How the filing cabinet of memory works

How do we remember the past? What does it take to recreate memories??

I have been thinking of those questions lately every time I pull up a time log from six years ago. I save each week’s time log under the date I started — always a Monday — and the last year this date cycle matches is 2016. So as I save the log from, say, December 5, 2022, I look at December 5, 2016 and see what I can recall.

The answer is interesting. December 5th is my birthday, so you would think I would remember that day in 2016, but looking at the log didn’t trigger much. There was work, a Costco trip, and general kid care. Nothing was out of the ordinary, so it is hard to conjure up that day vs. any other.?

But other parts of the week of December 5-11, 2016 are a different story. On Tuesday, according to my time log, I traveled to Boston. One look at those entries and the memories start coming back. My host for the evening’s event offered me office space that afternoon so I could conduct a webinar for a different group, and so I can recall being in that building. I can recall the talk that night, and who I spoke with. I can recall heading to a different hotel the next afternoon, where a different conference was being held, but not being able to check in yet. So I walked down the street to Rosa Mexicana for lunch, and then wound up working in Starbucks for an hour. I can picture that hotel lobby Starbucks quite well, even though that is the only time in my life I have been to that particular Boston Starbucks. That Sunday I flew to Mexico to give a speech. My log shows a 12:30 a.m. entry when the hotel’s alarm went off, and I can definitely remember plodding outside in the warm night to see what on earth was going on. (It seems to have been solved quickly, whatever it was).?

I have not consciously thought about the alarm, or that Boston Starbucks, in years. But the memories are very much still there. They are there because they were part of events that were novel, and out-of-the-ordinary, whereas the normal work and kid care and reading of Monday’s schedule don’t trigger any specific memories.?

Now obviously all of life can’t be novel. Two trips a week every week would be exhausting. Much of life is lived in the normal routines of work and kid care and Costco runs. But one reason I suggest people consider planning adventures into their lives is that this is how the filing cabinet of memory works. Little adventures are the key to this filing system. Once the brain has figured out the specific event that it bothered remembering while it was happening, many details come flooding back, and the memory is there. All time passes, but these memories aren’t simply lost to the wash of the past. They make life feel textured and full. We are less likely to say “where did the time go?” when we remember where the time went.?

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