Core Memories

Hey everyone, welcome back to my blog! I hope everyone is doing well, life has been so hectic for me lately. I have tried to set myself a 9:30/10 bedtime because I always seem to never be sleeping enough but frankly, I haven't been able to commit to it because I always have something I should be doing and stupidly, I never prioritise my health. It is currently 10:30pm on Wednesday so I've already past what I had set my aim for which is annoying but I enjoy writing and honestly just need to let out some stress.

I know I am super late to the bandwagon of 'core memories' because I heard it was trending on tiktok a while ago but unfortunately I live under a rock and have no interest in communicating with the outside world so I only recently heard about it. I found the concept super interesting so I thought I should get a bit deeper into the idea of a memory and why some are more memorable than others.

It seems pretty standard now (if you've read previous posts of mine) but let's start off with some basic definitions and work from there. 

What is a Memory and What Does it Mean 'To Remember'?

Ok so, Google states that a memory is 'something remembered from the past'. Pretty standard, can't really argue with it. I could go into the differences between the past, present and future and if each of them exist separately from each other or not, but, that's a post for another day. For the rest of this post, we will go forward with the assumption that they are separate and memories are from the past.

There are psychological definitions for memory and why some memories are stronger than others, which I learnt about in school but I'll only briefly be going over that.

Basically, there are three kinds of long term memories which our brain can store: episodic memories, semantic memories and procedural memories.

An episodic memory is the memory of personal experiences, such as the first day of school. The strength of it is determined by the strength of emotions felt at the time the memory was coded.

A semantic memory is memory of knowledge and facts, such as the stuff we learn at school. The strength of it is also determined by the strength of emotions felt at the time the memory was coded.

A procedural memory is the memory of performed tasks and skills, such as tying a shoelace. The strength of it is determined by how many times you practice and repeat the action.

There are many philosophical views about memories but I'll mainly be talking about Aristotle today. His first argument about memory is something along the lines of memory being limited to past experience and is a sensation rather than something related to intelligence. Only objects of past sensation or contemplation are proper objects of memory. From what I interpret from this is that memories can only be from the past, based off of personal experiences. It seems very rational and kind of obvious but you'd be surprised how easy it is to find rational philosophers, especially in the areas of philosophy I am interested in. He says that there is a difference between recollecting and remembering and that we often believe that when we are actually recollecting things, we think we are remembering things. He says that recollection is more of what students do when they take tests but remembering is an awareness of objects in the past. It sounds pretty straight forward but when we sit back and try to remember things, we won't really remember every single thing in complete detail (unless you're one of those cool people who remembers everything). Aristotle then goes on to say, faster thinking people are better at learning and recollecting but slower thinking people are better are remembering things. It makes sense because if you work faster and almost maybe rush, you miss out on so much. You may seem 'ahead' and you are according to the intelligence standards but you aren't really remembering things, you are simply recollecting things. The people who think and work slower probably do have a better memory and actually remember things because they take in so much more as their brain isn't non stop working. This kind of clashes with the idea of core memories because I know everyone has them, whether you are a fast or a slow thinker.

Core Memories

From what I understand, a core memory is kind of what it says it is. It's something that you will always remember because it was such an iconic moment in your life. Psychologically, it could be explained as an episodic memory which you experienced really strong emotions in, therefore, you remember it in immense detail.

Philosophically, however, Aristotle's definition which I explained above is a bit lacking (rather what I have been able to research about his thinking has been lacking because of the amount I can just about dedicate to extra reading). According to Aristotle's ideas, surely slower thinking people would be able to make core memories?

An explanation could maybe be that we are all fast and slow thinkers. When we experience a core memory, we automatically think slower because we want the moment to last a bit longer or we want to experience it in full depth. Sometimes being anxious can also cause us to forget things so that could also be used to back up this side of the argument.

I know after discussing all that I've written and then coming to the conclusion I am about to write could seem a bit infuriating but I think that overall, core memories are just very random.

This is kind of from personal experience but I find that I just remember some really random things very clearly which hold no significance in my life. I mean maybe when the memory was being coded, it could have been an important thing at the time but I guess that's just because as we grow older, our interests change.

Today, I was playing lacrosse in the absolutely wonderful British weather of grey skies and rain. I felt a bit grumpy, didn't play particularly well and was very cold. At the same time, I kind of romanticised wearing oversized goalie kit and standing in the freezing cold and it made me realise that in the future, random times like this may be 'core memories' because after that little poetic moment in my head, I realised I actually wouldn't rather be anywhere than the ice cold lacrosse field and standing in goal. That's kind of an example I guess about the randomness of core memories because something tells me I'll be remembering many cold lacrosse days for a very long time.

I hope you all enjoyed this post, I certainly enjoyed reading academic PHD articles on Aristotle in my free time in order to understand his views. I am still not sure if I fully got it correct but that's just what I managed to understand. See you next week, love you guys <33