Luria and Pillemer

I found Luria’s account of the mnemonist extremely fascinating. I was most interested in the ways that his memory affected his ability to think and reason on a higher level. Despite his prodigious memory, S had a great deal of trouble understanding abstract thoughts and ideas, due to his mind’s need to visualize and hear everything that it encountered. For example, if he heard the words intelligence or boundless, he might be able to associate some sound with them, but they are both rather difficult words to attach visual imagery to (I realize that these may not be the best examples; “nothing” and “infinity”, as discussed in the book work better). It would have been interesting to know how S dealt with less visual but still abstract words such as love, sadness, or joy. It’s easier to attach visual imagery to these words but they are still abstract concepts.

I was also interested by his inability to forget things, needing to visually erase them or throw them away in order to not have them interfere with whatever he was trying to do. I was amused (although it must have been quite frustrating for him) by his account of trying to forget things by writing them on scraps of paper, and then burning the papers, but still being able to make out fragments of the words on the charred paper. It seems that S has to work harder to forget things than most of us have to do to remember things.

I wish that Luria had investigated his memory’s affects on his personality more deeply. S’s descriptions of visualizing “him” doing things, but separately from the “I” was fascinating. His differentiation between reality and imagination seems very thin at times and it would be interesting to know how aware he is of what his mind is doing. Luria never really address how much control S had over this splitting, or if he was able to exert more or less control over it at certain times.

Pillemer devotes chapter two to commenting on what makes a memory memorable. He first discusses traumatic memories in relation to PTSD. These memories are imprinted in the brain during a high stress situation, are most clearly recalled when the person feels helpless to control the situation, and are easily recalled at a later time. There are generally numerous, sometimes seemingly insignificant, triggers for these memories. He next discusses critical incidences and insight, situations where a situation is clearly recalled but is not traumatic. These usually include major life events or decisions. This chapter is quite thorough but I was surprised that Pillemer didn’t incorporate a discussion of repressed memories. I realize that this is a controversial and complex idea, perhaps too complicated to discuss in-depth in this text, but it seems like he should have at least raised the idea. He does broach the issue, to some extent, in the section on accuracy, but he never mentions not repressing the incident altogether.