02/22/2014

Ivana Lewis ENC 1101 Prof. Falco Leshin, Joann

Memory and the Human Brain

What do you remember more; when you lost your first tooth, or the calmness of a mothers touch? I remember I lost my tooth when I was six years old. I remember the pain but I cant feel it. On the other side when I think of my mother I can feel the warmness of her touch. I recently read a paper from, Mary C Laima, Ph. D, titled Intense emotions and strong feelings." One thing she wrote, stuck out to me, How fortunate that the mind can summon emotional memories of exciting and unsullied love, pride in endeavors, or joy that was felt at an amazing moment in time. The experience of positive emotions such as elation, gladness, relief, bliss or amusement is scripted early in life by the circumstances around which the emotions have been felt. I find it amazing how our brain and body can only remember the past times of physical pain but cannot relieve it, but on the other hand can take us back and feel or relieve the excitement and happiness or pain and disappointment of a past event that touched us emotionally in positive or negative way. From my personal experience I believe that positive emotions can move you forward in life while negative take you to a bed place emotional place and hold you down. I would like to turn to my positive memory first. My dearest memory and the memory that makes me feel stronger, more positive and more secured is when I went back home after three long years in America. I remember being on the plane felling nervous, sad, and happy, all at the same time. When I got off the plane and passed the boarding control, I just heard my mom's voice, ''There she is.'' At first, I was thinking that I was dreaming. That same moment, I touched their faces and got the most beautiful hug. I realized that my dream finally came true.

We were all trembling and crying. My father just repeated," My girl is here, my girl is here, my biggest treasure in my life." I stayed in Macedonia for five weeks. These days were some of the most beautiful moments in my life. Remembering the joy and excitement I felt to see them is almost unexplainable. In comparison, negative memories awake negative emotions in our lives. I agree with what Dr. Laima says about bad memories because I usually start to feel sad, when I remember on the worst memory in my life. My parents went on vocation in Istanbul, Turkey for few days. That vocation turned into a nightmare for the whole family. It was a big fire at the hotel where they were staying. My father was good, but my mom had felt from the 6th floor trying to escape the fire. The doctors said that we need to wait 48 hours. Those hours were like years for us. Thanks to God my mom is alive today and we are celebrating November 17 as her second birthday. Memories can make us feel sad, while other memories can help us feel better, it all depends; I think , on what it is were trying to feel at the time on a conscious and subconscious level. I also agree with the Dr. Laima that, the mind can summon memories of joy that was felt at an amazing moment. It's great to know that memories not only make us who we are, but that the right memories can even be therapeutic in lonely times. All we have to do is bring those beautiful memories to light, when the sadder ones spring up in our minds unexpected. In summary, without memory either good or bad, there is not even an opinion because the memory is the main activity of the brain. Without memory, there would be no past. Memory gives a sense of life, it relates actual with previous chain of events, and makes it a picture of the world we live. Again, some of the events are deeply engraved in us, unlike some of them are remembered as flashback.