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--- outreach:arememorieseverlost [2023/07/15 15:11] – ohardt
+++ outreach:arememorieseverlost [2023/07/15 18:13] (current) – ohardt
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 As all compromises, this explanation is a bit unsatisfying because it assumes that there is no such thing as the loss of established memory contents -- memories are forever.  Humans may prefer this position instinctively because we distill our identity from our autobiographical memories, such that a loss of them directly threatens our sense of self. The slow and painful dissolution of a person along with these memories in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease is a reminder how precious our knowledge of our own past is for us.  But is absolute permanence a realistic assumption for long-term memories?
-We prefer an alternative, pluralistic view, in which different processes lead to forgetting so that sometimes forgetting reflects genuine memory loss, and sometimes a retrieval problem.  This is for three main reasons.  First, while we retain a lot of the long-term memories formed during a day, most of these memories are mundane and essentially superfluous.  Keeping them forever will eventually produce an existence that Funes had to endure, and it is unlikely that our inability to recall everything that happened last week, means always that we cannot retrieve these  events.  Second, we know from decades of research that our life memories are elaborate reconstructions, not simply read-outs from a faithful record of the past, suggesting that what we remember is a plausible guess based on what memories of the past are still available or accessible at that point.  Third, we know that the neurobiological structures and processes associated with memory are highly dynamic and are constantly in flux.  If we believe that there is a link between these neurobiological factors and memory, it is difficult to assume that all memories remain as they were, and forgetting then reflects to a certain degree loss of information.
+We prefer an alternative, pluralistic view, in which different processes lead to forgetting so that sometimes forgetting reflects genuine memory loss, and sometimes a retrieval problem.  This is for three main reasons.  First, while we retain a lot of the long-term memories formed during a day, most of these memories are mundane and essentially superfluous.  Keeping them forever will eventually produce an existence that [[outreach:introduction|Funes]] had to endure, and it is unlikely that our inability to recall everything that happened last week, means always that we cannot retrieve these  events.  Second, we know from decades of research that our life memories are elaborate reconstructions, not simply read-outs from a faithful record of the past, suggesting that what we remember is a plausible guess based on what memories of the past are still available or accessible at that point.  Third, we know that the neurobiological structures and processes associated with memory are highly dynamic and are constantly in flux.  If we believe that there is a link between these neurobiological factors and memory, it is difficult to assume that all memories remain as they were, and forgetting then reflects to a certain degree loss of information.
 Instead of trying to decide whether all forgetting can be explained in terms of memory availability or accessibility, we believe it may be more informative to focus on the actual neurobiological processes in place that cause forgetting, in a theoretical neutral way.