Downloading memories - the current state of play

[P3nT4gR4m]

http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/download-memories-retrieve-later-130603.htm?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

USC's Berger says there's one big obstacle for actually copying and uploading a complete set of human memories. They seem to disappear when they aren't being used.

"We can go to a microchip and say here are a few bytes of memory, we can see them anytime they want," he said. "It's like buying a Sears catalog of memories and you look through these bins and see what's there. But that's not the way it works with humans or animals. When we use the memories, that's when they appear. But when we don't we don't know where they are."

Pretty sure I know why this is.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

 

Call me slow, why's that?

[P3nT4gR4m]

Personal theory - the brain doesn't record things, like on videotape. I'm pretty sure it stores bullet points and then "renders" the memories when we access them. Process seems related to imagination. You know what a tree looks like and you know what a rope is like. Every time you remember swinging on a rope swing, you're just imagining a generic tree and a generic rope then playing out specific events in your head.

Best way I can explain it. Is personal theory so may well be bullshit.

[Sita]

That is a perfect explanation of how my memories work, actually.
People seem to get really annoyed by that.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I'd really need to spend some time checking out those natty brainscan clips where you can see all the bits lighting up in response to stimuli but I'd hazard a guess that most of the same stuff will show activity if you tell someone to remember an event in their long term memory as if you read a book to them, with the exception of the parts that process language which will be present in the book version. There will then be one tiny little part lighting up in the memory excercise. This is where the memories are stored.

My guess is it's so small they've probably missed it, given that all it is is a couple of crib notes and not gigs and gigs of total sensory input.

[Telarus]

I like the "render" term. Nice insight Pent. This lines up with some of the parallels I've seen in NLP & Zazen/Martial-Arts meditations.

Also stuff like this: http://www.livescience.com/34776-virtual-body-merges-with-real-body.html

[P3nT4gR4m]

Think about the way your brain more or less invents your peripheral vision, based on what it looked at earlier and what it thinks is there and take it from there.

Technically speaking events that you remember are not actually seen in totality, especially if it's something that happens quick, like a car crash or something. The shit I remember from such scenes isn't even like being there, most of it is like watching it happen to me from a third person perspective.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Personal theory - the brain doesn't record things, like on videotape. I'm pretty sure it stores bullet points and then "renders" the memories when we access them. Process seems related to imagination. You know what a tree looks like and you know what a rope is like. Every time you remember swinging on a rope swing, you're just imagining a generic tree and a generic rope then playing out specific events in your head.

Best way I can explain it. Is personal theory so may well be bullshit.

That's basically my understanding of it, and this is also why it's so easy to plant suggestions that change people's memories.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

You'd probably like this article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130604134251.htm

June 4, 2013 — A series of studies conducted by an Iowa State University research team shows that it is possible to manipulate an existing memory simply by suggesting new or different information. The key is timing and recall of that memory, said Jason Chan, an assistant professor of psychology at Iowa State.

This is a great talk on the subject: http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_fraser_the_problem_with_eyewitness_testimony.html

[P3nT4gR4m]

Sweet. I actually have a couple of false memories. I'm not privy to how exactly they came about but I'm pretty sure it was a psychotic hallucination that kind of "took"

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It's interesting stuff.

[hirley0]

tv {credited the GROUP }} not the singer }}} was it? S.A. | i donno

It's interesting stuff.

[Left]

Personal theory - the brain doesn't record things, like on videotape. I'm pretty sure it stores bullet points and then "renders" the memories when we access them. Process seems related to imagination. You know what a tree looks like and you know what a rope is like. Every time you remember swinging on a rope swing, you're just imagining a generic tree and a generic rope then playing out specific events in your head.

Best way I can explain it. Is personal theory so may well be bullshit.

Dunno if this vid would interest you then...
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3323870.htm
From the transcript:

I saw a person years ago who had a severe brain injury in a car accident and he was knocked out for nearly a month. About a year later, the first time they put him in a car, he just panicked and was flooded with memories of the accident. Now this man did not remember anything about what happened so how could he have memories? When I spoke to him, the pictures that were coming into his mind was of himself lying mangled in the car. And what these pictures were, were actually a reconstruction of photographs of his mangled car in the local newspaper except he had put himself into that photograph.

That video's actually a revisit of the repressed memory controversy, and it seems evenhanded.

[Reginald Ret]

Personal theory - the brain doesn't record things, like on videotape. I'm pretty sure it stores bullet points and then "renders" the memories when we access them. Process seems related to imagination. You know what a tree looks like and you know what a rope is like. Every time you remember swinging on a rope swing, you're just imagining a generic tree and a generic rope then playing out specific events in your head.

Best way I can explain it. Is personal theory so may well be bullshit.

That is supported by my experiences.
Related: I often have what i call memories of remembering, where I remember that i remembered something before but have lost the actual memory. It started after i learned that memories can change with every remembering and I started paying attention to why i was remembering what i was remembering.
I also have at least one false memory: as a kid, I clearly remembered(and still do, though not as clearly) having a dream that i never had. My mom had that dream and told me about it.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

You guys might like this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130619122123.htm