Psychologist William James said: “If we remember everything, we’d be as sick as if we didn’t remember anything. Memory in general works selectively, does not remember all information in the same way, so the concept of selectivity Some memories can be stored very deeply in our minds and remembered in detail, while other aspects may not be well memorized or easily forgotten.
This function shows that selective memory is not a specific type of memory, it is quite the opposite, the full memory process is selective, so it is no coincidence that sometimes we are able to remember one fact of the past, but not another. Immerse yourself in the interesting world of selective memory.
- Memories.
- In general.
- Tend to work in the same way for everyone.
- Not only with regard to general issues.
- But also with regard to private beliefs and autobiographical memories that shape our own identity.
- We are our memories.
But identity is not a version of all the facts in which we participate, as if every day we live in is stored in a part of our brain intact in equivalent amounts. To believe that would be to assume that our memory is some kind of exact record of what we perceive. And this is impossible: we only remember what was important to us. In this way, our identity is filled with a collection of memories chosen by our selective memory.
“Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be expelled. -Jean Pau-
If we reflect on our memories, we will conclude that there are certain moments that we remember in great detail, while others seem much more diffuse and with some we feel that they have been removed from our memory. you remember some things and some don’t?
The main reason is that for the information to be stored and stored it must be properly captured by our senses, and for this it is necessary that the levels of attention and perception work optimally, otherwise information about what happened will be lost. In addition, repetition will be very important for memory to eventually consolidate in our minds.
Another reason seems to be the phenomenon that we are all experiencing at some point in our lives, known as cognitive dissonance, this is the discomfort we feel when we have two opposing opinions, attitudes or beliefs, and it is related to selective memory because to mitigate in the face of this negative feeling, we tend to dismiss one of the two opinions, attitudes or beliefs that we maintain so that there is no such conflict.
When we feel guilty about taking something contrary to our beliefs, such as leaving a job, we find a way to change things until we think it’s really the right decision, although we basically know that we wish we hadn’t made that decision. So when we distort our thoughts, our memory of this decision will be completely different over time.
So we remember some events and not others because our brain tends to reject the useless and stick to what really matters. As a form of protection, our memory tends to remember the good and positive to save the negative events that make us suffer. the mind.
With all this, we can infer that the function of selective memory is to make a selection of our memories. Put everyone in their place, on the one hand leave certain memories hidden in our minds because they consider that they do not add anything to us or that they are not more important, and on the other hand, puts some on the front line, if necessary.
But we cannot forget everything that hurts, and sometimes we remember for a reason that we do not know, however, science has shown that it is possible to train the mind to forget unpleasant moments, stating that if we suppress them for a long time, it can happen that it falls to the side of the road.
“Thanks to memory, what happens in men is called experience. -Aristotle-
Everything that hurts cannot magically disappear, even if science has shown that it is possible to train the mind to forget unpleasant moments.
Psychologist Gerd Thomas Waldhauser of Lund University in Sweden has conducted research in which he has discovered that through selective memory, we can train our minds to forget difficult events.
Research shows that the more we try to forget a memory, the harder it will be to recover it; In other words, if we hide from our minds the pain we suffered from the loss of a father for decades, he is unlikely to remember the words we heard at his funeral. This strategy is very useful for people with symptoms of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sometimes overcoming the past is not an option, it is the only way to approach the future in a healthy way, to mitigate memories that harm us is the increased use of selective memory, the possibility of deliberately suppressing those memories that slow us down or that are the direct cause of many psychological sufferings is a path that psychology has begun to use , and not just through hypnosis.
Memory will always be selective because it is linked to our emotions. But can we remember what we want or what memory wants?
“We are our memories, we are this Chimeric museum with moving shapes, this pile of broken mirrors. -Jorge Luis Borges-
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