The Power of Memory

851 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of color on memory

The Power of Memory

It never seizes to amaze me how different colors, tastes, smells, and sounds can take us back to an event in our lives long forgotten. Its astounding how we can recall events with such clarity, though sometimes our memories are tainted with the hue of the dominant emotion we may have felt at the time. We look at our present through the memories of our past experiences.

Scanning through different stations on the radio, it seems like all the stations are playing the same songs. A particular tune catches my attention and I wait to hear the lyrics. Its Barbara Striesand singing one of her hits from the seventies, the song’s title is ‘memories’. Speaking of which, my mind drifts off to the time when I was four years old and unable to sleep at night, I had sneaked out of my room to see whether anyone was up, to find my parents sitting with dimmed lights, listening to this same song. I remember thinking then that they were being romantic, and I was not supposed to be there. Feeling left out; I quickly started to complain of a fake stomachache and how I needed someone to read me a story to be able to sleep. It was a fruitless endeavor, I was sent to bed - no story - just a lecture on how all the good children must be asleep and I was still up.

I relate the story to my brother, who is complaining about why I’m listening to such ancient music and should put his ‘hip hop’ station on. He changes the station. My thoughts are rudely interrupted by a...

Show More
Related

  • Sensory Ethnography Essay

    2034 Words  | 5 Pages

    I found that three out of five senses were difficult for me to go into detail about, and only two had strong connections to memories: smell, and taste. When writing about my present home, my ocular and auditory senses were easiest to research, while the others could not be easily connected. For touch, I couldn 't use present or past, and so I had to consider instead how touch is associated with what I think of my future. While I discussed my findings with the people I share my home with, as well as family I used to live with, my findings were completely different compared to their ideas. We all live(d) in the same environment, and experience roughly the same things at home, and yet, we all associated different things. Diego, my fiancé, who I share the house with along with his mother and sister, said that home sounded like his mom doing dishes. His mother said her home sounded like the creaking of an old house. I, on the other hand, recorded that the home sounded like screaming children from the daycare in the basement. I also compared my findings with my mum when looking at the past. I said that memories of home smelled like Christmas. She could not think of a scent, but disagreed that our home smelled like Christmas. We both agreed that the taste of tea was easily associated with home,

    Read More

  • What are Flashbulb Memories?

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    Flashbulb memories are commonly thought of when people look back at a memorable moment in time and remember every detail like it was yesterday. However, research shows us flashbulb memories are not all they appear to be. Flashbulb memories are defined as “memories for the circumstances in which one first learned of a very surprising and consequential (or emotionally arousing) event” (Winograd, 1983). This suggest in order for a memory to become a flashbulb memory it must be emotionally arousing and surprising. Some researchers believe flashbulb memories are developed after the event. When we attach information which is significant to the event, which is when the event becomes a flashbulb. From there people often think about the event all the time and they constantly are updating their memories (Winograd, 1983). The memories we make, whether they are everyday or flashbulb, are distorted and may be forgotten over time (Davidson, 2005). These memories form in our everyday life but they are not as concrete as one believes.

    Read More

  • Ethnographic Studies Essay

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overall, Islam and Gender is a valuable addition to the field of ethnography by examining the everyday struggles, experience, and involvement of women within the Islamic law. Hosseini targets a Western audience and hopes to leave them with a better understanding of the Islamic judiciary system and Iranian feminism. She successfully provides her readers with an unprejudiced account of the shari’ah and family law, and even includes the ideologies of those opposing her personal beliefs. Hosseini specifically requests Muslim women to take a stand develop their own local, Islamic feminist movement and openly advocates new discourse within Islamic jurisprudence.

    Read More

  • Feminism in the Islamic Community

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    Schimmel, Annemarie. My Soul Is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam. New York: Continuum, 1997. Print.

    Read More

  • Memory In The Movie: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    The film emphasizes on the power of our long-term memory and our episodic memories. Would we be happier if we forgot about traumatic past experiences? Or are our long-term memories so tangled up with emotions and sensations that our brain is unable to truly let go of long-term memories? The film also looks at the difference between explicit and implicit memories.

    Read More

  • Declarative Memory Essay

    1877 Words  | 4 Pages

    The mammalian brain contains several different memory systems, which can be divided into declarative and non-declarative memory systems. Declarative memory can be further divided into episodic and semantic memory, and non-declarative memory can be divided into priming, associative learning, and procedural memory.

    Read More

  • Music Lyrics: Rights for Rights

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first call I made was to a radio station program director who told me, ‘Yes, I know this record, and no, I’m not going to play it.’When I asked why, he said, ‘I think a song about older women with younger men might offend my male listeners. ‘I said, ‘Are you telling me you've played it and received complaints?’

    Read More

  • Women in Islam

    2656 Words  | 6 Pages

    Since the September Eleventh attacks by Islamic extremists at the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, Islamic culture has come under scrutiny by Americans more so than at any other period in the history of the ancient religion. One area that is often criticized by the American main stream media is the role of women in Islamic culture; it is almost common knowledge now that Islam subjugates women to a degree not seen since the Medieval Ages, and is backwards in all aspects of gender relations. Like many stereotypes, this one is overblown, exaggerated, and often completely incorrect. Women have been a fundamental part of Islamic culture since the founding of the Muslim faith. Women have had tremendous influence in all areas of Islamic culture including education, politics, economic concerns, and religious interpretation; by examining each of these four areas, it become clear that women have tremendous opportunities within mainstream Islam. Of course, certain hardline regimes like the one currently holding power in Iran will always oppress women, as well as gays and other minorities. It is important to not focus on the few areas where Islamic culture is practiced and women are subjugated, but to look at the broader Islamic culture where women are a critical component.

    Read More

  • Gods In The Illiad In Homer's The Iliad

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    Homer had supposedly written The Iliad and the Odyssey, The Iliad being the first. This always leads to debates among scholars on many issues from who actually wrote them and if it was Homer, where was he born? There is not much information on the subject so scholars agree on little about it. There are over seven Greek cities that think Homer was born in their city. The arguments are over whether or not he wrote these poems alone or even just maybe one? There is the possibility that Homer is actually a lot of minstrels that told and retold the story until it was finally written down. If he did write both, then why did it take him more than a generation to write them? There are so many discrepancies in the inscription of these poems, particularly in the style of writing and choice of phrasing and words. Numerous scholars say the author for The Iliad should...

    Read More

  • The Reliability of Memory

    1483 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Sternberg (1999), memory is the extraction of past experiences for information to be used in the present. The retrieval of memory is essential in every aspect of daily life, whether it is for academics, work or social purposes. However, many often take memory for granted and assume that it can be relied on because of how realistic it appears in the mind. This form of memory is also known as flashbulb memory. (Brown and Kulik, 1977). The question of whether our memory is reliably accurate has been shown to have implications in providing precise details of past events. (The British Psychological Association, 2011). In this essay, I would put forth arguments that human memory, in fact, is not completely reliable in providing accurate depictions of our past experiences. Evidence can be seen in the following two studies that support these arguments by examining episodic memory in humans. The first study is by Loftus and Pickrell (1995) who found that memory can be modified by suggestions. The second study is by Naveh-Benjamin and Craik (1995) who found that there is a predisposition for memory to decline with increasing age.

    Read More

  • Memory

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    Memory is the tool we use to learn and think. We all use memory in our everyday lives. Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. We all reassure ourselves that our memories are accurate and precise. Many people believe that they would be able to remember anything from the event and the different features of the situation. Yet, people don’t realize the fact that the more you think about a situation the more likely the story will change. Our memories are not a camcorder or a camera. Our memory tends to be very selective and reconstructive.

    Read More

  • Women in the Qur'an

    2881 Words  | 6 Pages

    The traditions of Islam revolve around the blessed words of Muhammad revealed to him through Allah. These revelations guide Muslims through not only the act of worship, but also through a lifestyle strictly designated in the words of the Qur'an. Those who criticize Islamic customs often accuse the Qur’an of attempting to govern society under prehistoric law. This holy book dates back to the lifetime of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th centuries Clearly times have changed; yet many Islamic customs have not evolved through time. One of the most controversial topics in Islam today addresses women’s issues. Popular American culture portrays Islamic women as veiled and silenced figures living in a world of submission. Feminist groups in the United States focus on Muslim women and attempt to liberate the strong hold of Islamic tradition on women’s freedom. Over 900 million Muslims continue to worship Allah worldwide. Islam continues to thrive as one of the major monotheistic religions across cultures and the followers of Islam respect and defend the words and customs laid out in the Qur’an.

    Read More

  • The Relationship between Learning and Memory

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    Learning to tie shoes and ride a bike requires the encoding, storing, and retrieving of past observations of the procedure. With a lot of practice, children master these skills so well that they are able to remember them the rest of their lives. Memory is the storing of information over time. It is one of the most important concepts in learning; if things are not remembered, no learning can take place. As a process, memory refers to the "dynamic mechanism associated with the retention and retrieval of information about past experiences" (Sternberg 260). We use our memory about the past to help us understand the present. The study or memory in psychology is used in different ways, as well as there are many different ways to study how memory works in humans. In psychology there are many tasks used to measure memory, and different types of memory storages that human's use, such as sensory storing, or short term storing. There are also a lot of techniques that humans use to improve their memory, which they can use to learn, such as mnemonic devices. All these things can be classified as important issues in the study of human memory and ways of learning.

    Read More

  • Stranger in a Strange Land

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    The dark, black sky was covered with a million bright shining stars. The moon shimmered above a small town in the suburbs of London. The gentle wind swept past the bare trees and danced with the leaves below it, creating a colourful array of orange, yellow, red and brown. Across the street, a light was on in a small house where a tall, dark haired woman stood, talking to her two children Nicola and Erin. While she was tucking them in Erin asked, “Mummy, will you tell us a story please?” “I’m sorry but its time to go to sleep now,” she said. “Please mummy,” begged Nicola “Okay but only one story,” she replied “This story is about how I got lost when I was a young girl and how I met an incredible man. It all began when…”

    Read More

  • Memory And History: The Importance Of Memory

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    The sites of memory tell that we must create archives, preserve memories because the memories will not occur again naturally. Memory becomes a history with each passing moment. In modern societies today, memory is archival through recording, taking pictures. With the advent of modern technology, people are creating memories and preserving them as well. As today it is very difficult to draw a line of distinction where we can say what to remember and what not to. The prediction is impossible what we should therefore remember. “Memory transforms from historical to psychological, social to individual, from repetition to creating re-memories.”(Nora: 15)

    Read More

More about The Power of Memory

Open Document