Memory, Imagination and pseudo reality. (A holy trinity.)

Welcome to this snoozy Sunday blog.

If you have had a peep at my stories, and my blogs, you may have the feeling that nostalgia and childhood memories are important and highly interesting to me as they draw real inspiration for my stories.

But not just because of that, I love the feeling of nostalgia and depicting memories from certain times.

The confusion and wonderfulness about childhood memories is that so often I can’t (and i’m sure you have the same feeling) remember the context or the day or the year or even if they actually happened.

I wanted to research a little more about memories and how much we imagine them, and how much of them are really as they are remembered.

Memory and Imagination feel like friends who live long distance away from each other, extracting versions of reality that may or may not be illumiated by our imagination, driving miles to see each other but by the time they have reached their destination, our recollection, we can’t quite remember the original route of how they got there as the cross roads of both factors are more interwoven than we think…or recall…or imagine.

This is what I feel is the pseudo reality part of recalling memories.

Memory and Imagination:

Our brain development as a child has not developed enough for us to recall specific events as we become older, so often memories are dialluted with Imagination of our adult brain now, and for me, I think there are memories that I have that I can’t distinguise if they are dreams or not or a combination of real memory, dream, imagination as a child and imagination as an adult. (and other factors that happen in the brain that I can’t even comprehend!)

Of course, versions of our memories change all the time and I will go into the science of this later.

Ever since Freud reflected on childhood amnesia and how it’s difficult for us to recall our early memories, childhood memory has become a topic of huge interest within cultures and specialist memory researchers.

Generally, our childhood memories can be recalled from preschool age.

But like me, you may find you have more from even younger than four years old.

With one of my first memories moving from my first home I lived in at about three years old, reading a Barbie book from the wiker basket making sure it didn’t get left behind.

From around the preschool age, there are more neurological, cognitive, linguistic and socio-cultural influences that are significant and make it easier for us to remember from this age as we become adults.

Early childhood memories often reconstruct and sometimes we make up memories without knowing. (Of course in trauma, often people remember different versions of what happened with time, but this is a different topic.)

Memories can be verified by others too which may add to the idea of truth, but more methodological and analytical approaches have concluded that Early Childhood memories can shift across context and over time.

There are memories that I have from Early Childhood where it’s very possible they could be a dream.

Do I recall a dream I had as a child or a specific memory?

Or perhaps a memory and a dream have merged together then fogged as I have gotten older.

You may relate to this too.

This doesn’t frustrate me though.

It actually adds to the magic and nostalgic of this time in life so much, that often at this pivotal time in all our lives, there is a disconnect from reality or tip toeing in and out of it.

Not even intentionally so, as these worlds are not premeditated they just are the lives of children.

As we get older, we are sometimes forced to add logic or time frames to the recollection of our childhood memories, but I think our younger self would remind us to simply smile and enjoy the infinity of the present moment.

I wish we could practice this more as adults.

To look back fondly on the joy of the memory, as we continue to make new ones in whatever stage of life we are in.

This sweet sort of childhood book joy, reminds me of the Disney opnening before a movie. Idyllic and wonderful and Imaginative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzYfRLMtP9c (for reference…)

‘‘The researchers suggesed that adults, retrospective reports of childhood events might include not just what they orginally encoded as children, but also Information from other sources, such as family stories, photos and videos, as well as Inferences based on personal knowledge.’’

A little how I imagine the Influence of dreams or environment on the memory of that time. Memories can mould and change over time and look differently or enhance with additional sources.

I find this to be apparent when I see a photo of me wearing a particular jumper.

I can just see the whole day. My sixth birthday. Un wrapping the jumper and trying it on.

However, the photo reminds me that it was already on…so did I even un wrap it on my Birthday? Or the fact I can remember the moment in the photo heightens and even fabriactes other memories.

In writing my stories, I’m sure that there are memories I’m drawing on (and maybe subconciously so sometimes) because Imagination is often us recalling things, experiences, times in our lives, that have already happened and then scaffolding them into other events or narratives from the eye of our life experience now.

So, stories I have concoted are drawn from my Imagination, but I am sure it’s a combination of mangled pieces of a memory puzzle, a dream puzzle, and an Imagination puzzle.

False event and Memory Theory:

Pezdek, Finger, and Hodge said that If a false event is judged to be true, then an additional memory of something around in the environment, or at the time, can merge. Related memories, people at the time of the memory, the weather, can all formulate additional scenarios from even sensory things.

These events can construct fabricated information, scenarios, when they could have just been the back drop.

‘‘Imagining the false event then would encourage individuals to activate relevant generic and specific details already in memory and to use this information to construct the memory for the false event.’’

Perhaps all factors work together like a very unique display of colleague team work, to make a cinematic picture or a faded photograph of what we would like to remember, for better or worse. (or inclined to with any bias or preferences.)

Remember, the credibility of your happy early years memories may not be what precisely happened, but the affection for it when you bring them to your conscience is yours entirely, no matter the route it has taken to get here, and the ‘‘friends’’ it has met along the way like Imagination and brain changes.

Our pseudo realities!

And that is truly a memory recollection of pure fondness.

I find it fascinating that we all have memories, this is a common denominator of all of ours, but yet, they are all radically different and no matter how much we try to explain our special memories, you are the only one who can truly see your memory deeply routed in your mind and your heart.

In fact, I think this is part of the fabric of what makes us these very weird and wonderful and creative and unique and open and private specimans.

Well, I hope you found something of Interest in my first snoozy sunday blog.

Until we meet again, friend.

Bobsy. Xxxx

References:

Qi Wang and Sami Gulgoz (2019) New perspectives on childhood memory: Introduction to the special issue, Memory 27:1, 1-5, po1:10.1080/09658211.2018.1537119 Published online: 01 Nov, 2018.

Imagination and Memory: Does Imagining plausible events lead to false autobiographical memories? 2006. Ioathy Pezdek, Iris Brandon-Gitlin. Pamela Gabbay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzYfRLMtP9c