The Woman who Can’t Forget (Year 1 Thur.)
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Yes, she is. I think it’s curse. I can’t imagine living all the time in past. Even if you try, suddenly, everything comes back. There are many things that is better to forget ( like illness or death ), but she remember it and can’t live in the moment, in present.
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You are totally right Iga, I agree with you about memory as a curse but I also think it can be a blessing. Life is a mix of bad and good moments. There is such a sentence as “forgive, not forget”. I think forgiveness comes when you forget about bad emotions accompanying that moment. Jill’s Price’s problem is she can remember everything very vividly, so the process of forgiveness can be very difficult. Life with that great memory can be also a blessing, cause you remember every happy moment with your friends or family, which normally could be forgotten.
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I didn’t think about that in this way! You are right. Also I think she can improve herself and become really good person, because she must forgive not forget as you said. She could be very moral Christian.
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I agree with you, because as i suppose she did not even once mention future or present in the text. In Chapter one we get to know how Jill memory works, how she remembers dates.
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Yes, you’re right. For me it is similar to being immortal. People pass on and they don’t see, don’t experience and don’t remember really depressing and difficult things and situation, but Jill remembers all of those cases and she has to live with those tough recollection and she has to somehow cope with it.
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I think her memory is both a blessing and a curse, because it has
it’sits pros and cons. It must be nice being able to remember many memories, but Jill can remember the good ones as well as the bad ones – so that’s a little bitter – sweet. Also, they often appear automatically, so they can spin out of her control. They’re easily triggered by objects or her surroundings. That’s why she says it’s sometimes exhausting, annoying and it’s hard for her to focus.-
You said that it must be nice to remember many events. Does it mean that you can’t remember your personal events?
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I meant that it must be nice to remember so many events – as many as Jill. I tend to forget a lot of the good ones.
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Do you think whether such a good memory of personal events may enhance one’s sense of own identity?
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I don’t know. I think that our sense of identity is shaped, among others, from our experiences and even though we normally forget many of them, we develop thanks to them. Such a good memory of personal events might affect one’s sense of identity, but I don’t know how or in what ways. I wonder if there will ever be a precise answer to this question. It’s a very complex subject, I think. And what are your thoughts on this topic?
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I still have a dilemma.. I used to think one should refer only to recollections
whichwhose correspondence to reality you can confirm and only later did I understand it’s impossible – in short it would demand a memory like Jill’s. However it still somehow feels like a paradox to me – how can we refer to something that isn’t completely true, but mostly a matter of one’s interpretation and to believe we can use it to tell who and what we are.
Anyways, I move towards what you said, that the subject is really complex and for the time being brings more questions than solutions 🙂-
Maybe because out memory doesn’t work like a video camera. It’s prone to distortion. Whenever we can’t remember something, we fill in the gaps in our memory with new facts. Over the time, our memories become even more unreliable. Memory is fallible and yet it’s the only link with the past.
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Well, it makes me think memory is another aspect of human functioning demanding balance. It’s impossible to focus only on present – you wouldn’t know what’s going on – neither on past – you couldn’t keep up with present events. It’s like either positive or negative exaggeration causes disorders.
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Also I believe it’s important whether we feel certain about our memories, because without the confidence even the most accurate memory would not really mean anything reliable.
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It is not only a blessing, but also a curse in my opinion. As far as I am concerned, the ability to remember important facts or memories is something which most people dream about
they could have, especially as developed such as Jill has. On the other hand, not only did she say that everobody else does not and cannot understand her memory, but she said that emotions attached to the memories of bad events can be really overwhelming. I think she is a prisoner of her memory, because she cannot controlaboutwhat she is thinking.-
I agree. It must be very hard to be so misunderstood. not only nobody knew what it was like – everybody envied her that ability, not knowhing what an awful problem it was
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It is significant aspect. She remembers those memories but also she experiences them emotionally. It must be horrible to feel all negative emotions from her life over and over again.
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During that “chaining” she was switching between the same dates of different years. When a random day comes to her mind for example 17th april, she recalls facts from all other 17th April in different years. She also admitted that such game is some relief for her.
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It must have been very awful experience when she couldn’t explain her condition to others. For many years people didn’t understand her or maybe even thought that she made it up.
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Jill can be called a prisoner of her memory, but I don’t think she would say this about herself. She said that it is hard sometimes to live with her memory, but she does not hate it. When we try to compare Clive’s case with Jill’s i think it is not possible to compare both of this cases. I think Jill’s memory is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Like Jill said, when she is feeling down she can come back to the happy memories and feel better. Of course, she can do that with bad memories too and even the smell of potatoes baked in the oven can bring back memories. I think it could be problematic sometimes, but if i must live with no memory and memory like Jill’s I would prefer to
live likehave Jill‘s memory rather thandon’tnot remeber anything or only little pieces just like Clive. -
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In my opinion she is more of a prisoner and cursed person, than the blessed one. Obviously her incredible memory has its own advantages, but I belive they are simply not worth it. For example, she feels the same fear she did in her memories, no matter how irrational it might have been. According to her own words, it made her struggle to let go of her feelings about the past. The memories are not only intense, but also quite random in most cases. It makes this whole experience even worse.
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I think that it would be a bless if she
cancould control it fullycontrolled itandalso doesn’t have any problems memorizing facts like f.e. in schooland if she didn’t have trouble remembering some facts, like e.g. …?-
I agree with you, Irmina! Sometimes is better when the time
pastpasses and you have more pleasant memories about a part of your life, for example high school than it truly was. But she remembers all the feelings and sadaccidenteventswith feelings. I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes!-
I wouldn’t want to be her either. It must be so hard for her to live knowing that all those awful memories can just pop up anytime without any warning.
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I think I would like to improve my short-term memory, because its
informationsinformation lasts only for 30 seconds and sometimes it is not long enough for me to write down all theinformationsinformation I wanted to.
Irmina – “information” is an uncountable noun so it doesn’t have a plural form. You may say, however, a few/several pieces of information.
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Yes, that would make her memory much more useful. I think that the main problem of her memory is the fact its almost out of her control. If she would be able to choose what kind of informations she wants to keep, it would certanly be a blessing.
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She said she became a prisoner of her memory. And it’s both – a blessing and a curse. Blessing because she remembers joyful, fun time – the times of wonderful family closeness and so on. And a curse because she can also recall all the bad memories that evoke negative emotions such as fear, sadness – and she
hewould rather not remember them.-
What interested me too was fact that she can recall every memory and remember the exact day and what she was doing this day. I have problems remembering days if nothing important for me happened during them.
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Yes, me too. I don’t remember what I was doing but I often remember what I was wearing on that day ?
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Yeahh and she even had memories from when she was 18 months old! Sometimes i wish i could have better memory, i could remember clearly important days in my life.
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I am impressed with her assurance of her memories. I know it can be confirmed by e.g. the recollection of 4th November in the dr.McGaugh lab, but I think usually we are not really certain about memories of some less relevant events, and subsequently we are often convinced we remeber things just the way they happened, but actually our memories may poorly correspond with reality.
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I wouldn’t like to have such memory. I don’t need to know what I was doing last Friday, because it was nothing special
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If think that it is a little bit of both. She can recall those good and bad moments od her life. She might be feeling like a prisoner of her memory, because she has no control over it. The fact that it’s so easy for her to look back on the past events made me so shocked.
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Having memory like Jill- hyperthymestic syndrome – can be concidered a prison – she can’t escape it. Every memory is vivid and impossible to forget. She is unable to
looselose/discard/get rid of an emotional connection with it – it could be either a blessing, or a curse. She can always remember her good moments and can always cheer herself up, but is also unable to get rid of bad memories, fights and devastating moments. She even calls herself a prisonertoof her memory. Shethoughtthinks about it as an exhausting and uncontrollable burden.-
Would you like to become Jill for one day to see how she feels?
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I think I would go for it, if it is only for one day, because it might be a humbling experience and realyy thought-provoking issue. I think i would be able to start appreciating what i have.
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I think yes, because now I don’t remember many moments in my life and it would be nice to see them again – even the bad ones, maybe now, when I’m older, I could learn a lesson from them. But only for one day, because if I had to live with it like Jill, I would feel overwhelmed.
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Me too. I think it would be an exciting experience, perhaps also tiring.
However I’d like to be able to experience it. -
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I think I would, but I’m shure I would never want to have this condition forever. Her memory disorder is present with her all the time – it must be very hard to concetrate on daily activities
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In my opinion she is both a prisoner of her memory but it is also blessing for her. If I remember correctly, Jill herself said that she would not give her memory for anything. Her memories appear very vivid and clearly, she remembers every single day. She said that when she is feeling down, she often revisit favorite memories, going back to the happiest years of her life. Unfortunately, she remembers all the moments in her life, even the worse ones. Moments of disappointment, embarrassment, anger. She said it is emotionally overwhelming.
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I think you’re right. Being able to go back to the happiest days so easly is great. Such a shame she cannot just keep her good memories and let go the bad ones.
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Do you think that the ability of bringing back the memories about someone how passed away is more painful or heartening? I am very interested in your opinion Marta!
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I think that it depends on how close we were to that specific person. For me it would be more painful and I would rather forget about it. And Kinga, what do you think about it?
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Actually in September I lost a person who was a member of the closest family, and I can surely say that all those memories I have are amazing and they makes me feel like my childhood was yesterday. If I didn’t remember all those moments it would be like this person has never existed. Thanks to my memories my grandpa will be forever in my mind and life.
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I think that Jill Price could be called “prisoner of memory” becouse her memory is completely independent of her. She can not turn off that all recollections. They are living their own lives somehow. She said that it is a blessing and a curse at once. She can recall all the positive moments in her life, which is helpfull when she needs some consolation. It is like time travel. But also, she can not forget all traumatic events.
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I agree with you. If she could control it it would be something really like blessing. If she could also train it so as to remember all school lessons! It would be cool.
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In my opinion it’s hard to say whether it’s more like a blessing or a curse. I can’t imagine how I’d feel in her situation. Probably I’d feel like a prisoner because sometimes I’d like to forget negative things in my life. Also, her ability might be useful in certain situations.
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For example, if she’s feeling blue she always can recall positive memories and boost her mood. It’s probably not as easy as it sounds but definitely it’s helpful. On the other hand, fact that she also remember all negative situations from her past is really depressing. Now I think that it’s a curse.
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Probably it would be better for her if she can use her extraordinary memory in school, for example learning for exams. When you have such a good memory people believe that you’re going to get the best notes. But it not always looks like that.
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I think so too. unfortunatly she said, that it didn’t work for her and that she had trouble remembering school knowledge. It must be very hard to see peolpe’s expectations but not being able to accomplish them
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For me it’s both. She has amazing skill to remember all her facts and events and she also has ability to recall al the dates triggered by objects, smell, sound but she can’t controle it and also remember all painfull memories. I think the fact that she can’t controlled it is the main reason that she is a prisoner of her own mind. It must be also distructing and very annoying in everday life
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I totally agree with you. After all, I’d rather have a memory like I have now. I can’t imagine how it’s like when you keep going back to the past in your everyday life.
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Yes, i totally agree with you.
It must be very hard when you want to forget about some npleasant situations and its come back over and over again
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A little bit of each. She said that she became a prisoner to her memory. When she sees or hears any dates, she automatically goes back to that day and she remembers what she was doing. It happens non-stop and it must be exhausting. Concentraction is really difficult for her. But on the other hand, when she is in the bad mood, she can think about all good memories with all ditails. She can re-live it and experience all happy feelings again.
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I think that her memory can be a prison because she is a bit stuck in the past. She can’t forget anything, even if she want to. She remember both traumatic and happy events from her life so her memory is blessing and a curse. In bad momentes she can just go back to the day when she felt lucky. But on the other hand she can’t get rid of unpleasant memories.
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Would you like to have her super memory?
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My memory sometimes doesn’t work very well. Although I prefer my memory rather than this extraordinary ability. I think that not forgetting anything has more disadvantages than advantages.
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Jill Price’s case is really interesting for me. I didn’t know it is possible to remember almost every situation that happened in life but have difficulties with learning for example formulas in school. I think she can be called a prisoner of her memory because she is not able to control what type of memory come to her mind. She remember every kind of recollection: those when she was happy, sad, scared, excited and so on and those memories come to her mind all the time. Also I think that this kind of memory is both blessing and curse because it is really incredible that she is able to remember what she was doing the same day year ago, but at the same time she has so many different recollection and she cannot control them and every time the recollection comes to her mind, she fells the same emotions that she felt in that specific situation (sometimes those emotions are very difficult and depressing).
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Yes, it surprised me too. She has such an amazing memory – she remembers almost every day of her life, but has lots of trouble memorizing history, arithmetic, foreign language. So I think her memory is like one big diary.
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For me it also was very intresting and i was amazed when read about but i feel sorry when i read about that she has trouble in studying and also she didn’t have not much understanding
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Oh yes, true. It was really sad that a lot of people, even her family, didn’t understand how mamy difficulties she experienced through her childhood
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I cannot imagine how hard it was for her and her family. I belive it makes their relationship not easy, after all she still remembers every mean thing they said to her.
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Yes, it is so sad. In everyday life more useful are those science facts, math etc. than information which day of the week was three years ago from today. Her memory does not cooperate with her and she is vulnerable.
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Yes, you are right. It must be really depressing when you remember every hard moments of your life. For example you will always remember the argument with your best friend and every painfull word which she said. Forgivness must be difficult when you replay that situation over and over again in your head.
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I agree with you. Also she said that perhaps her memories are not actually fully random. She said that they do seem to be sparked by memory call retrieval cues, for example a date being mentioned or song.
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I think the term ,,a prisoner of memory” describes Jill Price very well. Daily life and doing simple things must be really difficult when we keep thinking back to the past. It must be exhausting. On the other hand, it is nice to be able to recall the pleasant situations of your life in such an accurate way. I would like to be able to recall exactly what happened in my life, which I am currently unable to recall.
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Do you think that if she were able to control it it could be called a blessing? Or just something like super abillity?
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I’d call it superability. It is amazing to be able to recall the memories of your life remembering exactly when, where and how they happened and to do it consciously. That way, Jill’s life would be easier, and she could use her great memory in some work.
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As you said, the ability to recall all the memories can have advantages and disadvantages. That’s why I’m not sure if I want to have such a good memory. Do you think that this ability brings more benefits than drawbacks?
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It’s hard to say. I think that if Jill describes herself as a ,,prisoner of memory” it must be really hard for her. I guess this ability has more drawbacka. Having a normal memory, we rarely feel annoyed about it and it doesn’t makes our life difficult. What is your opinion Ola?
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I agree with you. Maybe sometimes we feel like remember all the events might be really helpful and make our life more interesting. But I honestly prefer my memory than having no opportunity to escape from sad memories from the past.
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To my way of thinking it is rather a curse. She claims her recalling is automatic and most of the time she doesn’t control it – so with the vividness of her recollections it has to be overwhelming for focusing on present activities and the present at all. Also, I’m wondering whether I could be so convinced that my memories are as real as I feel them – especially because there is no one to confirm them. I believe she is rather a prisoner of that absorbing feeling of absolute believableness of her memories.
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I get your point. Remembering many awful or hurtful memories must be terrible, especially when they appear automatically. Jill also wrote, that her “memories are exceptionally emotional and sensually vivid”, which probably doesn’t make it easier to deal with the hard memories.
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As Jill said, it’s both. Her special abilities made her a home historian who can easily solve disputes by having infallible memories of various events. However, the text mentions that reminding is also associated with emotions. For most people those emotions become weaker over time, but Jill when recalling any memory, automatically feels the same as she felt at that moment. I hope that nothing really bad happened to her in her life, so she could learn how to cope with memories which are not very nice, and easily enjoy her good ones.
(sorry for being here today instead of yesterday, I had another classes at the same time, hope it’s ok)
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I think it was a little of both a blessing and a curse. Even Jill said that it is blessing because she can easily recall happy memories from her childhood. But she couldn’t forget even the most embarrassing and upsetting things that have happened to her. She remembers every death, that must be so hard.
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She also has difficulties in remembering geometry, math and history facts. She also said thar remembering facts was hard for her so shool must have been harder for her than for the avarage person.
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Yes, I agree with you. Her situation has good and bad sides. I think that term “prisoner of her memory” is perfect for her.
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I agree with you. It must be terrible for her to remember every death of her loved ones. Also not being able to forget every embarrassing thing that ever happened to her (especially when she was a teenager) must have had a ripple effect on her self-esteem
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It is obvious that Jills case is unique. Her condotion is unreal for me and very interesting. I do think that beside of good aspects she is a prisoner of her memory because she can’t fully controled those memories which occur to her at everytime of the day. For me it is more a curse than a blessing. Firstly no one could understand how she feel and with this she was a bit lonely. Also her condition disturped her while learning or just thinking. For Jill it was unable to pay full attention for example at lesson and because of that she had problems at school. And most important is that she could not move with her life because her past was always returning to her. Memories from childhood or youth are still very vivid and with this she rembember all heartbreaking words, stupid things that she had done or fights. Those pictures are connected with very strong emotions which drain life from her and cost Jill a lot of mental health.
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Yes, it had to be hard for her, because no one could understand her, but also because the doctors couldn’t examine her memory.
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Yes, being lonely in condition like this, can be very depressing. No one can understand you. And of course some people may not believe you.
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I think that her memory is both – a blessing and a curse. She said that after hearing some date she is going back to this moment and she is “in” that day. It’s great that she can go back to some beautiful and exciting times of her life and relive them again. And she will never forget about them. But on the other hand, she can not forget about hard moments and she has to think about them every time she hears the exact date. And she can’t control it. I think that it must be exhausting and frustraiting.
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In my opinion Jill Price is a prisoner of her memory. Her mind has power over her because she can’t decide what to remember. Sometimes it’s a blessing, for example when she is feeling sad, she can easily recall a memory of a time when she was happy, carefree. But on the other hand some things can trigger her, and she immediately recalls a bad times of her life.
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Yes, I agree with you. It’s a curse that she can’t control the associations with some memories and she instantly rememberes something. Also, it must be hard to remember every bad moments that happened in her life.
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I think that Jill’s memory is a blessing, but also a curse. Of course, her memory is something incredible, but it has a lot of disadvantages.
She’s only good at remembering dates and events from her life. Jill remember things that don’t matter after such a long time, things that people with normal memory forget, because they are unncessary to remember.
I also know that having too much informations (especially unnecessary) in our brain is damaging. This is the reason, why our brain deletes some informations, for example that I was eating something 2 years ago. Our brain has to have space for new informations.-
I agree that our brain maybe delete our memories which are not significant to us. I think that is responisbility of short-term memory because with her people pay attention to things worth remembering. Also I ‘m convinced that we have some memories in our brain that we just could not recall. What do you think?
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Yes, I definitely agree with you. But was Jill paying attention to things that she remembered? I don’t think so and despite that, her brain has still kept those informations.
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No she hasn’t but I was thinking about our brains. It is certain that her brain is different from our. Also her memory work in other way.
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Yes, that’s what I meant 🙂
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I think Jill could be called a prisoner of her memory, she wasn’t able to control her memories & it must’ve been really hard to do simple things with her memories coming back to her all the time. I think her memory was a blessing and a curse. To be honest for me it’s amazing & I think it would be really great to remember what happened in my life a long time ago, but on the other hand it is probably really exhausting for her, she can’t focus on the present.
Her story was really interesting to me.-
I think, you are right. It must be very hard to deal with the haunting past, but on the other hand it has to be incredible to remember all those events.
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In my opinion- both. It’s blessing because she’s able to remember everything and despite the fact I think I have a good memory I would love to remember everything but without negative consequences. It would be amazing to remember everything and have control under memories- just choose what I need at the specific moment and don’t care about other memories. I think it’s her curse because she can’t control this. She’s a prisoner of her memory. Even Jill Price herself said that.
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Yes, exactly. I would be great to remember everything without any negative consequences. It would make a life easier, especially learning would take us less time.
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I have the same opinion. It’s definitely both a blessing and a curse. I like your idea – remembering everything but without negative consequences would be great and really helpful in life. Especially for me because I don’t think that I have a good memory.
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I agree with you. Unfortunately she not only remember happy memories but the negative too. Your idea of remembering everything without negative consequences is very interesting. I wish that was true in real life
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Jill Price is a prisoner of her memory, she even admitted that. In my opinion, her memory is both a course and a blessing. A course, because she is unable to forget about painful and embarrassing moments in her life, she even feel the accompanied emotions. It is also a blessing, because she can feel emotions of her good memories, which sometimes make her feel better.
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I agree, it’s probably really hard to remember as many things as Jill. I’d rather forget about bad memories than remember them. I think it would be a blessing if she could forget about bad things that happened in her life and focus on the positive memories
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I think that bad memories are also important for us, because we can learn on them, but I also don’t think we need to remember every one of them.
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Yes, you are right! For sure, we learned a lot of lessons from some of them.
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I totally agree. It would be very depressing to remember every bad situation or decision.
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I think that it is something like prison. She can’t focus on things important for her at the moment becouse she still has to watch her past. She cannot rest. In my opinion it could be called blessing if she could remember all things, for example from school. It would be very practical then. In the end, I am glad that she could undestand her disease more. It had to be a relief to her.
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It would be very intresting and astonished if she had ability to remebered everything and also controlled. Who knows what she would be capable of
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But don’t you think that remember all of the bad and good moments can be helpful sometimes? Like when you are the only one who remembers those incredibly happy moments full of pure family love?
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Our memories are really varied. Some of them can be traumatic which we do not want to remember, some are motivation for us and some can by joyful and can bring us a good mood. Of course it would be helpful but under our control.
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In my opinion Jill Price’s case is very interesting and I’ve never heard before about someone like her. Well, of course I heard about photographic memory, but it is obviously something different. I was surprised by the fact that sometimes she can not control when the specific memories comes to her mind. It has to be exhausting. I remember only some bad moments, especially those when I had incredibly stron emotions in my life and its very unpleasant. I can not imagine remembering all of them, whenever I want or not. Every person here knows this feeling when you want recall some name and you can’t. You can describe it in every word, but you just can not remind name of it. Maybe at this point, Jill Price’s ability is helpful. One way or another her memory can be called course or blessing, depending on somebody’s point of view.
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I agree. Her head is filled with involuntary memories almost all the time. And she can never escape it.
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Jill Price’s condition is a blessing, but also a curse. In the text she mentioned that she like coming back to the pleasent memories and she would never give them back. But on the other hand the people with “normal” memory remember mostly good experiences. Because of her hyperthymestic syndrome she remembers also the bad ones. When she comes back to them she relives the memories, experiencing the same emotions again, even stronger than other people.
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Agnes what intrigued you the most in her memory?
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Very intriguing for me was the way her brain makes connections between dates. A smell reminds her about one day and it begins a chain reaction when in her brain pope up many memories from different days. She can’t stop it and that’s why it is something so tiring. She has a “road” of happy memories and she like to visit it when she feels unwell. It’s fascinating.
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That was very intriguing for me too. Its fascinating how quickly and automatically her memories pop up
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Given her super memory, why didn’t Jill Price go further in her professional life? What is your opinion on this?
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Jill has super memory only in remembering days and what happenned during them. She has problems controlling her ability, it is distracting for her and it is hard to focus on anything, because all the time in her mind are remembered memories. I think the cause could be that she must really like something to learn it and has problems in remembering other things than days in her life.
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Yes, I agree with you. For example when she tries to focus on something, one thing can remind her of the flasback and it will suddenly and unexpectedly appear in her head. Because of this she will be distracted and won’t be able to focus on what she was doing.
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I can connect with Jill, because I also can learn what i like better than other things.
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Yes, It could be very very distracting. I can’t imagine having memory like she has.
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Perhaps her condition and arising from it constant difficulties with attention and emotions, but above all accompanying incomprehension in her social environment may inhibit her ambition and confidence that she is good enough to reach for something more.
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Jill said that she had troubles at school because of her memory. She isn’t able to remember english poetry or arithmetic rules. Jills memory has not given her any special abilities in science world. Also I think that it is hard for her to pay full attenition at work so she cannot for example run a firm because she could make a lot of mistakes.
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Jill claims that her type of memory doesn’t store school knowledge. She had difficulties in memorizing those information which school requires. She would need to think of profession that involves memory of her personal experiences but I’m not sure what could it be.
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No doubt, she has extraordinary skill but has She has trouble to controlled her mind and memory, It must be hard to focus on new stuff when older always come back and that is the main reason that she can’t move forward. It also afects on her mental health
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Maybe becouse się was stuck in the past in a sense. She could not focus on her present. Also, she had problems in school becouse of her memory. She was able to remember facts from her life but no science or history facts, mathematical algorithms etc.
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I think that her memory is not helpful when it comes to professional life. Even at school she had trouble with memorizing historical facts, poetry, mathematical formulas. It must be hard to learn new things when you constantly recall past events.
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She didn’t go further in her professional life, because she had problems at school with learning and memorizing. Jill has difficulties in memorizing things that are not about her personal life.
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To me Jill Price is more a prisoner of her memory than a blessed one. She remember every unpleasant situation and her emotions vividly. She said that she can’t control her recalling. It’s constant. Even if she wants to she can’t forget her past.
The positive thing is that she also remember happy memories which can cheer her up anytime.-
What, in your opinion, did Jill hate the most about her memory?
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I think Jill hates the most infinity of her memory. She simply can’t forget.
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I think I would like to have Jill’s memory for one day – just to see how she feels and how it affects her mental health – that must be so hard when those bad moment of your life, that you want to push away, recall and you can’t do anything about this.
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I’d like to have her memory for one day either. I can only imagine that it must be hard for her to pay attention to things that she’s actually doing. She goes back to her memories very often and it must be oppressive.
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I’d like that too. Not only to see how her memory really works but to see how she deals with it. It would help me understand her better.
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That’s because i think she had super autobiographical memory, so she could remember clearly events happened to her, but not for example science facts, maths etc.
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I agree. It would be amazing, if she could remember school knowledge as well as events from her past- all exams and professional career would be so much easier for her
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She didn’t go futher in her professional life because it is really difficult for her to focus on something. She has great autobiografical memory but she isn’t able to understand for example geometry or arithmetic. She has also trouble with learning foreignlanguage what is important novadays.
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I agree with you. Her memory is distracting. She remembers facts connected to her, which doesn’t help in professional life. In work, you have to be focused on job’s tasks.
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Have any of you checked your memory through the story “The War of the Ghosts”? VP was able to remember all of it regardless of passing time. I have tried and now I remember just death at the end of the story, war and arrows 😉
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I tried, but I only remembered the main facts without details.
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I only remembered a bit of the story because it was interesting to me, but i would not be able to tell all of the story the same as it was written.
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We had it on psychology but I didn’t even understand the story.
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I also remembered just a few main facts and thats it
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I only remembered few facts, but I have bad memory, so I wasn’t shocked. Sometimes it’s hard for me to recall what I ate on breakfast.
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I think the reason that she didn’t go further in her professional life is because she had a great memory when it came to her own life & past experiences, but she couldn’t remember things connected to science.
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I think you’re right, there is not much ways to use it in her career. Her memory is impressive, but maybe not that useful for other people.
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I agree with you Sandra, she had lots of trouble memorizing at school.
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Yes, it’s like her memory actually made it even harder for her at school. It’s quite ironic in my opinion.
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That’s exaclty what i wanted to write. Her abilities to remember past events are incredible, but when it comes to other things like math or languages, it’s turned out to be difficult to remember for her.
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Jill’s super memory is even an obstacle in her professional life. It’s difficult for her to focus on something and she had problems at school, because she couldn’t remeber historical facts or mathematical formulas. Remembering a poem was a nightmare for her.
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It is very intriguing that she was able to recall memories from very early childhood but not be able to remember some mathematical formulas for example
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She told in her story that she had many struggles in school because she can’t remember facts. In school or in uni we learn things that may be helpful in the future. So if it was hard for her to learn simple things, it could be even more difficult to go further in her professional life.
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I think there was the loci method mentioned. It’s an ancient memorising method that is based on attaching facts that we want to memorise to certain places.
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I remember method called loci. It is described as mentally walking along a familiar path in your mind and attaching facts to places. When you want to recall something, you walk along the path in your mind.
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One was the method of loci which consists of mentally walking down a path and attaching some facts that we should remember to places along the path. And if you want to recall them, you should just walk along that path in your mind.
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They mentioned mnemonic techniques like imagery or rhyming, and also the ancient method of loci – creating some kind of mental path. When we want to recall some information we need to take a walk along this path
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I remember “Loci” and it was an ancient method in which people were placing things that they should remember onto a known path. With this they were going that road in their mind and recalling those things.
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I remember method of loci. It is like walking down the path and attaching facts we want to remember to places along the path.
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I remember one that is called loci – it is like mental creating path that is well known and you attached information to some places along the path
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By the way, if you not sure how to pronunce “loci”, here is the phonetic transcription /ˈloʊ saɪ/ or
/ ˈloʊ kaɪ /.-
The method is attributed to Simonedes – the Greek poet.
I have used the method of loci many times and I really like it. It’s a great way for me to memorise list of items (e.g. to buy) or a number of short facts. I use it quite often now.
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Yes, i tried it not for study but sometimes for shopping list, it takes much time to operate it, maybe I will try to practise it, I read about memory palace which I find more interesting than loci
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Jill has a great autobiographical memory. When she was a student she didn’t remember all the topics perfectly. Her super memory is about the facts of her life, which may not be useful to others.
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Method of loci was mentioned there, I’ve tried it once. You choose a familiar path and attach informations to places along it. It really helped me.
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I see. Imagine that you want to memorise different memory systems (e.g. sensory memory) and different types of memory (e.g. episodic memory). How would you use the method of loci?
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Because of the number of items to remember I would use a familiar path with many places along. Then I would place each item on those places. Maybe I could use similar places for elements of the same system, like long-term memory. I think it would make it easier for me to not only memorise, but also group all those types of memory.
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The history of methods for memorizing was mentioned in the book. It was written about the ancient loci method.
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she mentioned the metod of loci, where people tend to make paths in their minds, that the always pace the same way. They can “put” different information in specific places, so when they “walk” that road, they “see” these things. Personally I use that quite a lot
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She also mentioned methods like rhyming or imaging items in the head.
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There was mentioned loci method. And methods which use smell and the rhythm.
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Can you guess that the following mnemonics stand for? Please, do not refer to the Internet 🙂
a) If you saw a hippo on a campus, you would remember it.
b) For I want a snowy Christmas, my friend.
c) When you are S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D you eat D-E-S-S-E-R-T-S.
d) Spring forward. Fall back.
e) My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos.-
I think it might not be a method for me, because i guess the first is hippocampus, but i have no idea when it comes to the rest.
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i think a is for medicine students because hippo on campus gives hippocampus
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In “e” the first letters of the words may be the first letters of the row of things in an appropriate order.
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e) is about planet system, their sequence from the sun and we have polish equivalent to this sentence
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
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c) helps not to confuse the spelling of ‘dessert’ with a ‘desert’ (which is common uncertainty)
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Oh, i thought that we are talking about this common meme in wchich is sentence “stressed is desserts spelled backwards”. And in this joke it means, that in stressful situation, some sweets are the best way to help us 😀
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I think d is for rembering how to set the clock in fall and spring.
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No, I didn’t. I read the sentence a couple of times and i thought it would be it.
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i think c is for remembering grammar
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I think e) is remebering a short, catchy poem from the first letters of words that we must remember
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I think ,,A ” helps to associate difficult names with simpler words. Hippo+campus=hippocampus
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But d) doesn’t stand for something important that happened in winter, it is something more complex, isn’t it?
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I think it’s about time changing – we do it twice a year – in spring and fall
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But we (group 4) didn’t have to read “The lost mariner”. And where should we write about the nature of memory? Here?
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I think this two cases can show us that memory is one of the most important things in our lives. Clive’s memory was reduced, he couldn’t remember his own wedding, but he remembered that Deborah is his wife, forgot his son name, but he still had his character, what was, in my view, really interesting. Based on Clive’s case we know that memory can be lost and things can be forgotten. We know that viruses or ilnesses can cause memory loss or degeneration and how important it is for us to have memory. The memory loss could be really
painfullpainful to live with and people who have lost memory (partly or not) and sometimescan notcannot do anything to make themselves better. We also get to know thatit is a lot ofthere are diffrent types of memory. Jill case showed us that our brains don’t “save” all of our memories but we remember the important ones. Jill has the ability to remember every day from her life (what happenned that day, what she was doing) and feel the same emotions connected to the memory every time she remembers it (for example a fight with her best friend). We do not feel the same emotions when we rememberaboutsome bad or good memories, we feel 82 percent of the emotions from the event,ChristinaJill feels the same emotions every time she recalls her memories.-
Very good. Do you know why Clive Wearing can’t remember any events but his procedural memory is intact?
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I think I remember that Clive’s brain was damaged by disease and the region where procedural memory is “located” was not injured and that’s why he still have it.
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Memory is an essential aspect of human functioning. It contributes to our consciousness: it enables keeping present information in mind to process their meaning and then learning both the information and their interpretation. It makes it possible to understand the environment, people around and ourselves and to fortify our knowledge along with subsequent experiences. Any exaggeration in memory’s activity obstruct normal everydayness. Diminished remembering and memorizing makes it nearly impossible to understand what the world around, and even the one themselves means and involve dependence on understanding and support from others. The excess in memory relating to personal events disturbs focusing on present events and actions and causes emotional difficulties in dealing with vivid recollections. Moreover, it can inhibit learning information unrelated to a person with this disorder, such as scientific or historical facts. However, both Clive’s and Jill’s examples prove that is possible to adapt to one’s memory dysfunction despite some limits.
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A very good text, Julia, Add some more scientific facts, such as the types of memory systems, where certain types of memory are located in the brain or what may cause memory loss.
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According to what science has proved about memory so far, it is a system of codependent brain structures. Each of them fulfill a specific function, hence a disease to any of them causes dysfunctions to the others. It leads to complex memory problems as the Clive’s or Jill’s, where some functioning remain unimpaired, but other abnormalities eventually trigger a general illness. It proves the elements of memory don’t differ in importance for proper functioning. In our current activity we use working memory, which actually integrates running sense impressions stored in sensory memory, short-term memory cooperating with attention to stimuli from environment and experiences kept in long-term memory enable to interpret gained information. The knowledge stored in long-term memory is organized in schemas, mental representations of what we have already learned about the world, which impact on information processing and recollecting.
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A very good answer. I’m impressed not only by your writing style but also the message you get across.
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Thank you very much… I strongly appreciate your words.
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Memory is something what will be surprising for scientists forever. When I read text and watched a short movie about our two cases: Clive Wearing’s and Jill Price’s I realized that everyone’s memory is different, and everybody’s story is unbelievable. Memory disorders can be totally different. Clive could remember nothing, and Jill could remember everything, every minute, every day. Nature of memory is complicated but it is kind of basis of our lives. Having any memory from your life is painful and dangerous. On the other hand remember every second of your life is exhausting. There is some types of memories: short-term, long-term, but every of them can be harmed and turn your life upside and down.
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Memory is a really complex part of human functioning. We have different types of memory such as: sensory, short-term and long-term. What I learnt from Clive Wearing’s case is that, if one of them is damaged, the other ones are still working. Clive is suffering from amnesia but there are an opposite disorder too –
hypermnesiahyperthymesia. Jill has an amazing episodic memory but it is as hard to cope with as with amnesia. To sum up I could say that any deviation, when it comes to memory, is a traumatic experience. As much for person who suffers from it as for her family. -
Memory is the most important thing in our live. We don’t know who we are, nothing about our families. There are some types of memory : long, short-term memory, sensory memory. Everyone is responsible for diffrent things of behaviour. Losing memory is one of the worst things, which can happen in life. You can lose your self-consciousness, memories, relationships or even dreams (like a man with 7 seconds memory). Some of us have better memory than others, but we can improve our skills thanks learning by hard.
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Memory is one of the most fascinating functions of our brain. It seems natural to us that we remember different things and recognize people. It’s one of the most important things in our lives. But when we lose it – as Clive Wearing did, nothing will ever be the same. His amnesia caused by the herpes simplex virus destroyed the part of the brain responsible for memory – he can only remember 7 seconds. Memory is an inseparable part of reality and life without it is extremely difficult to live without it. Having an extremely accurate memory named “
termedhyperthymestic syndrome or hyperthymesia” like Jill Price is also very difficult. Of course, in a way it’s a blessing for her that she can go back to all the beautiful moments in her life for a moment. However, it is also a curse, because these memories came back to her all the time and appear unexpectedly in her head, and they can be unpleasant memories that she would rather not remember. Both cases are very interesting and show how incredible human memory is.-
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Yes, there are three types of memory – sensory (we can remember sth for a few seconds by iconic or echoic memory – like Clive remembers 7 second), short-term (we remember about 30 seconds and about 7 items) and long-term memory which is divided into explicit and implicit memory. Jill Price has a very good explicit memory, especially episodic memory because she can recall all the autobiographical events from her life. And semantic memory is responsible for all the knowledge that we acquire all life. Procedural memory is responsible for remembering for example how to ride a bike. So I think Clive Wearnig didn’t lose his semantic and procedural memory because he still knows how to play the piano.
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We can learn from both stories, that our memory is a complex structure, in which every element is important in its own way. We have different types of memory, each one of them has different tasks. However, not every person has this mechanism working the same way. Some people have impaired or superior memory. Clive, known as the man with the seven second memory, has one of the worst cases of amnesia in the world. His case is not only interesting because of the fact he doesn’t remember most important events from his past, but also because he can still remember the facts and play the piano. It shows us that having some types of memory damaged (like episodic memory), we can still have other types working just fine (like semantic memory). As Jill said, science knows a lot about forms of impaired memory, but very little about forms of superior memory, like her own. Hyperthymesia is not as great as it seems to be
in the beggininginitially. Jill is forced to live in a nightmare, just like Clive. The difference between them is that Clive remebers too little, and Jill remebers too much. The emotional intensity and random nature of her memories had nearly driven her mad. At the end of the day we still don’t fully understand the nature of memory. Not until wewill beare able to classify and explain every case like these two. -
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Memory is one of the crucial systems for a human. It defines their whole life. It gives Chance to collect some
informationsinformation, events and so one thanks to Long Term Memory. In certain way this ability has an impact on everyone because it shapes personalityf.e. Allmeaningfullmeaningful moments stored in episodic memory. It also helps us to do everydaylife activities thanks to procedural memory. It can be verry dangerous when one of the types of memory fails, stops workingcorectliycorrectly or even get damgaged. When this happens, maybe you can be the „prison” of your own mind. In case of Clive when his brain was infected anddamgeddamaged??the brain. Heremeberedremembersactionsthings only for a few minutes. He has no dreams, thoughts and so one. It is terryfing to know only a few factsaboutfrom your life. He is unable to function on his own. Jill’s condition is called hyperthymesia- she has a magnificent ability to recall so vivid memorise and events but she can’tcontrolledcontrol it and this happens often on the spot and with connection one stimulus??. Therefore, she can’t live a normal life. Not only positive memories come back but also thepainfullpainful ones. Our memory and the brain are very complexphenomaphenomena which is essential in our life but when its starts to work abnormally its could change our life notably. -
Memory is the ability to encode, store and recall information. But not every human’s memory is the same. One has better long-term memory and the others have better short-term memory. We’ve read about two unique cases. Clive Wearing
could havecan only remember 7 seconds. Hedidn’tdoesn’t even remember his own wedding or he can’t recognise his own children.On the other handJill Price remembers every single moment of her lifewith detailsin detail. Bothof thisconditions are really difficult for them.It makesThey make their lives harder than the lives ofhavepeople with “standard” memory. These stories tell us that people are strong and can deal with every situation in some way. -
Thank you for the discussion. I will come back later to read your texts.
For the next lesson, I’d like you to read chapter 5 (Memory Loss) and do the corresponding exercises from the site:I’d like you to prepare in pairs a presentation on memory for 30 April.
Have a good day!
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Memory is such an interesting and important ability for all people. It
‘s not only keepsdoesn’t only keep/store our memories from childhood; bad, good andandimportant events, but also helps us in daily functioning. Ourmindbrains are like a storehouse. A lot of brain structures are crucial for human memory systems. Different structures are responsible for different types of memory. We have three types of memory: short-term memory(small amount of infromation in the brain in an active state), long-term memory(knowledge held indefinitely) and sensory memory(sensory information-visual and auditory). Usually, humans don’t even wonder about their ability to remember, but there are some cases that make us think about memory systems. For example, Clive Wearing’s case. This man can only remember 7 seconds. Amnesia destroyed his life, he doesn’t remember family memebers (except his wife and children) and he needs all-day care. This case showed us how important memory is in our daily life. But there are some cases when people have unheard of memory abilities, like Jill Price. She hasahyperthymesia,it’swhich is the ability to recall events form the pastwith exact detailsin detail. Frankly speaking, that faculty is not only a blessing. It is also a curse, because both good and bad memoriesstickedare stuck in her memory vividly and eternally. Memory is anessentianessential function of our brains. Any small changes in brain structures associated with memory systems can bring enormous changes to our lives. -
These two cases show us how important our memory really is. Clive said that he his state was like he was dead. He felt like he was dead and to be honest, I would propably think the same. He cannot live on his own, he needs 24h care. What is more, he is locked in his unconsciousness. On the other hand, Jill
wasis aware of all her life all the time. She couldn’t stop reliving her memories, so she also was her memory‘s slave, exactly like Clive. To conclude, these two cases show us that memory is a very significant part of our life and our self. To be precise, ifit is some issue with memorywe had any problems with memory, our lifecancould change in a very noticeable way. -
Those two cases lead us to the conclusion that memory is not a simple mechanism. There are many types of memory from sensory memory, which allows us to remember a small amount of information for a few seconds, through short-term memory to long-term memory, which contains such abilities as recalling autobiographical episodes from life, having general knowledge or just keeping in mind how to do things. As we could read in articles this memory can work differently. It can be superior, like in Jill’s case or impaired, like in Clive’s case. Both of them experienced some kind of memory dysfunction. Jill’s long-term memory works extremely
goodwell but she struggled to learn new things in school. Clive has a well working sensory memory, which allows him to be “awake” for a few seconds but he can’t remember details from his life. Those people show us that having a really good memory doesn’t mean being goodinat memorizing new facts and having amnesia doesn’t mean having a total blackout. -
Memory is far more complex than I thought. There is not one memory, but several types of it and each one of them is responsible for something diffrent. Clive‘s case is a perfect example to understand memory’s complexity. Because of amnesia Clive remembers things only for seven seconds. However, he has no problem
withrecalling his childhood memories. Additonally his procedural memory works without charge?? (he can stillcanplayathe piano very well). He doesn’t remember his sons‘s name, but he knows that he loveshimthem. It means that not all his memory isinjureddamaged/destroyed, but just a part of it. It makes his life quite miserable, but as his wife said – Clive is still Clive.
The similar pattern we can noticewithin Jill’s super memory. Her episodic memory is superior than an average person’s. She remembers every day since sheiswas 14 years old. Her first memory comes from when she was 18 months old. But it only applies to this one type of memory. Her semantic memory is ordinary, however hyperthymestic syndrome makes it difficult for her to focus or remember e.g. a poem or mathematical formula, which is semantic memory’s task.
Memory creates us and withoutherit we wouldn’t know who we are. -
Memory is one of the most important abilities in our life. We can remember good and bad moments, our family and friends. We can learn new abilities, facts. We keep it all in our memory. There are different kinds of memory. Sensory memory allows us to remember a small amount of information in a very short time. Sensory memory for a visual stimuli is iconic memory and for auditory stimuli is echoic memory. Short-term memory which lasts up to 30 seconds and long-term memory. Thanks to Clive’s
storiestory we learnt that amnesia can be caused by herpes simplex virus that attacks the central nervous system. Clive can remember things only for 7 seconds but he can still recognise his wife, children, he knows how to playathe piano. He lost some type of memory, not all of it.
Jill Price‘sstoriestory is different from Clive’s. She rememberseverythingnot only positivetimebut also negative events/situations too very vividly. She simply can’t forget. Both stories show us that memory can be a blessing and a curse. We have to appreciate memory because it makes our life. -
In my opinion Jill memory is both a curse and a blessing. The scariest thing about her brain is that she remembers all of bad things that happend to her since childhood like all of breake-ups, illness or death of the close one. This might be the prison You asked about, but on the other hand life is also about good things too, and I am sure it’s nice to remember those. I think about Jill’s memory more like a gift, it’s really unique and special.
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