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Imittleman's picture

One of the things from our

One of the things from our discussion that I can't completely get over is the way memories are formed.  Memory is mapped out all over the brain because, as Paul told us, different things relate to different experiences, etc.  It goes to show that our minds don't reflect any timeline.  We recognize that the past has already happened yet the way we organize these experiences isn't as one collective past "event" but as the little pieces that have helped build who we are.  I find that really interesting.  

I read about this study recently that looked at the way people recalled memories.  They found memories of sensory information - touch, smell, taste, etc, will help someone recall the emotion they were feeling at that exact point in time they originally encountered it, instead of what they may associate the memory with later on.  So if someone was listening to a song when something really great happened, (which later turned out to be terrible)  I think it found that the person, whenever they heard the song, would feel happy as opposed to upset.  I may have gotten that wrong, but again, I find that supports the idea that brains look at relationships as opposed to time.  

The final thing I found interesting about our discussion was the idea that "time" is actually a construction of our mind above all else.  It's true, if you think about it, that we use time as a way to "make sense of things".  Do animals have a sense of time?  A sense of past or present?  Or is this purely a human construction?  How did it happen that we came to view the world as having a past, present and future?

 

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