Memory-wise

by Anne Unkenstein

  Jack, 32

  When it is a name which is likely to be very important for me to recall accurately, I consciously change the way I am standing or sitting when I hear the name, repeat the name after I have left the person and as soon as possible find a pen and paper to record it.

  Delys, when she was in her sixties

  At other times, people acquire or collect new memories without realising it until they recall them later. This could happen when you are looking for your keys, for example. When you put the keys down, you didn’t try to remember where you put them. However, when it comes to finding them later, most times you will remember without too much active recalling where you put them.

  Whether new information gets in intentionally or not, it still goes through the same basic processing. It’s just that sometimes you don’t realise the process is occurring. You pay attention to something, it goes into your temporary memory in-tray and, from there, it is processed for the more durable storage files within your memory filing cabinet.

  Scientists believe that information can be more difficult to get out of a memory file later on if it has not been processed in a meaningful and well-organised way. For instance, if you shove something into your filing cabinet in a rush, without paying attention and stopping to think about which file it should be put in, it can be difficult to find again later. If, on the other hand, you classify it, label it, and put it into a mental folder that contains other similar files, it should be much easier to locate later on.

  There are many different ‘filing tabs’ that we use in our filing cabinet—files can be organised by what they look, sound, smell, taste or feel like. Memories that we have ‘filed’ and stored previously can be utilised so that we don’t have to start from scratch every time we add new memories. We can build on prior memories and this helps with forming new memories. We might group files according to context—family, work, hobbies and so on. This idea is important when we think of learning and memory strategies, topics that we will return to in Chapters 6 and 7.

  Take the time now to do some memory processing. Imagine you are going shopping and you want to buy nine items. Of course, most of us would use a shopping list to take the load off our memory, but for now, have a go at putting this information into your memory storage for later use. Spend a few moments working on the list below. Later you can check how successful you were!

  Milk

  Soap

  Apples

  Bananas

  Yoghurt

  Shampoo

  Lemons

  Cheese

  Toothpaste

  Having a good safe filing cabinet (storing)

  This more enduring storage that we’ve been talking about is your true filing cabinet. It’s where all kinds and any amounts of memories can be stored. Some are very emotional, some sad, some happy. You will store things that you’ve seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched. Things in here can be very organised, or a complete mess of disorganised data (like a badly organised pantry!).

  You can put as much information as you like into these files—there is no known limit to the amount of information that can go into memory storage. Your filing cabinet is bottomless. You can store information here for very long periods of time—sometimes for over 90 years!

  Recent memory storage

  Recent memories are those from this morning, yesterday and last week. What did you have for dinner last night? What happened in the television serial last Sunday? What was that telephone message earlier today? Recent memories are still undergoing consolidation processing and they are the ones that many of us complain about forgetting.

  Lifetime memory storage

  Over time, we build up a vast array of more durable memories. What we hold in lifetime memory storage, and the way we organise it, is different for each person. You can store:

  • Personal memories from your own life history that contribute to your beliefs and your behaviour.

  • Memories of familiar places, such as special landscapes, towns, parks, supermarkets—and the way to get around them.

  • Memories of procedures, or knowledge of how to do things. Your store of procedures will include the activities that you have learned well and practised regularly during your life, like driving, typing, tying your shoelaces, making a sauce, etc. When you first learn these procedures it takes a lot of conscious effort, but now that you know them well, they seem automatic and it doesn’t feel like you use your memory when you do them.

  • Information about your area of expertise at work or at home. For example, you might remember and know a lot about computer software programs, accounting, teaching, cooking or gardening.

  • General knowledge information that comes in handy for games such as Trivial Pursuit and quiz shows, and answering questions from your grandchildren!

  • You also store conceptual knowledge and general rules that you have accumulated over time—for example, arithmetical concepts (addition, subtraction, etc.) or different shapes (round, square, etc.), or knowledge that the earth is round and you won’t fall off because of gravity.

  What are some of the lifetime memories that are occupying many files in your filing cabinet? What are in some of your special skills files, your areas of expertise files? What files do you have of procedures that have become so automatic you do not have to actively think about the steps involved?

  Getting things out when you need to use them (recalling)

  There comes a time when you want to get memories out again, and sometimes quickly. This process is often called recall. Sometimes recall is for exact detail—for example, ‘What is the French word for clock?’ or ‘What is her name?’ But even when we remember a word, a name, or a song, we ‘flavour’ it with a meaning which is special for us as individuals. Some may remember a classroom scene when they recall words learned in language classes, or who they were once with as they sang a particular song.

  What we recall from our memory files is usually quite selective, and it is not always a replica or mirror image of what went in. Even the most accurate recall will not be as exact a ‘copy’ as if we were pulling out the original document or the original sound or smell which was filed in our memory storage. We re-interpret, build up again or even redesign the information in the smallest or the grandest way when we bring the ‘stuff’ we want to remember out of storage.

  But how can you say that was what Dad told us? I was there at the time and I didn’t hear him say it like that!

  Robert, 51, to Susan, 48

  Our beliefs, our values, our perceptions not only affect what we select to put into storage; they also influence what we actually choose to remember. If Susan wants to influence her recollections because of how she values Robert, she will challenge her own memory and maybe reconstruct her perception of how her father spoke.

  ‘Memory is a net; one finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook; but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.’

  Oliver W. Holmes Sr, 1858

  Recall processes

  Sometimes your filing cabinet falls open automatically and presents you with an ‘uncalled-for’ memory. This often happens because of association, and associations are often triggered by smell.

  I was amazed to suddenly recall an event, out of the blue it seemed, when I must have been about eight years of age: my father was watching me drive the Caterpillar tractor, for the very first time on my own around the yard. I could see him with the pigpen yards behind him and even smell the pigs! He was coming over to the tractor. I could see the control panel very clearly. Then I heard him saying loudly, ‘Pull that lever down, John.’ It was so clear. What brought this into my mind just then? I know: I was driving past a farm and the smell of pigs was so strong!

  John, 60

  Smell can be overwhelmingly nostalgic because it triggers powerful images and emotions before we have time to edit them.

  Airports smell the same everywhere for me. The smell used to make me feel dread because I was
leaving the family for work, but now that I’m retired it makes me excited for holidays!

  Devika, 66

  When we give perfume to someone, we give them liquid memory. Kipling was right: ‘Smells are surer than sights and sounds to make your heart strings crack.’1

  Memories can also be associated with particular times of the year.

  Each Christmas when I open the Christmas tree decorations box, memories come flooding back to me of past Christmas times. Each decoration has a story that goes with it, especially the handmade ones.

  Elizabeth, 45

  I well remember so much about Christmas days when we were young, competing with my brothers for how many threepences were in the Christmas pudding, opening the Christmas stocking before anyone else was awake, helping to cook the Christmas dinner in the heat of a Western Australian summer day, preparing the Christmas tree and opening the box of decorations from so many years before.

  Delys, when she was in her sixties

  I have my saddest times when I remember some of the events which occurred around Christmas Day—of arguments over who should prepare certain foods, of unwelcome family announcements, of people who have died and aren’t with us anymore, of people who have preferred to share Christmas with others … I am starting to dread the 25th of December.

  Carlos, 75

  Unprompted memories can also occur by recognition. You may be watching a film, and realise that you’ve seen it before. You might not remember someone’s name when you see them at a wedding, but you may recognise it when you see it on the list of names for the seating arrangement. You might see a photo of a landscape and remember an event of your childhood or a holiday.

  Free recall occurs when you want to remember something, and go searching through your memory storage files to find it—the author of the book you are reading, the joke your friend told you last week, the name of the wine you had last night, the time you are to be picked up. You might have a word on the tip of your tongue, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t recall it. What was her name? What is the word for the yellow spice powder that is used to flavour many curries?

  When we learn something new, we usually draw on free recall. You might like to use free recall to have a go at remembering that nine-item shopping list that you read earlier. Which items can you recall now? When you’ve reached your limit, go back a few pages and check what they were!

  The ability to reminisce, which contributes to the life quality of many people, is dependent on the ability to use free recall from memory storage for past events. Have a go at some free recall from your past and indulge in some reminiscence! Think back to an experience from your school days—for example, making a special friend, the sound of a particular teacher or a sports event. Remember it in as much detail as possible. For example, what was the name of the school? How old were you? Who else was there? Where were you sitting or standing? What were you wearing? What year did it happen in?

  Thinking about this experience entails recall of information that was put in your lifetime memory storage a long time ago. You may find some details easier to recall than others, and if the recall is repeated some hours later, more details may emerge.

  We often try to promote free recall when we use intention to remember. This type of memory is sometimes called prospective memory and it is important in everyday life. How often do we say, ‘I must remember to remember that’ or ‘I mustn’t forget that’. Later on, we have to recall what it was that we told ourselves to remember. It might be to take some medication, to take the cake out of the oven in 40 minutes, or to go to the hairdresser next Thursday at 3 p.m. But it can be very frustrating at times. Remembering to remember is complex—you need to plan to remember what you want to do later, retrieve the memory at the appropriate time, and then do what you had planned to do!

  Recall can be made easier if we use other information or a special cue to trigger the memory. This is called cued recall. If you couldn’t find your wallet, a cue that you might use would be to think, ‘Where did I have my wallet last?’ If you meet up with a man in the street, but can’t remember his name, you can sometimes cue your memory by thinking about the context that you usually see him in. Is he someone from the sports club, from work or from your street? What sort of cues do you use to trigger memories? Have you ever cued your memory to help find something you have mislaid?

  For many people, photos are especially important visual cues for past memories.

  If I came home and saw my house on fire, the first thing I would try to get out would be my photo negatives. My photos are my personal history. I’d hate to be without them.

  Len, 68

  We will return to the idea of cued recall in more detail when we discuss memory strategies in Chapter 6.

  There are times when we recall information from storage without realising it. For example, many of the steps involved in playing the piano, riding a bicycle, driving a car, cooking, or setting the table are procedures which have become automatic.

  I’m home with my first baby, and constantly feel that I’m on a ‘steep learning curve’ when it comes to being a parent. I often catch myself saying, ‘How do you know how to do that, Mum?’ And she replies, ‘I don’t know really—I’ve just always done it that way.’ Everything seems so easy for her, in comparison to my fumbling fingers. She seems to put nappies on without thinking, and makes baby bathing look so easy.

  Monica, 31

  Of course we don’t need to remember everything, and forgetting is a vital aspect of memory. If we didn’t forget information, the system would become overloaded. It is normal to forget information that is no longer relevant. We don’t need to remember where we parked our car when we went to the supermarket three weeks ago, but we do want to remember where we parked it today! As noted by prominent memory theorists:

  A properly functioning memory system must be as good at forgetting as it is at remembering.2

  We are constantly using different memory processes. Our memory filing cabinet is almost never shut. Sometimes remembering works well for us, at other times we notice lapses. Memory is dynamic. There are constant fluctuations in all of our memory processes—in getting information in, storing it and getting what we want out. In the following chapters we will explore some of the factors that can enhance the dynamics of our memory across the years of our life.

  Key points HOW MEMORY WORKS

  • Memory is not a single ‘thing’. At the simplest level, it involves:

  – acquiring: putting new information into temporary memory and more enduring memory

  – storing: according to when stored and type of memory

  – recalling: getting the information out again, by association, recognition, and free and cued recall.

  • Memories are selective and are reconstructed; they are not exact replicas of experience.

  • Forgetting is important—we don’t need to remember everything.

  • Memory is dynamic, and influenced by many factors.

  CHAPTER 2

  How memory changes as we get older

  I don’t have a memory, I have a forgettery!

  Frank, 78

  Why can I remember things from the past, but not what happened yesterday?

  Jenny, 69

  A few years ago I went to introduce my boss to someone at work and his name wouldn’t come to me. I was so embarrassed.

  Glenn, 58

  I forget where I put things. The other day I was looking for my pen and I eventually found it in my shirt pocket, where I had put it earlier in the day.

  Tim, 81

  As we get older, we often notice changes in our memory. We might have problems remembering names and particular words, things that have happened recently, where we’ve put something, dates of appointments coming up, or what we were planning to do.

  I go into a room to get something, and when I get into the room I think, ‘What did I come in here to get?’ This happens so often now that I jokingly refer to it as my problem with
‘the hereafter’!

  Ivan, 85

  If we experience these problems as a younger person, we tend to blame them on lack of effort or not paying enough attention. As we get older, and experience the same memory lapses, we begin to wonder about our actual memory ability, and become concerned. We might start thinking, ‘Could it be Alzheimer’s?’

  I am worried that I have early Alzheimer’s. Recalling people’s names has always been bad but now it’s worse. I can’t find the right word … you know that thing … when I’m saying things I know the word and then it will just go.

  Ratna, 70

  My father is 54 years old, and is one of the most fit and healthy people I know. He migrated to Australia some 30 years ago, with no knowledge of the English language and maybe fourth-grade education. Now he works for one of the largest retail organisations in Australia, travelling around the state, training others in his area of expertise. He is very easy-going and very social, but there is one thing that seems to worry him at times—his memory. He worries about it because his mother had Alzheimer’s disease before she died five or six years ago. The things he says he forgets are names, phone numbers, dates and sometimes things that family members have told him in passing. I’m 25 years old and have the same forgetfulness—if I don’t write things down, I might as well have never been told. My father is also partially deaf in one ear, so chances are he may not have even heard something that he thinks he has forgotten. And, while his grasp of the English language is very good, he sometimes misses things if a person speaks too quickly, or uses uncommon words or has a thick or unusual accent. He leads a full and busy life and has many things on his mind at any time—one would expect to forget the things he forgets! But when I tell him this it serves only to ease his mind until the next time he can’t remember something that I told him. And then what overpowers him is that his mother died of Alzheimer’s disease, and that he can’t remember something.

  Ellen, 25