Jiya Week 16: Our Previous Blogs
As it is almost the end of the year I was trying to recall all the blogs I have written so far and realized I forgot about most of them. We always assume most people will be able to remember what we wrote about but people often need to remember these blogs in a day or two, we might only remember the blogs if they are exceptional or relatable.
This is the same for most of our memory.
Memories that are full of strong feelings tend to stick around for a long time and shape how we see things in the future. This shows how our emotions play a big role in memory.
School is a great place to see how memories form. If learning is fun and interesting, we're more likely to remember it later. Remember from biology class, "Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell"? It's not because we are super into mitochondria—it's because the class made it memorable by turning it into something fun.
Think about embarrassing moments, for example. They can make us feel really strong emotions, but we often forget them quickly unless they make us feel something. There are the memories connected with happiness like the ones we make with friends and family, like awesome birthday parties or going to concerts together. These moments become a big part of who we are, being ingrained in our memories. Similarly, memories related to our sadness such as failing a test or getting yelled at by our parents, we will remember these moments too.
But memories that have no emotional connection slip away quickly because they don't mean much to us like some random vocabulary words that we will forget about in a month or two.
Hopefully, you all will be able to remember this blog as all of us can relate to it and it is somewhat unique, the only downside is that it does not form any emotional connection.
Why Are Memories Attached to Emotions So Strong? | Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Hi, Jiya. I’d like to start off with the image at the top of your blog. It was a peculiar image, although it is quite relatable as a glasses-wearer myself. It was interesting how you were able to relate the blogs and memory as a topic with the rest of the blog. Also, the anecdotes were helpful inclusions, with the "Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell" example being an exceptionally understandable statement. Overall, this was a fitting blog to wrap up the final topic and final blog of the year with this clever, well-organized blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Jiya! I like how you introduced your blog by mentioning that we likely will only remember the blogs that are exceptional or relatable as with this statement you were able to transition to the topic of memories. We remember certain memories because of the emotions we associate with those memories. For example, as you mentioned, memories of spending time with our friends and family doing fun activities evoke emotions of happiness, therefore, causing us to remember those memories. On the other hand, we would probably also remember memories linked with strong emotions of sadness as those memories may be reminders of important lessons that we needed to learn. Overall, I appreciate the various examples you gave of memories we may remember and why, and I really enjoyed reading your blog. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Jiya! Your blog reminded me of a term we learned in AP Psychology, it is called mood-congruent memory. It is " the tendency to recall memories that are consistent with a person's current emotional state." Although it is not the same meaning that your blog holds, they have similar elements. For example, if we are feeling sad, we typically recall unhappy memories. Your blog is very accurate! We remember memories that have strong emotions behind them! I love to look back at the time my soccer team won MVALs because we were the first girls' soccer team in American to get first place for the first time in 10 years. This memory has stuck with me because accomplishing this was a very happy moment to experience with my teammates. Overall, I enjoyed your blog, it was very informational.
ReplyDeleteHey Jia,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I relate to how you can not recall your blogs and I appreciate how you started your blog with this topic. The only blogs I really can remember were my first blog and my last which I wrote in the previous week. I enjoyed how you tied this concept into memories and how only the important memories stick with us throughout all the memories we form, especially during school.
I can relate to your discussion of embarrassing moments. At times late at night, I find myself reminiscing on old memories where I would do something I would regret later and feel embarrassed for doing it even though it happened a long time ago. I feel these embarrassing memories are somewhat of a good thing though, as they teach me not to make these same mistakes again in the future and make me a better person for it. Finally, I enjoyed how you ended your blog since it tied in your topic masterfully explaining how memories that lack a proper emotional connection are easy to forget.