The peculiarities of memory

When one tries to recall memories from long ago, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a large gap between what happened and what the mind retains. When you try to remember, you enter a bizarre, distorted labyrinth of the mind. What memories do very young children put down? Why those memories? How are they distorted by their still developing mind?

For example, think carefully about an early memory for a few minutes. Try to remember as much as you can, then ask yourself the following questions:

Are you remembering in colour? If not, you must be remembering in black and white? Correct?

No. Quite a few of you will become confused at this time. We honestly don’t know whether we recall in colour of black and white. Are you one of those people?

In you memory, you recall exactly what was said at the time, don’t you? Or do you? Can you hear the conversation (if there was one)? 

Probably not. It is far more likely that you recall ‘the gist’ of what was said, but cannot hear a single sound, not even background noises like waves breaking on the beach.