How our brain creates memories
Can we control our memories? Can we pick and choose what we remember? How does the brain know what we need to keep? Dr Jee Hyun Kim has the answers to all these and more of your mind-melting questions.
Chatting to News.com.au, Dr Kim explains our brain will only remember something it thinks is important. “When something happens, when something feels important or an event triggers a lot of emotion or is visually stimulating, then our brain decides maybe it’s something it should keep in mind for the future.”
The mind also has a knack for remembering things because of how they make us feel, for example, the lyrics to a song we love. “We can choose what we think is important but we can’t control how we feel about things and what the brain will remember,” she says.
And while it’s not always possible for us to control what we remember and what we forget, Dr Kim reveals it can be done. “There is some evidence you can control your brain and that’s by consciously paying more attention,” she explains. “You see people good at remembering names say they consciously pay attention when people introduce themselves. Sometimes we don’t pay attention externally because we are so self-obsessed but if you do listen you can wire your brain to remember something like names.”
However, our memories might not always be correct. It’s possible for us to actually create false memories, particularly when we’re children. “Fabricated memories are quite common and children especially are susceptible to fabrication, especially when someone talks to them about a memory or incident. If what’s being said to them sounds right, they can believe that something different happened.”
It's often why – much to our annoyance – we get into arguments with others over who said this, who did that, etc. “When the event happened, the memory was encoded in your brain but every time you retrieve the memory you have to re-encode that memory.” Dr Kim reveals. “During that window, a memory can be changed and people may not recall the source where the memory came from, like if a friend said something or if they heard it on TV. Sometimes people don’t remember a time or place correctly.”