Katelyn Wright
Memory, as defined in our textbook, is the retention of information over time. Often though, when we think of the term "memories," we think of specific times in our childhood or specific events. What I think is interesting, though, is that we are using memories almost all the time in our daily life. We have to remember how to walk to class, how to type on a keyboard, what a certain vocabulary word means, or where we put our keys. It is really crazy to think about the millions of small tasks that we must remember every day just to exist and to get around our daily lives. Our memories often serve us very well on a daily basis. We remember things in short term, for about a duration of 20 seconds. We also remember things, or at least fragments of them in long term. As you can see, the human brain completes astonishing feats by retaining memories. On the opposite side, though, our memory can often fail us. For example, our brains sometimes go beyond the information that is presented to us, causing us to experience "memory illusion." This would occur if we looked at a list of words all involving objects and actions associated with snow. We would then say we remembered reading the word "snow" even if it was absent from the list. This example shows us that, although our brains do astonishing things in regards to memory, we can also have certain moments where our brain's powers fail us. This should keep us in check when we are taking psych exams--we are not always going to remember things well enough to simply guess on questions!
Its very true about those Psych exams! Our memories really are a gift and a curse. I always knew that our memories had their faults, but to go as far as being so easily manipulated with "memory illusions" is too much. I never even considered whether the blessings from memories outweigh the curses. Because at this point, I find it hard to clearly understand why our memories should be so easily manipulated. Its such a protected part of ourselves, yet now it can be controlled by almost anyone.
I think your point about how we use memory constantly in our daily lives is interesting. I know I don't really think about how or why I'm brushing my teeth or pouring cereal in the morning- it's just automatic. I also am amazed to find myself not thinking about how to get to class after the the first few weeks- my feet seem to just take me there. I even have walked into a building around the time of the class before remembering I was going to office hours instead and was in the wrong building or started my Wednesday class routine on a Tuesday!