or specific sources of temperature or the texture of a wall you touched?)
    Emotions - you remember how things made you feel
    Thoughts - you remember what you were thinking but not saying
    Events (Interactions) - you remember in detail things that happened (something was said, or done, something random that happened, etc)
    Spoken words - you remember words as they were heard, and in the experience of remembering, hear them again
    Text words - you remember words as they were heard or written, and in the experience of remembering, envision words with your mind
    In Color (if applicable) - are your memories in color?
    Overall - how do you rate your memory detail overall considering the above categories?

    Of course, I would not beg of you the charity of your time without giving you something in return, so I shall answer the survey myself:

    Images - 2.1 (moving images as they were perceived)
    Audio - 2.0 (hit or miss on the question of primary/secondary)
    Smells - 3.4 (almost 10 when recognizing based on a present smell)
    Tastes - 2.7 (almost 10 when recognizing based on a present taste)
    Sensations - 3.7 (decent quality of the sensation, almost no details)
    Emotions - 6.5 (universally pretty clear, but as open to influence from current emotions as anything in my mind (or a little open to that, not much))
    Thoughts - 5.0 (9.0 if the thoughts involve linked concepts from other memories)
    Interactions - 8.0 (typically as a list of facts involved)
    Spoken words - 7.0 (generally in my own voice, sort of "translating" the remembered voice which has the proper detail but does not ever rise to the level of actual grammar)
    Text words - 8.5 (only if I am recalling actual text and often in conjunction with "events" in the text, 0 otherwise)
    In Color - yes
    Overall - 4.5, with up to 1.0 more if I am recalling and combining memories for any reason

    In general, the toughest memory for me is any one that carries immediate importance for remembrance. The more I want it, the more all of these measurements suffer. Conversely, the more I don't want to remember, the more vividly I do remember (and the more often). My sense memory seems almost totally useless, and my senses of taste and smell are far stronger in the event that I recognize in the present the same scent/taste as I may have tied in a memory. Useless to focus on, priceless when I am caught off-guard by them.

    Almost the entirety of my memory is linked to prior emotions and thinking states. Usually, it is an emotion that leads to the memory it is attached to. But sometimes, you could say that the best way to force me to feel a given feeling is to force me to remember a certain thing. It seems that I go through a sort of shorthand where I remember the basics and all the defining moments (events) when remembering experiences, and I recall concepts, ideas, and especially questions first and foremost when recalling conversation and study. This makes it too easy to look back and think "if only I had known then what I know now!" Almost as if I feel like I should have.

    I can know only my mind, so naturally I am curious to know how yours works. Indulge me!

    ps. I beg you to help rephrase this question, if I have not phrased it well enough to allow you to answer. I can only conceive of the question based on my personal prejudices, after all. If I am leaving something big out, tell me!
     
  2. Thoughts - you remember what you were thinking but not saying
    Events (Interactions) - you remember in detail things that happened (something was said, or done, something random that happened, etc)

    If I had to sum it up this was the closest example.
     

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