Implicit Memory: The Thing That is Running Your Life

 

I am going to be taking notes on and sharing about a podcast that is simply transforming my life. It is called The Place We Find Ourselves. 

I have done this previously, but I am going to start compiling all of these similar posts. You will be able to find these posts at this link: My Blog: Mental Health. The screen shot above shows WHERE this is on my Blog. Anytime you want, you can click there and see the most recent Podcast I took notes on.

I strongly encourage you to listen to the episodes I link to. However, if you don't, my notes can help guide you. 

Also, I will try to note when a particular episode talks about something that might be hard to hear. (Sexual abuse for example.) Today's episode has NOTHING in it that should cause you discomfort and it is entitled:  Implicit Memory: The Thing That is Running Your Life

Daniel Siegel (neuroscientist) says: "The brain is an anticipation machine that shapes ongoing perception by what it automatically expects based on prior experience." The brain's job is to anticipate whatever is going to come next.

Memory is the way in which a past experience effects how the mind will function in the future. 

A memory is not a thing. There are no storage folders. There are no bins.

Implicit memory RUNS YOUR LIFE. Explicit memories are the actual events that are stored in your mind. Around 18 months of age, our body can start to store these memories. Implicit memory is operational before you come out of the womb. Here are two key takeaway notes from this episode:

1. Everything you learn in the first 18 months of life is recorded in implicit not explicit memory. You have to be paying attention to record something in explicit memory. You do not have to be paying attention for implicit memory to be stored. For example, there is a true story of a man who could not store explicit memories. But he was taught how to braid. He couldn't remember that he had learned this, but he was able to braid without realizing it because his implicit memory was fully operational. 

2. When you recall an implicit memory, you do not have a sensation that you are remembering something. So when an implicit memory pops up, it feels like the memory is happening in the present. Let's say you are walking in the park and a dog comes flying at you and you are very scared. You have no memory of being attacked by a dog when you were five. But your body remembers that attack. Implicit memory tells you how the world works and what you can expect from the world. Implicit memory is about the feel of things. 

If the only paintings you saw during your entire life were Monet and you never saw another painting, you would believe that this was what paintings looked like. You wouldn't think this is what Monet looked like. This is what happens with your understanding of relationships. Your brain summarizes all of your experiences of relating to your mother and father and instead of thinking "This is what a relationship with my MOM is like or my DAD is like", you think, "This is what relationships are like." So when we set out into the world, we carry those implicit memories with us and those memories tell us what to expect around every single corner. 

The issue is: the relationship with your parents wields a disproportionately strong influence on your implicit memories because they are the two people that have been there from the very beginning. We continue to store implicit memories throughout our life, however, experiences in adulthood have a much weaker influences on the brain. Childhood brains create the foundation of our brain because that is when the brain is growing and developing.

"What's crucial to understand about implicit memory is that implicit memory cause us to form expectations about the way the world works based on our previous experiences. Implicit memories creates something called priming in which the brain readies itself to respond in a certain way."

Do you ever feel intense emotion that you can tell that is more than the situation calls for? They seem to be overreactions or you've been told you are overreacting. But you have no sensation of recall. You are not aware that you are remembering something. In other words, it is not that you are too sensitive or you are a drama queen. You simply have a brain with a treasure-trove of implicit memories. So when you are making a mountain out of a mole hole. As far as your neurons are concerned, in your brain, it is a mountain.

The sensations in your body always tell the truth. They never lie! Pay attention to when you experience a shift in your body. That is telling you that implicit memory has just been expected. When do you find yourself shutting down or going numb or getting panicky or fearful. Situations that evoke strong emotion responses in us, make implicit memory known!

Condemnation says, "What's wrong with me? Why did I react like that?"

Curiosity says, "Wow! That was a big reaction. I wonder what implicit memory is behind that?"

Implicit memory is the reason that you have had such a hard time TELLING YOURSELF TRUTHS that don't seem to make their way into your "heart."

How do you change implicit memories then? You change it through EXPERIENCES. 

For example, if a man is riding a bicycle that operates backward (turning left makes wheel goes right and vice versa), it took a scientist three weeks to train his brain to do it backwards. Even though the man knew what he had to do, his body was so trained that it was really impossible to do without a LOT of practice.