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Do old people still remember their childhood? Do people just start losing their memories and their sense of self as they get older? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
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[–] 13 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The way memory works, your brain constructs the memory based on stuff from the last time you thought about it, mixed with other random shit.

You're never remembering "the" event. You're retelling yourself a story like a game of telephone. The past is gone.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I don't feel like this is entirely true. I have some memories that play out more like shorts, that have always been very clear and never change in detail. They're just engraved there, some of them can be easily corroborated among multiple people and/or video footage

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Various studies have shown this to be true. When you access memories, they become malleable. The brain makes various minor updates and repairs. It fixes holes, where bits have been forgotten, and pulls in new data, that wasn't known at the time.

    The core of the memory is often intact, it's generally self referencing, and fairly stable. It's the small details around it that can shift.

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