From: Lawrence DeBivort (debivort@umd5.umd.edu)
Date: Sat 31 May 2003 - 20:25:58 GMT
Dace, '"reconstituted" from scratch' sounds like an unmitigated
contradiction in terms to me. Can you explain how it isn't?
Lawry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
> Of Dace
> Sent: Sat, May 31, 2003 3:58 PM
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: New Scientist on memory
>
>
> > From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu>
> >
> > Recalled from what?
>
> >From the past. Memory is the recall of events from the past.
> This is the
> common sense view, and it's rapidly becoming the only viable
> scientific view
> as well.
>
> >
> > > Though the author himself doesn't seem to realize it, the evidence
> > > discussed in this article abolishes the notion that the brain alone is
> > > responsible for memory. Every time we recall something, the relevant
> > > memory trace in the brain is completely erased and then
> > > "reconstituted" from scratch. If memory is nothing more than stored
> > > information in the brain, there would be no way of recreating the
> > > memory once it's been erased. The only explanation is that we
> > > literally recall the past (often making mistakes in the process)
> > > enabling us to reconstruct the memory after the neural trace has been
> > > destroyed. Memory must be taken at face value-- as a recollection of
> > > the past-- rather than simply the retrieval of information from
> > > cerebral vaults. We may regard neural traces as pointers to memories
> > > rather than the memories themselves.
> > >
> > > --TD
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