Well with out the memory we would be completely lost. Today I was watching one of my favorite films. 50 first dates staring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. A very funny but interesting film, that I must admit gets you thinking what if! In this romantic comedy Lucy ( Drew Barrymore ) has had a car crash the result unfortunately is that she suffers short -term memory loss. When Henry ( Adam Sandler ) falls for her he is unaware of her condition. They arrange to have breakfast the next morning, but when he turns up and tries to talk to her she freaks out. The thing is Lucy remembers everything up In to the night before the accident but nothing after that as when she sleeps the days events get wiped from her memory. Every single day Henry has to go to amazing lengths to make Lucy fall in love with him all over again. Well to cut a long story short. Henry makes Lucy a video tape that she has to watch every morning when she wakes up just so she knows who he is, what day it is, and what's been happening in her life since she lost her memory. After a number of ups and downs amazingly they go on to marry and have a child.
I know that this is a film I'm chatting on about! But it is something that happens in peoples lives. We do take things for grunted. The memory is used over and over it's the mental capacity to store and later recall or recognize events, and boy do we need it. I'm always joking about how I'm losing it. You know as a busy mum it's easy to forget stuff! I'm always forgetting where it is I put the keys or having to run back in doors to check that yes in fact I did switch of the washing machine or what not. To really lose my memory is not a nice fault and I really hope that never happens to me.
Some people say that they have a photographic memory but in my opinion this statement isn't completely true. How can a photo album be the same. Memories are rarely exact copies of earlier experiences, they can be pretty close but exact no. There are people in this world that have a great memory. A lot of these people I have found have some form of developmental disorder such as autism or Asperger's they have this ability to use there memory in a very amazing way, some being able to remember long sets of numbers or the order of subjects. My son has Asperger's he is already showing some incredible skills that involve his memory and the way in which he can use it. G has an ongoing interest with trains and buses, apart from the love he has in discovering and learning how they work he also has the skill to remember where each one stops. There are hundreds of buses in London! G properly knows where 90% of these are going. The 10% he don't know I'm sure is only because he has not yet come across them. This is how it works! You tell G the number he then tells you where it start and finishes, I swear half these buses he has not yet been on but he has seen them for a short time and by looking at the information displayed on the front of the bus he has stored and retained the info for later use. If it's a train and he knows what line it is, he will go on to tell you all the stations on that one line. Pretty cool and totally has sod all to do with me as I have said my memory is rubbish so the condition must be the reason behind his amazing gift.
The collection of all memories that we hold is the library of our personal history. It builds into our story and our past memories can help us on our path in becoming what it is we want to be and later will become.
We can always use ways to improve our memory but we can never control it as it is part of our brain and our brain is what controls us. As we age the changes in the way our memory works not only becomes visible to us but to others. It's all just part of the ageing process. So next time your granny don't remember you when you visit then don't worry as give it a week or two and she will be all over you the next time you visit telling you what a bonnie little baby you were.
So there we have it. This is the post made up from the result of a mum that has an interest in psychology having had a hour or two in her busy day to chill, kick back and enjoy a film. My husband asked me " why do you have to get all deep? why can't you just watch the bloody thing?" My Answer! That's just me! That's who I am.
If you want to read more about my little man G or learn more about ASD then you are welcome to visit my sister blog: A boy with Aspergers.
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