--Original published at Jill Distler's Psychology Blog

Some memories are “stronger” than others, you remember them better than others. Why do I remember my second birthday party so well, but not my eighth? I believe that memories are day to day experiences that the brain takes in while we are awake, and then during the filtering process while we are asleep, they are officially saved in different “files” in the brain. But why are some more easily accessible than others? I feel that during the storage filtering process, dreams that are connected to increased hormone levels or larger changes in mood are ones that become easier to recall in the future. Memories connected to chemical reactions in the brain could be the reason why some appear “stronger” than others. 

To test my theory of chemicals in the brain reacting to experiences during the day being the reason they become stronger memories after a night of sleep, I would first get a random sample of people using dating apps. The number of participants would obviously vary depending on how many people agreed to participate, but hopefully it would be an equal number of participants. In this study, two people would be paired and would be placed in a room together and forced to have a “typical” first date. We would monitor the levels of oxytocin in the brain while the two individuals spoke and got to know each other. After a few weeks, the individuals would be reintroduced to the original room to replicate the first date. Oxytocin levels would be monitored again, only a researcher would be present as a third party, initiating conversation based off of the previous date’s discussions. If the oxytocin levels spike during the reintroduction of the memories originally made on the first date, then it may prove that stronger memories are related to chemical reactions in the brain. 

--Original published at Ally'sCollegeBlog

Without memory we have nothing to shape us as individuals, we would all just be robots. Memories help us connect with the world around us. For example, when 9/11 occurred, it was traumatizing for many people. My mom was sitting at home with me and saw the broadcast of the event on the news. It shaped her and help her become more aware of situations and more involved in political issues. She can remember the day very vividly, almost like it was yesterday. I have the same feeling with the first day of my summer trip. I went on a six and a half week trip across the country in the summer of 2017. I do not remember every moment, but I do vividly remember the first day. It was super awkward because I am not exactly an extrovert. On the other hand, It was the first day of the best three months of my life.

I do not know why this day is so engraved into my mind, as I have many first days that I can not even recall. First day of high school, kindergarten, and work are all examples of days that I can not remember. I think this is because human brains are wired to sort through information. Whether it is information coming from our eyes, eyes, mouth, or hands. Maybe the first day of high school is not as important as other days in my life. Maybe my brain has sorted through the days of my lives and found the ones that have shaped me as an individual, and threw out the ones that do not matter.

For my study I would want to research how people use their memories and life experiences in different situations. How does a firefighter, who was involved in 9/11, react to certain occurrences in their career nowadays. I would get participants from all walks of life. I want the group of people to be as random as possible so I can generalize my claim. I would put each participant is individualized test after finding out what their most vivid memory is. I would monitor how they react or response to the stimulation. It would not cause harm to someone emotionally or physically. My ideal outcome is figuring out how memories affect us and why.

--Original published at Olivia's College Blog

The brain has many ways of internalizing certain experiences; sometimes it may even block out certain memories from stressful or traumatic situations. When we say something is ‘memorable’, we are probably referring to types of experience that are more emotionally stimulating than we typically experience. Situations that are out of the ordinary have the power to generate especially vivid memories. For example, a mother might recall the weather conditions from the day that her son struck his first homerun in baseball. A girl might remember the exact outfit she was wearing on the day of her surprise 16^th birthday party. Situations of great significance that are rather surprising, shocking, or exciting can make memories that are stronger than others. 

              In the extreme example of 9/11, most people could tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time of the event. I think one theory for this is because those memories help to remember the rest of the experience. It becomes an easier task for the brain to remember that day, and to relive the experience in their memory, if they have a lot of other information to help bring out the details. If the brain remembers that, on 9/11, you were on your way to pick up your 1 month old from day care on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon, your memory will take you farther in remembering the significance of that day. The same can be said for any other situation that we find significant enough that our brain internalizes very specific details of the situation.

--Original published at Jess Principe's Blog

By: Jess Principe

In my opinion, the stronger the memory is to the person, the more valuable the experience was to the person. If something very exciting happens in your life such as graduating high school, scoring your first goal in a sports event, or meeting someone you love for the first time, those memories will be stronger and stick with you longer because the experience was very important to you as well. Likewise, the scariest experiences a person encounters in their lives will be just as scarring from a memory standpoint as well. For our generations, the Sandy Hook School shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing, and Hurricane Katrina all stick out to me and I can remember exactly where I was when all three happened because I was scared during those events, as well as scared during the aftermath of these events when viewing them through social media.

An interesting way to test the strength of memories is to ask a randomly selected group of people to identify their top three happiest memories and scariest memories and have them summarize where they were  or what they were doing when these memories occured. If the memories are significant events (whether they are exciting or scary) in their life or to the outside global community, then it would be easy to confirm that the stronger the memories, the more significant the event. If the memories seem to be random days or insignificant events that seem to still stick strongly to the person, then it conveys that memories can be strong but arise from insignificant events.

--Original published at AlexisPattersonBlog

When I study for a test, I tend to start to study a week ahead of time. This gives me enough time to study all the material that is going to be on the test. This also allots time incase I have any questions about something I am confused about, it allows me to get the answer and grasp that concept before the exam. Yet this isn’t always as easy as it seems.

Sometimes I don’t get the chance to study every day of that week because I have a bad habit of being lazy. I have busy days and I get down to the end of them and get into the “ill do more tomorrow” mood. Yet this is a snowball effect and I don’t do more the next day. I do tend to fall into the typical college student image of cramming the night before. This isn’t my best trait, but what’s even worse is I have this “if I don’t know it by midnight then I don’t know it” mentality as well. But don’t get me wrong, I do study and I do put the time in that is needed.

I always get nervous for the first exams of the semester for the classes I am taking. I fear the unknown. so not knowing the style of the test makes me more nervous. For this first exam I first went over all of the power points that he displayed in class. I then went and compared them to my notes from the text book reading on those same chapters. I also went over the study guide that was given to us and used that also to review and compare my notes with.

Some things I would probably do different for next exam is to ask more questions about concepts I get confused about. For instance, I didn’t grasp some of the conditioning concepts and I tried to work it through myself, but you can only do so much without asking for help.

--Original published at Emily's college blog

Memory is essential for human life.  Memory causes us to remember complex concepts for tests and simple everyday tasks.  Some older memories can be so vivid and detailed as if it happened a few minutes ago, while others are blurry or misplaced all together.  What causes our brain to decide which memories to store in detail and which to throw away? When I think about my past memories, most of them are ones that I hold very dear and want to last a lifetime.  Others, however, are moments like, nationwide tragedies, that haunt my mind.  For example, last year on Valentine’s Day, I remember my mother was washing the dishes when I had walked into my kitchen and found out about the Florida school shooting.  I remember in detail what happened a year ago, but I do not remember what outfit I wore yesterday.  The school shooting is something that impacted me and put our nation into a shock for several months. My outfit yesterday, however, had no effect on my or anyone else’s life at all.  I believe events that shape us as a person and the country as a nation are the ones that our brain decides to keep.  The everyday activities that are unimportant and useless to our future are ones that our brain decides to throw away.  There is also only so much space our brain can hold for memories, so as we make more, the unimportant ones fade away or become blurry. However, the ones that have shaped us as unique person or our country as a nation are the ones that stick with us forever.           

--Original published at Maddy Vingom's PSY105 Blog

There are some memories that are permanently engrained in our minds, I know that one I will never forget is Parkland, Florida shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School. I vividly remember one year ago on Valentine’s Day a bomb threat was placed on my school, we were rushed out of my school and told to walk go the gym at a nearby college. I remember the immediate fear I felt when hearing about the threat, fortunately the kid that made the threat did not actually plant bombs throughout the school. All of the students were bussed home as soon as they discovered the threat was nothing more than a threat. On that silent bus ride our phones all received notifications from numerous news sources regarding the Parkland incident. A thousand things went through my mind, that could have easily been my school all over the news.  I was disgusted, horrified and disappointed in humanity. The only thing on television all day was this event and talking about past school shootings.

Events similar in nature these are so significant and change our world views. The shock and horror we feel as they unfold before our eyes is so significant that our minds permanently engrain them. I believe the strong emotions, historical significance, along with the personal connection we make causes these events to become impossible to forget. Some memories aren’t kept as vividly, as the result of the brain being unable to store all the events that occur in our lives. The most significant and important are stored and the ones that are not important are forgotten.

--Original published at WilliamsCollegeBlog

I believe that some of our memories are so vivid is because they are so unique or special in our minds, that there is no reason to remember something that does not match the same standards. I remember back in middle school, I heard how some memories you remember because they are bound to happen to you in real life. I did not believe it until a similar situation happened to me. The dream had way more details in real life, but the important parts of the memories stayed the same in real life. My overall theory about dreams is that our minds tend to remember the things which give us most joy or pleasure at the end of them. Now scary dreams are a different situation because they would not make someone happy. This would be because our minds will also remember the things we would never want to happen to us in real life.

I would propose studying this phenomenon by selecting a group of people and have them fill out a survey where they must answer questions about what they found special in life or what matters to them. Then have them come back after a week of healthy sleeping and talk about the dreams that they remember the best. It would just have to be a few, assuming they had dreams, and see if their dreams match what was categorized as most important to us. The same way would go for nightmares since they can be very vivid memories of those as well. Talking about life events or things in general before sleeping, can increase the chances of that talk being a part of your latest dream.