Posted:
I came back to the Forum after a long time and found some interesting discussions going on regarding Flashbacks. Ankit, of course, your topic is the best take on it! I really agree with your point about situational memory, and I want to say it is a scientific fact. Let us see how we create memories and why we recall them.
How do we create memories?
In very simple terms, whatever information we gather through our senses are stored as memories. They are stored first in the brain as short term memories, and then the more important ones are passed on to the long term memory storage. Usually the more important things of your life are stored in the long term memory storage, but sometimes it is random---apparently insignificant things can also get stored there.
How do we recall memories?
Recalling can be of two types:
1. Voluntary recalling---in which you consciously search your memory storage for information. For example, you trying to remember where you placed your house keys after you saw them last time. You replay your actions in your mind---which is a way of enacting the same steps that created the memory in the first place--and often find an answer to the question. This is a process of voluntary recalling or what we call as "trying to remember".
2. Involuntary recalling--a process in which memories just flood in when you encounter the same sensory perceptions which were there when the memory was first created. For example, suppose a dear one had died on a rainy day. You brain had processed two informations together---the rain and the death--and stored them together in memory as a connected information. Possibilities are you will remember that dear one's death every time it rains. There are numerous examples of how apparently unconnected things trigger memories in which one thing is strangely associated with other---a black dog can remind you of your first prize in school. Apparently, there is no connection between a black dog and a first prize, but you might have seen a black dog on your way to school on the day you won the prize. Now you might not even consciously remember the black dog incident, but your brain does. And the moment it encounters the same sensory experience, it pulls out one that is already stored (the black dog from the past), and other incidents that are stored with it (winning the prize).
In this light, it is very easy to understand Anandi's FBs. She has spent a very long time with Jagya and her brain has stored numerous memories of their experiences together. It is possible that everything around her---the chairs, tables, wall clocks, bangles, potatoes, onions-- might have a memory associated with Jagya! Moreover, given her emotional investment in Jagya, perhaps all of them are stored in her long term memory storage. She is therefore helpless if her brain pulls out one memory after another when her senses encounter these prominently stored experiences once again--
the water pump: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
the tyre: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
saree buying: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
Teej vrat: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
mehndi rasam: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
ring exchange: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
jalebi eating: connected with Jagya many times: stored in memory and pulled out
just the same way
fear of injections: connected with Shiv: stored in memory and pulled outπ
Anandi has absolutely no control over them, it's precisely how human brain works! She becomes sad because the memories creep out; the memories do not resurface because she is sad!! The only thing Anandi can do is to tame her unconscious mind and control those memories with her conscious mind as soon as they surface . And I think she is doing a great job at that! π For Shiv, he must try to create new sensory experiences for Anandi which she has not experienced with Jagya at allπ
How do we create memories?
In very simple terms, whatever information we gather through our senses are stored as memories. They are stored first in the brain as short term memories, and then the more important ones are passed on to the long term memory storage. Usually the more important things of your life are stored in the long term memory storage, but sometimes it is random---apparently insignificant things can also get stored there.
How do we recall memories?
Recalling can be of two types:
1. Voluntary recalling---in which you consciously search your memory storage for information. For example, you trying to remember where you placed your house keys after you saw them last time. You replay your actions in your mind---which is a way of enacting the same steps that created the memory in the first place--and often find an answer to the question. This is a process of voluntary recalling or what we call as "trying to remember".
2. Involuntary recalling--a process in which memories just flood in when you encounter the same sensory perceptions which were there when the memory was first created. For example, suppose a dear one had died on a rainy day. You brain had processed two informations together---the rain and the death--and stored them together in memory as a connected information. Possibilities are you will remember that dear one's death every time it rains. There are numerous examples of how apparently unconnected things trigger memories in which one thing is strangely associated with other---a black dog can remind you of your first prize in school. Apparently, there is no connection between a black dog and a first prize, but you might have seen a black dog on your way to school on the day you won the prize. Now you might not even consciously remember the black dog incident, but your brain does. And the moment it encounters the same sensory experience, it pulls out one that is already stored (the black dog from the past), and other incidents that are stored with it (winning the prize).
In this light, it is very easy to understand Anandi's FBs. She has spent a very long time with Jagya and her brain has stored numerous memories of their experiences together. It is possible that everything around her---the chairs, tables, wall clocks, bangles, potatoes, onions-- might have a memory associated with Jagya! Moreover, given her emotional investment in Jagya, perhaps all of them are stored in her long term memory storage. She is therefore helpless if her brain pulls out one memory after another when her senses encounter these prominently stored experiences once again--
the water pump: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
the tyre: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
saree buying: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
Teej vrat: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
mehndi rasam: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
ring exchange: connected with Jagya: stored in memory and pulled out
jalebi eating: connected with Jagya many times: stored in memory and pulled out
just the same way
fear of injections: connected with Shiv: stored in memory and pulled outπ
Anandi has absolutely no control over them, it's precisely how human brain works! She becomes sad because the memories creep out; the memories do not resurface because she is sad!! The only thing Anandi can do is to tame her unconscious mind and control those memories with her conscious mind as soon as they surface . And I think she is doing a great job at that! π For Shiv, he must try to create new sensory experiences for Anandi which she has not experienced with Jagya at allπ
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